If I could describe Eravikulam National Park in one single word then it would be Desert Massive open grasslands, immense spaces and an eerie silence. So quite, I was whispering most of the time and the silence is only broken at times by the wind or some small birds. The temperatures drop close to freezing point in the nights and it can get quite hot in the mornings. Since you have to walk for everything, your whole perspective of things change. I was walking between 15 to 35 km daily along with my gear. I lost 4 KG and my…

Starting tomorrow, I’m off again to Eravikulam National Park. This time however, I’m going into the core area with all the gear and I will mostly be there for about 10 days at least. There is one small issue though. I’m staying in an old hut which is at least 18km from the nearest human contact. No roads, no power, no connectivity. The hut is at least few hours trek through tough terrain to get to. So I’m hiring some 10 porters to carry all the gear and few weeks worth of supplies along. Taking a custom rigged solar charger…..

This news has been long time pending. For the next few months, I’m working on a BBC assignment with Sandesh on a wildlife documentary about the western ghats. Its a part research and part documentary project and the whole thing is being shot in pure HighDef video. The research bit is the search for some of the rare, extinct and maybe mythical creatures of the western ghats. Ofcourse I’ll still be lugging around my digital camera around with the video cameras. The last few weeks has been hectic as we were busy with pre-production – getting all the permits in…

My Blog has been nominated for the Best Indian Travel blog and Best Photoblog (thought I’ve hardly been posting any new photographs) over at Indibloggies. So if you have some spare time, head over to Indibloggies and Vote.

May you soul rest in peace. You did not deserve it and you will never be forgotten.

I spent the last 2 days at Honnemarudu, a large water resevoir on Linganmakki back waters close to Sagar, shimoga. The highlight of the trip was this : We reached there pretty late and somewhere at 8pm, we decided to camp in one of the uninhabited islands. We threw our bags onto a boat and half way through the ride, we decided to jump in the water. The water was warm, there was not a single source of light in sight and the moon had not come in yet. So one could see every star in the sky including the…

Google video just launced a recommendations feature that suggests videos based on your search history, ratings and viewing patterns. Top on the list for me was this video of Canon Shutter sounds ranging from Canon 1DS MARK II to the 350D. If you are a camera gear junkie like me, then you will enjoy this video.

So far, part of the money that was raised by the calendars has gone for the following causes. The Soligas call the Black eagle ‘The darkness of the Shola” Black eagle study – The black eagle is a very rare, less studied bird of prey. In BR hills, we found a pair nesting very close to human settlement. The nest was getting disturbed regularly and this was also an amazing opportunity to study the nesting cycle of this amazing bird of prey. So with the money pool, I was able to hire two young naturalists from the Soliga tribe to…

The event was excellent. Some of the worlds best wildlife editors/directors/script-writers were there. The first highlight was Mike Salisbury. He is the guy who produced all the ‘Life’ series of David Attenborough and if David Attenborough was the face on the camera, he was the guy who was behind the camera all along. He agreed to get some stuff signed by David and mail it back to me when he gets back. He was so wonderful, I really wish he was my own grandfather. Meeting Jane Goodall was something else. Her talk was so powerful, almost everyone in the audience…

Sorry about no updates lately. I’ve been on the road mostly. The Scorpio is less than 20 days old and I have already done close to 3000 KM on it. It has started to make some funny noises here and there too. I’m off to Delhi later today to spend time at Wildcreen India. Finally I’m getting to meet the legendary Jane Goodall and Mike Salisbury at the event. Anyone else coming for this event there ?