Lake Manyara was our first game drive destination on our 9 day travails through Tanzania. After landing at Nairobi we traveled for nearly 7 hours before we could reach here. Even though we were very tired the abundance of birdlife and wildlife made up for everything. Continue reading there are 20 more pictures!!
And this last one is a general tip for travelers using Kenya Airways – board early. Kenya airways has a monopoly in the sector and treat passengers like shit. You may want to read what we went through while flying back
So you have been waiting for the first image from my trip to East Africa. I could have put in many other dramatic things like the Lion, Rhino, Cheetah or the Hippo but I felt that those mammals are rather cliched. So I decided to put a common but unique bird Read more about the Hammerkop
“Aren’t you two bored of each other?” The question took me by surprise! No it has never occurred to me that I will get bored of Swati, but then perhaps I am too naive when it comes to marital relationships. For me this is one relationship where things are in black and white without any intervening gray shades. The question however did make me ponder as to why it should be raised at all and I cringed. Today I don’t want to wade thru the dissatisfactions of others trying to find why I am not… Heh! even writing that sounds pretty stupid. The day marks 16 years of being married to Swati.
I quoted Kaifi Azmi on our 10th anniversary
Dil me sanam ki soorat
Aakhon me aashiqui de
Mere khuda mujhe tu
Ek aur zindagi de
And that still holds true!
Ironically 7 years ago I did write Till boredom do us apart… and I have titled this as anniversary of blah simply because the 16th anniversary has no traditional gifts associated with it – so don’t try to read too much into it 🙂
Among more mundane things – no special plans for the day we may go out for dinner but the excitement is about getting everything ready for our Friday departure to Tanzania for 9 days!!
While the Indian folklore is full of tales about how the mongoose is the fiercest enemy of the snake and is generally looked upon as the good guy, the tale which really endeared me to the mongoose was Rudyard Kipling’s short story Rikki Tikki Tavi in his novel Jungle Book. Continue reading Rikki Tikki Tavi – Indian Gray Mongoose
![Dark Blue Tiger [Explored]](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2762/4461296349_7465b67828.jpg "Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis)")
1. Dark Blue Tiger, 2. Great Cormorant pair, 3. Indian Flying-fox (Pteropus giganteus), 4. The hidden dozen, can you find them?, 5. Little or Striated Heron, 6. Summer is here!!!, 7. The critically endangered Long-billed or Indian Vulture, 8. Pale-Billed Flowerpecker,
9. The critically endangered Red-headed Vulture., 10. Happy birthday Swati!!, 11. Bay-backed shrike – Explored, 12. The critically endangered Forest Owlet, Heteroglaux blewitti., 13. Peregrine Falcon – Falco peregrinus, 14. A woodpecker unlike any other – Eurasian Wryneck, 15. Gimme Red!!!, 16. Plum-headed Parakeet, female,
17. Plum-headed Parakeet, male, 18. Small minvet, male, 19. The jewel of my garden!!, 20. Banzai!!!, 21. Eye of the tiger!!, 22. The woodpecker and the squirrel, 23. Indian Pitta, 24. Barn Swallow,
25. Red-crested Pochard – male, 26. Common picturewing – Rhyothemis variegata, 27. Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, 28. Cleared for landing!!, 29. I know that smell!!, 30. Damsels in love 😉, 31. Yellow on yellow! One-spot Grass Yellow Butterfly (Eurema andersonii), 32. Magenta dragonfly – Aurora themis(?),
33. Striped Tiger (Danaus genutia) II, 34. Striped Tiger (Danaus genutia), 35. Common Leopard (Phalanta phalantha), 36. Blue grass dartlet damselfly, 37. Ummm… This size will fit her!, 38. Green on green – Merops orientalis, 39. Cuddle party!, 40. Tigress with cubs at Pench National Park
Currently IUCN Red list classifies the conservation status of the Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, as of Least concern. However it was not so always Read how was it and more…
Was going through older posts searching where to people land up with the weird search terms that I so often keep seeing in the analytics screen I felt the urge to do an LJ style update post (Take that Twitter!! You just don’t make the cut).
Things which are dominating my free time? TV serials: Started watching LOST completed the 5 seasons and now up to sync with season 6, season 1 and 2 really held my attention but after that it was mostly watching something while I read thing. The serial which has really caught me up is Caprica. If you are a sci-fi buff or more specifically BSG then you should not miss it! Tells the story of 58 years before the War. Oh yes! You probably guessed it right I have picked up a WDTV.
The most recent books that I finished were “Raiders from the North” by Alex Rutherford, “Goddess of the Market” by Jennifer Burns and “Spectacular India” by Shobha De. The selection doesn’t really represent my likings but since I have gotten better reading glasses I am enjoying reading anything I can get my hands on 😉
The bird photography has slackened a bit but last Sunday we drove around in the non-protected areas of the Bor wildlife Sanctuary, an almost 230km trip. No we did not see any big cats, though it would not have been unlikely we did see a good number of birds. A photo lifer for me was Green Heron. Meanwhile I have been updating my Flickr account fairly regularly. Have a conceptual photo-shoot planned with a Painter for tomorrow, let see how that goes.
Have been coding on a few itches – basically WordPress plugins for better Flickr integration. WordPress code is a nightmare but it gets the job done very well and that is what ultimately counts – Interested? Have written about them here
![This is a photograph! [Explored]](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4504911394_40910e440a.jpg "This is a photograph!")