The place was suggested by my friend Tony, as he was going through the Manorama News Paper(Malayalam Daily) on 3rd November 2011, he suddenly got struck with the post of Vanchiyoli for one day journey to the reserved forest, mainly a risky route for casual visitors. We just finalized the place around 10am and he was supposed to reach my place by 11:30am, but unfortunately he got struck and we were able to start it around 1:30pm from Chengaloor. Vanchiyoli is in Thrissur District and it is inside the Chalakudy Reserved forest division under Pariyaram range. It is a 193Hec you may need the permission from forest conservator to explore the place. From Thrissur it is around 41km Ride and most of the roads are in good condition

Photos 84 / Videos 1

Route Map We Travelled : Thrissur to Vanchiyoli (Randukai)

The Expedition : There were 3 bikes and 6 people, we started from Chengaloor to Vanchiyoli.Having only a vague idea about the place,only knew from the news paper that it was near to Randukai which was the closest junction were we can find some clue for the place. We took the route through Mupliyam and towards Kodaly through Chembuchira. From Kodaly it was the route from kodakara stright to Randukai through Vellikulangara. Chayppankuzhy is another place near to randukai.

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Vanchiyoli is a place not known by even the near by residents and villagers, but the name Maruthukuzhi may be known to some as there was a recent landslide in the beginning of October 2011. The Place is beautifully covered with reserve forest, but there are people living in the perimeter of 500mts- 1km from the stream. Vanchiyoli is a stream which is quite nice with small small falls and beauty of the river, he wildness of the forest adds the beauty. We were taking the stream to walk and almost all the time we were in the stream. Which does help us to increase the energy but you should be careful of the rocks which may slide or there are chances of getting bitten by theLeach, so be careful. Let’s start…

The best time to visit this place is around Oct-Nov and you should expect some rains during this time. But with water having in an amount which we can walk is pretty nice, but should also expect sudden rise if heavy rains happens.
There are buses operated from Vellikulangara and Chalakudy

This is a small Primary School in Randukai after which we took the left route towards the Vanchiyoli stream.

Randukai Junction, you can see the road to the left which we took to Vanchiyoli Falls.

We just loved the place, even though we took initially the wrong route, but when on track really liked the place and the time of 3hours was not enough to explore the place. We will come back and explore more next time.

This is one of the boards which reminds you that you stand in a place where the reserved forest begins and should take care of the nature, to protect it and help to preserve it for our future generations. Please take care not to dispose any plastic waste and not to damage any reserved properties during the visit.

Here is the gate of the Vanchiyoli Expedition, you need to park your vehicle here, can park 2-3cars at a time.

Tony, Pandish, Abhishek and Amit on their rides… Pandish why are you hiding in the Helmet?

Another one from the Floor…

Tony just loved to come and join Rojan.

Binoy was ready to explore.

All were finishing the food, it was around 3:25pm and we were dead hungry, I just took my tummy full.

We were on Rojan’s bullet, so the ride was comfortable.

We took the wrong route first to the left of the stoppage point and deep into the Forest, which gave us a surprise.. scrolll downnnnnn.

A Small break after the walk, we walked some 500mtrs to the deep forest.

OMG, A Deer was spotted all of a sudden, we watched it for some 3-4minutes before it just vanished..
I was so thrilled, and suddenly we all felt like being in the middle of the Jungle..
This trip will be in mind for so long due to this special moment and I think we were lucky to see a deer here, not sure whether there are lots of deers in this area, I was visiting this place for the first time and did not even know there is such a beautiful place hidden inside

We felt some insecurity thinking that if Deer is here then tigers and elephants can be here, from here onwards we were very cautious and made less sounds.

We came know that this is not the route to the falls as we were able to hear some falls sound previously but now we can’t hear anything. So we thought of ending this route and returning to the place were we started it was almost 3:45pm

Another reminder which helps some people to have a feeling that they are inside some restricted area where you should not make fire or should not destroy any forest resources.

After some 20mins walk we were able to find the route towards the stream, we cut short the previous route and joined this place when we saw the walk path inside the old route. This will be the view from the old entrance with the Iron bar kept, we took the left route through the small water stream but should have walked some 200mtrs further through the road which is in front blcked and taken the stream from there.

We were ready to explore the forest, the stream looked beautiful..

Still there was no proper way which was leading to the falls, so we decided to walk in the water, Tony was in the front.

The Stream..

We were having 3 Digital Cams 2 DSLRs and one Digicam with Pandish

Ohh its a snail..

Tony was on top of one of the fallen trees, which was captured, the tree roots exposed out looked so beautiful in the photos.

We were having limited time and were hurrying in..

Rojan has a good shot here, I was just shooting in the middle of the stream, nice one Rojs..

Another pose by Mr. Tony

We have passed some 800mtrs+ into the forest and the stream was not so deep, we were just walking through the stream.

Tony waving hands to make sure all are together… I’m here no worries.

Rojan was experimenting with his new Camera, Nikon D3000

Pandish and Amit was in the back shooting and enjoying the place..

Some forest trees..

Rojan Taking Rest while Tony was busy with measuring the Depth of the stream.

Pandish was shooting videos all the way, even when walking in the stream.. hey man is it a waterproof cam??

Here comes the falls, there were some 2-3 small falls which we took bath at the time of return.

Beauty Man……

Some images of the beautiful stream…

Some of the images of the beautiful stream..

Beautiful stream, we took some 20mins bath here, but should be careful of the Leech, carry some salt and a lighter.

More into the deep forest and it was getting bit cloudy and dark.. Oh worried about the DSLRs..

Rojan and Amit following us

Tony and Abhihek was in the front, I was walking in the middle.

Hey go steady man………

Tony, Abhishek and Pandish

And we stopped here, this was our first photo all together my cam was sitting in the mud..
We were decided to stop the climb as the stream was getting narrowed and there was not signs of big falls as the water was very limited. We are not sure of any big waterfalls after this point so stopping the climb here.

Last stop here, now a Photoshoot

Some of the special plants we found near our last stop.

Return to the base, we will have some break in between..

Love the stream…cool clear water.

Rojan in the wild.

Another group shot, my cam again on the top of the bag and in the middle of streams rock.

Look we are here…

A Special view.

As it is post monsoon the stream was having less water, but that helped us to travel easy.

Return, its getting dark and drizzling too..

Some natural art on the rock- shot by Tony Chungath.

We will be spending some time here and having a bath.

We are almost reaching back.

So that was the great expedition and we takes alot of good memmories with us.

It is really worth exploring the place, which is very quite and not that far to reach also not that hard climb to the top.

Bye bye Vanchiyoli……..

Pattathi Paara is located near Mannuthy, in Thrissur Dist. It is 26km far from Thrissur Town (which is the Major Railway Station Nearby), you can get bus to Pattathi Paara from the Thrissur Vadakke Bus Stand, which is near to the AG’s Office & Bini Tourist Home. You have to get Chirakkekode, Thalikode Bus and ask to get down near the TEAMS IT Park which is near to the Site. The Nearest airport is Cochin International Airport which is 60km far.

The waterfall seems small in view but it’s a different experience when you stand inside the fall, you will feel so excited. Till that moment I did not feel so cool about the fall, but after being under the fall it was a different feel. As it is not that high fall and as there is less danger of rocks falling from above on normal conditions it is mostly out of danger zone. But you should be extremely careful regarding the slippery rocks and sudden rainfall which may create a very bad scene in minutes.

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Route Map from Google ~ Route Map to Pattathi Paara Waterfall
Google Route Map given here is self explanatory and you can click on the link and change your starting point accordingly. It is advised to travel on Bikes as the roads are narrow and sometimes you need to travel through the sides of the Canal which we opted for.

It was on 28.10.2011 I was sitting idle, while Rojan called for a outdoor photoshoot, I just remembered Pattathi Paara and thought should visit this time the place,so called Tony and asked if he was interested. He said yes and we were planning things by 10:00am, We packed the things and was on the way to Mannuthy. Picked Tony around 11:00am and took some food from Mannuthy Hotel.

Best time to visit the place is post-monsoon as it will not be heavy rains, season begins from Aug last to October Last. Mostly depends on the monsoon rain in Kerala which spans over a period of 5months. This was my first visit to Pattathi Paara, even though I have heard about the place during my studies, I was not able to visit the place for this long.

TEAMS IT Park is an Engineering Institute, which is just 1Km far from the Waterfall site. Hope the students know the place and explored it.

This is the place where we parked our scooters and started climbing to the reserved forest. We took some snaps here and there is a small shutter and a bridge under which the water from the fall passes to the near by places.
Time taken to reach Pattathi Para from Mannuthy is less than Half an Hour if you are familiar with the place. You may need to chekc with people otherwise to reach here.

We are standing on the bridge under which the water passes from the fall to the nearing places.

Just showing my Muscle Power… Haha. was fun …

Really this thing is heavy man…
Two cameras from different angles, Ammo…

Rojan was waiting for me and Tony to come.

The Water from the falls flows through here…

We were just leaving the houses behind and entering the Forest Area. “Prevent the Wild Fire, Pattathi Paara Forest Conservation” board says.

Myself and Rojan was taking photos and moving, while Tony grabbed the camera and shot this.
It is best to carry atleast a Litre of Water for each person and some Food if you plan to spend some quality time in the falls. Also one match box or lighter along with a Torch and some salt powder is good as some times you may find Leech in this area

Some of the forest trees, its not that thick forest as it is not that far from the inhabitant area

Binoy & Rojan was ahead while Tony Captured this.

Rojan engaged in a Wild Shoot, Enjoying…

Myself joined with Rojan for the pose..

Continuing the exploration… as it was not that deep in forest we were not much worried about the wild life.

Going through the fallen trees and thick plants gives you the feel.

It was Tony’s chance and he was ready to climb and pose on all the possible places.. Tony comeon…

We have reached the top of the fall and now some rest. The Water flow is so nice and the water is clear, you can drink from it.

Was just trying to reach some of the streams top…

Walking to the wild, we climbed for another 200mtrs through the stream and stopped near some rocks were it seemed like the stream is almost getting flat from there onwards, not sure our thoughts, so just started to come down.

The Backpack, with all the essentials My Cam, Food, Water, Keys, Watches, Mobile..

Ready for the Lunch,it was around 2:00 pm and we were jumping to the food.

We sat near the end of the fall and 10 Chappathi’s disappeared in a moment, All were full and we took some 30mins break there.

Tony was playing with some butterflies there…
You can walk further to the Tribal Huts of the people from here, as Tony mentioned but he was not sure about the distance and how they may behave, so we stopped here and decided to descend to the fall.

It was a beautiful view and even though the water seems to be less in quantity easily 1-2 people can take bath in this fall…

After the big fall there is another small fall which forms a small pond under the fall, which then flows to another 1/2 km and goes down the bridge which we stood for first shot.

The Greenery seen from near the waterfall….

What a beauty … as it has rained during the last days fall was having some good amount of water.

Boys jumped to the fall.. envy u.. I was shooting some photos and video.

All kinds of pose was done by the boys,you can’t hear much from inside the fall. Only the sound of water and enjoy the bath.

Rojan Enjoying the fall, Its special when you stand down the fall..

Now it was tony’s turn and he was really slow to come up to the top, but once there, it was just real fun.. Throwing water to one another and laughing out loud.. Ufff some water went in the ears..

The Shadow…….
We were in water till 4:20pm, really enjoyed the bath. It was around 1 Hr 30 minutes full masti in water. We were climbing the rocks, getting into to the fall, coming out all kinds of..

At last we were back to shooting, this time all together, my cam was on top of the bag as I forgot to carry the tripod.

From were did the water came.. Tony?!!.

Suddenly, were did I go… Ummm…

We will keep this memmory for long.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
+Corinthians 13:7-8

We would like to invite you to celebrate the  Wedding

As they shall become one
to share all the days of their lives…..
Mrs. Annie Cherian & Mr. Cherian P A
request the honour of your presence
at the wedding ceremony uniting
of their Grand Son

S/o Mrs. Mariyamma Anto & Mr. PC Anto
Tharakan Poovathukaran House, Chengaloor P.O, Thrissur Dt. 

Binoy Anto & Nicy Francis

D/o Mrs. RubyFrancis & Mr. Francis J Valavi
Valavi House, Chalakudy P.O, Thrissur Dt.

Which will be D.V. solemnised
at Mary of Mount Carmel Church
Chengaloor, Thrissur
on Monday, 15 th August 2011, 11:00am

Our Great family Cruise in the Cochin Backwaters started on 28.12.2010 around 6:30am, started with the 20 seater bus from Chengaloor, travelled by Irinjalakuda – Kattoor route and took more members from Edathiruthy. Then travelled through the Edamuttam NH17 and then to the Marine Drive area in Ernakulam through the Vallaarpadam Bridge.

The total expected strength was around 35+ and we were around that, it was first time that we were having a get together in a cruise boat. We have heard about the beauty of the Cochin Backwaters and I have been in some trips which takes people for a 3 Hrs trip to different areas in Cochin, so I was having an idea.

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All the credit for arranging such a nice trip with all things taken care of goes to Giby Johny, and we felt fully comfortable during the 6+hrs of the trip. We started our trip from the area near the Banerji Road, near to Marine drive where normally all the boat travels start. We boarded the cruise ship and it was a quite big one.

All were ready to enjoy the great Cruise in the Cochin Backwaters.. A Full day Masti.. prepared to do lots of things and I was ready to shoot each moment.

There were more surprises waiting, we got a warm welcome with Banners, Meritta and Angel was holding the same and smiling.. that was nice…

Thats our boat which was waiting there for the guest, we were not even half to fill the same, so there was lots of place to spare, should have taken a football…..

Queen of Arabian Sea,!?
View of the Boat, We were just entering inside..

The view of another vessel which was near our boat.
Our boat was huge and has 2 decks, Can see the same 2 photos before.One in Upper and one in Lower, Upper Deck is half open and you gets a full view of the surroundings, but when its too hot condition its not easy to sit there for long intervals. Lower deck has covered windows and also Fans inside. Around 50people can be accomodated on both Decks. As we were around 35, there was no issues of the space.

We were taking breakfast at the upper deck, with some vada and some sambar and stuffs. It was tasty vadas tasted well..

One of the vessels carrying the debris and collected sand and soil from the Vallarpadam Container Terminal works.

Giby Johny and Bijoy Standing infront of the Vallarpadam Container Terminal.
Info about terminal from Wikipedia.org
Some external Images link from Google Images

The Whole Gang in the background of Vallarpadam Transshipment Terminal Cranes Backdrop.
Some Facts about International Container Transshipment Terminal, Kochi
>> Vallarpadam Terminal is the largest single operator container terminal in India and the first in the country to operate in a special economic zone.
>> The terminal makes kochi a key centre in the shipping world reducing India ’s dependence on foreign ports to handle transshipment.
>> In the first phase there will be 600 m Quay length and a draft of more than 15 m , when the terminal may handle 1 million TEU container annually by the end of 2012.
>> In the second phase the capacity will be enhanced to 3 million TEU’s by the end of 2014.
>> In the third phase the terminal may handle even up to 5.5 million TEU’s.
The total cost of the project is estimated at 3200 crore .
>> DP World has estimated that the total initial investment required will be approximately US$20 million which includes the immediate provision of four RTGs and two Mobile Harbour Cranes to the Terminal -to improve yard handling, truck turnaround time and quayside operations.
>> Strategically located on the main east-west global shipping lines and offering draft of about 16 m, Cochin is destined to develop as the premier gateway to southern India, as also offering an alternative to Sri Lanka and Singapore for containers being transshipped for the Indian market.

Long view of the Cranes of the Terminal
One of the Fisherman with his small boat who still depends on the fishing with small nets at this waters.

We started our Trip to Elanjippara Waterfalls at Marottichal area around 1:30pm, as it was not a pre planned one, preparations were less and by 2 pm we started from Amballur centre after taking a heavy lunch.

It was on the republic day 26. Jan 2011, We wanted to be back before 6pm, as there was some other journey planned. The waterfall is best to view during the months of monsoon and after,ie; Jun – Oct. But it is difficult to go all the way to the top as it may be either raining or too slippery, walking 4km to the top while it is raining and route not clear, will be bit difficult.

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The fall is 18 km from my village (Chengaloor) and it is 15 km far from Amballur Jn, and from Thrissur Town its 27km far(which is the Major Railway Station Nearby). The Nearest airport is Cochin International Airport which is 60km far.

Route Map from Google ~ Route Map Elanjippara Waterfall

You can check with the Bus Conductors if you travel in the line bus for the Elanjippara Waterfall stop or Marottichal waterfall stop, and this is the main entrance to the stream and the regularly used path to reach the top of the fall. As there are very less shops after the main area at marottichal and there are 2 ways which leads you to Marottichal waterfall, you can take the Marottichal Bus which can be taken from the Vadakke Stand at Thrissur Town, which takes you through Thrissur – Mannamangalam Route, crossing the NH 47 , through elamthuruthy.

The saddest thing was that I was n’t aware my DSLR was out of power after my last days photo shoot at home and could n’t even take any breath taking views of this trip. But as my brother was having a small Canon IXUS 105 in his bag and it came lucky for me.

There were 4-5 vehicles parked when we reached the place around 2:40pm, and as it was a holiday and lots of local people visit this place as its not crowded, mostly to enjoy the natural beauty, meanwhile talking and taking some beverages too.

The place does n’t have any forest check post only thing you see is the 2 or 3 boards from the forest department regarding the area and precautions and safety tips to avoid forest fire.

Some people just comes to this area and sits here for some time, as its the starting point and the streams water is just flowing the place is active and there is a natural water pond down this area.

There is a 4Km walk towards the top and will require a 1hr 15min+ time to reach. As our journey was during January, the walking route was made clear by the forest department persons, especially as during the summer there is a big chance of forest fire, they do the fire lining too during this time as the rainfall have stopped almost. The stream is having very little water flow.

Forest department has put some boards to remind us that the area is a reserved forest and also some dust bins are kept in the form of Concrete rings or baskets, which I consider a good move. I have been to this place 3-4 times before and sometimes I have found lots of Junk Plastic covers and Liquor bottles laying here and there. As this place should be kept always clean and natural and usage of plastic should be restricted. I hope the govt. departments takes some more pro active steps to create awareness for people and to encourage the guests to reduce the junk use and proper disposal of the waste materials.

Rojan with the butterflies, there were lots of butterflies here in thousands…

Some places in the stream has water ponds which has water accumulated.

Just took some images on the rock, first for the pose.

Some paths are too hard to climb with rocks, that is the adventure part in this route and as its sunny and we had 3 bottles of water with us, we were not much worried. Also the water from stream is drinkable, but should be taken carefully for drinking.

You can see some of the fire lines put by the forest clearing people and they have cleared also the walking path.We don’t have to push much plants to get the route, but I felt that bit disappointing, as last times, I have to make my way all the way to the top by pushing the plants to both sides.

Some of the rocks and shapes keeps us thinking so many things, I was wondering looking at one of such thing…

The walk to the top can be sometimes bit difficult due to some steep climbs, but its ok and last 1km is bit tough as its steep upwards climb, you will take sometime to complete the same, and needs to breath well after the final 1km climb, which leads you 2 two paths, one to the bottom of the waterfall and another to the top of the waterfall.

There are several trees fallen across the walking path and you can take a small break while on walk on this.

This was one of the fabulous easy chairs we found on the way, and Rojan was enjoying the same. Did n’t it looks so coool..

As I was familiar with the hurdles on the way to the top and the need of carrying enough water while on this trip, we took 3 full bottles of water, which almost exhausted when reached the top, the last 1km walk will take you to some extremes as its steep walk to the top.

This was taken from the tip of the waterfall and you can see Kuttan and Rojan taking the next route towards finding the origin of the stream, you have to again walk around 3km to see the streams origin from the dense forest.

This was taken from the Rock which was just after the waterfall, and can see the dense forests we covered during the our walk. As the forest is thick and covered one, we would feel much of the sunshine while on walk.

The Junction, where you can walk to the bottom of the waterfall and take a bath and also to the top of the waterfall and continue to walk through the stream and by the side of the stream. Rojan and Kuttan was taking a small break while I shot the snaps from here and from the right of them which gives a clear view of the valleys, we passed.

We took some 15mins break before starting for the next walk to the origin of the stream, was not sure that we can walk to all the way 3kms as time was restrictive on us, meanwhile we were ready to go further and explore the place.

Another shot of the water coming from the stream, just before it becomes the fall.

Shot from Big Rock after the fall from where you can see both the waterfall and the forest and valley.

As it’s the start of the summer, the fall has become very thin, there were people taking bath in this narrow falls too, the water was still super cool. You can some of the photos taken by others of the fall here, when it is full of water. http://goo.gl/5mXBI

This is how it looks from the fall, I was taking this image from the tip of the fall.

Now as we start walking further towards the top of the waterfall continuing to reach the origin of the stream the stream and the surrounding was  more dense with trees and less climbs, some parts of the stream was so flat, we spend some time here looking around and it seemed like we have reached some different place, not much of the visitors cover this area after the falls. We lost track of my brother, who was hurrying fast before us and myself and Rojan stayed some 15mins here taking some snaps and enjoying the nature.

I was not sure what was he trying , but he was trying it hard, you should be extra careful while climbing through the rocks as one small slip and you are down….

While we were shooting all this and waiting for my brother, we were not aware that he has gone some further and was checking with one of the local who was there collecting some ayurvedic medicinal plants near the stream. The local informed that there appeared an Elephant just 5mins before, I think it came to drink water from the stream.

He was explaining that the villagers made noise and sent the elephant back to the jungle, hearing same, we started looking at each other and also to all the bushes and plants near by. Just a precaution !?

These villagers collect this kind of herbal plants and sell to the ayurvedic centers which make medicine out of this, they are taking the roots of the plant.

We stopped our walking at this spot, you can see more of the last laps circus on the attached video at the end, it was thick forest with more and more diversions and we took one of the diversions after we saw the villagers who was collecting the herbal medicines and we were informed that there were people who was making the fire line ahead, and we do not want to disturb them. Watch the video for final 15mins walk through the dense forest and last rock climb.

We started our downwards walk by 4:30pm and expected to reach the base by 5:15pm as it was more easy for descending. This was one of the short breaks.

Even though it was just 4hrs walk through the forest and stream, it was a memorable one. With the Elephants story, it became more memorable, we wished that we could have met the guy on the way down, I was looking around all the time and was hoping to see a glance of the same elephant.

PANORAMA IMAGE FROM THE TOP OF THE WATERFALL – CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW FULL

Video Will be Posted Soon…

It was on 2nd Jan 2011, We just planned a short trip to the Chimmoni Dam, which is quite near to our place.

As it was on a short notice and we just wanted to have some fresh air and of our limited time, just went there for 3 hours. As it was a Sunday there were some good number of visitors to this place, which we did not expect. We saw some 10+ number of vehicles parked.

Even though I have visited this dam at least some 5-6 times, still I love to explore the same, I have gone into the deepest parts of this forest. This area links to the Tamilnadu through the dense forest and in the ancient times when there was scarcity for food people used to walk to Tamilnadu side through this forest. I have have explored 8-9kms into deep of this forest in both sides.

Whenever I came here I was able to climb to the Top of the Dam through the Dam stairs and have enjoyed the same. I have seen tribal people leaving in the boats made of bamboo to take the honey from the trees, long into the dense areas, have wished one day I could travel there, even if I have to stay one night there with them. Oohh, hope my wish comes true.

Location: About 34 km from Thrissur town, Thrissur district, Central Kerala.
Best time to visit: November to April.

The dense tropical forests of Chimmini, shelter diverse flora and fauna. The dam across the Chimmini river offers a breathtaking view. This picturesque picnic spot is a favourite haunt of the local people.
Getting there:
Nearest railway station: Thrissur, about 34 km.
Nearest airport: Cochin International Airport, about 75 km.

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INFORMATION

(From http://tourism.webindia123.com Link - http://goo.gl/0AOk5)

Chimmoni (Chimmini) Wildlife Sanctuary

Place                             :    Thrissur District, Kerala

The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) is a large saturniid moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, and common across the Malay archipelago.[1] In India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in a non-commercial capacity; unlike that produced by the related Silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), Atlas moth silk is secreted as broken strands. This brown, wool-like silk is thought to have greater durability and is known as fagara.[2] Atlas moth cocoons have been employed as purses in Taiwan.

Atlas moths are considered the largest moths in the world[3] in terms of total wing surface area [upwards of c. 400 cm2 (62 sq in)]. Their wingspans are also amongst the largest, from 25–30 cm (10–12 in). Females are appreciably larger and heavier.

Atlas Moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Genus:	Attacus
Species:	A. atlas
Binomial name
Attacus atlas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Chimmini Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the western Valley of Nelliampathy in the Mukundapuram Taluk of Thrissur district. Established in 1984, it is an idyllic getaway to wildlife where nature enthusiasts can find rare species of flora and fauna. A part of the Chimmini wildlife sanctuary lies adjacent to the Peechi-Vazhani wildlife sanctuary and the rest to the Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary.

Covering an area of about 85.067 km2, the sanctuary is on the Western slopes of the Nelliyampathi hills. The sanctuary also boasts Punda Peak which is situated at the eastern side of the sanctuary has an altitude of 1116m.

Echippara, 28 kms away from Ambaloor is the headquarters of this sanctuary. Inside the sanctuary,there is a dam constructed across the Chimmini river at 75 m above the sea level. The sanctuary, also consisting of the watershed areas of Kunumali and Mupliyam rivers, is encircled by hills. Consequent on the construction of Chimmini dam, an artificial lake has been formed here. This lake has an area of 10 sq.kms and a depth of 20m.

Flora
Chimmini sanctuary has a composition of West Coast tropical evergreen forest, West Coast semi-evergreen forest, Southern Indian moist deciduous forest and Leaf shedding forest. Fifty percent of the forests come under moist deciduous category, and 25% under semi-ever green category. West Coast tropical evergreen tree species such as Pali, Punna, Vediplavu, Anjili, Whitepine, Kampakom, White akil, Pathiri etc can be seen in the upper part and trees like Vetti, Thetti, Kara, Narakom, Marotti, Mullilam etc are seen in the lower parts. Semi Evergreen tree species such as Manja Kadambu, Ayani, Elavu, Pongu, White teak, Manimaruthu, Kanakkaitha, Vakkaplavu and Leaf Shedding tress like Thakara, Pala, Padachi, Venga, Puvam, Vedam Korana, Karimarunna, Pilla marunnu, Thani, Irul are seen here. Besides this, rare species of endangered orchids and herbs like Mara Manjal (tree turmeric) and Analivegam can be seen here.

Fauna
Some of the mammals found here are Leopard, Elephant, Bear, Wild Pig, Wild Bison, Tiger etc. Over 110 species of avi fauna have been recorded of which 22 are migrants. Also found are more than 31 different species of local fish varieties, 25 rare species of reptiles, 14 varieties of amphibians including ‘Churalaama’ (a variety of tortoise) and 100 and odd types butterflies including the Atlas Moth’ (world’s largest moths).

Facilities
As part of community based eco-tourism, the local Malaya tribal communities organise various tourism packages like Trekking, Bamboo rafting and Night camping inside the sanctuary.
There are 10 eco- tourism packages offered here. This will give you glimpses of the rich flora and fauna present here.

Sl no. Name of tour Rate 1 Bamboo Rafting Short trips and Full day programmes 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 2 Birding trail (Time 6 am to 9 am) Accompanied by skilled Eco-Guide 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 3 Butterfly safari (Time 6 am to 11am) Accompanied by skilled Eco-Guide 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 4 Nature walk for children (for Children – 7 to 14 years) Accompanied by skilled Eco-Guide 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 5 Jungle craft & Animal tracking (Specially for children) Skilled interpreters 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 6 Moonlight sonata (2hrs) 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 7 Nature Trails (Starts 7 am) Light Treks (2hrs) Accompanied by Eco-Guide from Chimmony EDC Moderate Treks (3hrs) Accompanied by Eco-Guide from Chimmony EDC 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food 8 Orchid trail 100/per head (Maximum 10 people) without food More information please contact. 9595539715

Chimmoni wildlife sanctuary is not properly looked after by the Government and by the forest Department, The entry to the premises are bit heavy as they charge  50 .00 for a Car, and

This was taken just before entering the Palappilly Range, The Hill and surrounding looked very nice.

Snapped just after entering the Forest Security Gate, Looks awesome with all Teaks on oneside and Rubber Plantation on the other.

Working in this Rubber Plantations gives the mostly migrated workers their bread and butter.

As it was sunday we were able to find some visitors at this area, most being youth enjoying the scenic beauty with their adventurous nature.

Navigation Boards

The Dam mainly serves for the Irrigation purpose of the area, its infamous for the holes in the main dam we can see some water spilling from here and there in the main dam. Which gives assurance that the same will not make any threats to the surrounding as it would n’t break.

Contact Details For Chimmoni Wildlife Sanctuary :-
Assistant Wild Life Warden
Office of the Asst: Wild Life Warden,
Chimmony Wild Life Sanctuary,
Chimmony Dam P.O. , Kerala
Ph: 91 480 3209234

Chairman/Ex-officio Secretary
Chimmony Eco-development Committee,
Chimmony dam P.O., Kerala
Ph: 91 480 3209234

We were walking to the Top, as we were late to reach, and it was already dawn. To reach top of the dam you need to walk some 400 mtrs.

We saw the subdivision office en-route to the top of the Dam.

Some of the equipments used in the dam construction is still here in the rusting condition.

Most of the visitors to this dam are the young people, we found some couples and families too enjoying the beauty.

Some facts about the Dam, by the authorities

View of the Dam Catchment Area

View of the Dam Catchment Area

View of the Dam Catchment Area

This area is linked directly to the Peechi Wild Life Sanctuary and there is a Route for 4Wheel drives through the same, used only by the forest dept. which normally is not usable during monsoon time.

This dam provides water supply to many parts of the district connected with Kurumali river. A very nice dam site. It is surrounded by Peechi Dam and Mangalam Dam

Climate :
The climate here is very salubrious. Warm climate is felt from December to April and cold climate from May to November. Heat during March and April months goes up to 24° C to 30°C. Heavy rain is experienced during the month of June and July. The annual average rainfall is 2980mm. The temperature used to decrease to 15°C. Consequent on the construction of Chimmony Dam, an artificial lake has been formed here. This lake has an area of 10 sq.kms and a depth of 20m. This sanctuary consists of 10 sq.kms of evergreen forests, 15sq.kms of semi evergreen forests and 40 sq.kms of leaf shedding forests.

We three (Sandeep,Rojan and Binoy) reached the top by 5:45 pm and it was already getting dark. We took some shots standing near the dam catchment area.

It’s a great place to escape from the busy schedules of city life and to breath that fresh natural air.

Have never been to this place during monsoon, after the heavy rains normally the valves of the Dam will be open wide and you can enjoy the beauty of that big splash of water.

Rojan seemed to be in focus of the camera.

I have been to the deep forest in here, there are lots of different species of animals in this sanctuary, you can also find a variety of butterflies in huge numbers in the valley.

Myself and Rojan, the dam catchment area.

Sandeep and Rojan.
The highest peak in sanctuary is Punda peak (1116 m). Along with the neighboring Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary it forms a continuous protected area of 210 km2

Rojan.
Nestled in the sanctuary is Chimmony Dam which is built across the Chimmony river. The sanctuary consists of the watershed areas of Kunumali|Kunumali River and Mupliam river s. The headquarters of the sanctuary is at Echippara which is 40 km away from Thrissur city. The sanctuary also offers trekking paths for the adventure traveller.

Rojan and Sandeep.
Covering an area of about 85.067 km2, the sanctuary is on the Western slopes of the Nelliyampathi hills. The sanctuary also boasts Punda Peak which is situated at the eastern side of the sanctuary has an altitude of 1116m.

Rojan.
West Coast tropical evergreen tree species such as Pali, Punna, Vediplavu, Anjili, Whitepine, Kampakom, White akil, Pathiri etc can be seen in the upper part and trees like Vetti, Thetti, Kara, Narakom, Marotti, Mullilam etc are seen in the lower parts. Semi Evergreen tree species such as Manja Kadambu, Ayani, Elavu, Pongu, White teak, Manimaruthu, Kanakkaitha, Vakkaplavu and Leaf Shedding tress like Thakara, Pala, Padachi, Venga, Puvam, Vedam Korana, Karimarunna, Pilla marunnu, Thani, Irul are seen here. Besides this, rare species of endangered orchids and herbs like Mara Manjal (tree turmeric) and Analivegam can be seen here.

Rojan and Sandeep
A recent survey recorded the presence of the lesser fish eagle (Ichthyophaga humilis), which until recently was only known from the foothills of the Himalayas. This finding establishes that the three wildlife sanctuaries, Peechi-Vazhani, Chimmony and Parambikulam act as an important conservation zone for this and other globally threatened species.

The sanctuary is an important bird area with 192 recorded avian species. Five Western Ghats endemic bird species occur here, including the grey-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus priocephalus), Indian rufous babbler (Turdoides subrufus) and white-bellied blue-flycatcher (Cyornis pallipes). Other interesting species found here include-Ceylon frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger), Indian edible-nest swiftlet (Collocalia unicolor), Malabar trogon (Harpactes fasciatus), Malabar whistling-thrush (Myiophonus horsfieldii) and Loten’s sunbird (Nectarinia lotenia) (Islam and Rahmani 2004).

Sunset view from Top of the Dam

Sandeep and Binoy

Its a real beauty to watch the wild life and thick forest form some unique designs.
Tribal community
The sole tribal community within the limits of the sanctuary belongs to the “Malaya” tribe. An Eco-development Committee was formed in October 2002 for the development of this community comprising 210 members belonging to 52 families residing in two colonies adjacent to the sanctuary. The tribal based eco-tourism projects initiated by the committee are progressing quite well.

Other significant sightings during the survey included those of the large hawk cuckoo (Cuculus sparverioides), broad-billed roller (Eurystomus orientalis) and ashy minivet (Pericrocotus divaricatus). About half of the large mammals found in Kerala are reported from Chimmony Wildlife Sanctuary, especially some of the globally threatened species such as tiger (Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and wild dog (Cuon alpinus). Other red-listed species found here include the Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) and the endemic primates-lion-tailed macaque]] (Macaca silenus), Nilgiri langur (Trachypithecus johnii) and slender loris (Loris lydekkerianus). There are 39 species of mammals, 160 sp of birds, 25 species of reptiles, 14 species of amphibians, and 31 species of fishes are reported from the sanctuary.

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Want to learn more about our great world? find great degrees here

Dubai

(English pronunciation: /du?’ba?/ doo-BYE; Arabic: ???? dubayy?) is one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi.^[5] Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country’slegislature.^[6]

The earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095, and the earliest settlement known as Dubai town dates from 1799. Dubai was formally established in the early 19th century by the Al Abu Falasa clan of Bani Yas, and it remained under clan control when the United Kingdom assumed the protection of Dubai in 1892. Its geographical location made it an important trading hub and by the beginning of the 20th century, it was an important port. In 1966, the year oil was discovered, Dubai and the emirate of Qatar set up a new monetary unit to replace the Gulf Rupee. The oil economy led to a massive influx of foreign workers, quickly expanding the city by 300% and bringing in international oil interests. The modern emirate of Dubai was created after the UK left the area in 1971. At this time Dubai, together with Abu Dhabi and four other emirates, formed theUnited Arab Emirates. The following year Ras al Khaimah joined the federation while Qatar and Bahrain chose to remain independent nations. In 1973, the monetary union with Qatar was dissolved and the UAE Dirham introduced throughout the UAE. A free trade zone was built around theJebel Ali port in 1979, allowing foreign companies unrestricted import of labour and export capital. The Gulf War of 1990 had a negative financial effect on the city, as depositors withdrew their money and traders withdrew their trade, but subsequently the city recovered in a changing political climate and thrived.

View Larger Map

Dubai Wikipedia Link

Slideshow of All Photos - Press the [ ] Square on Bottom near to NEXT arrow to watch Fullscreen

132 Photos, 2 Panoramic Images

A Bird Waiting for its Pair

A Bird Waiting for its Pair in the Backdrop of Burj Khalifa

At last he came and we had a chat...

But he has a party at Burj Khalifa.. So Tata Bye Bye

A beautiful Garden, near the WAFI MALL, Sheik Rashid Road

A Metro Station Under Development near Oud Mehta Road

Dubai Metro rail Green Line Work Under Progress

A Metro Station Under Development near Oud Mehta Road

Gulf Towers Building, Oud Mehta Road

Navigation Sign, Floating Bridge. Which opens during Day and Closed at Night

More About Floating Bridge

Dubai Metro rail Green Line Work Under Progress, Near St. Mary's Church

Traffic Signal near Burjuman Center, Dubai

About Burjuman Center

Burjuman Center Entrance near Dubai Metro Station

Some Road Signs in Sharjah Area

Some Road Signs in Sharjah Area

Some Road Signs in Sharjah Area

Airport Road Sharjah

Sharjah to Fujairah Road

Road Signs in UAE, showing Monitoring of Radar

Sharjah to Dubai, in Dubai RTA Bus which is AED 5.00

Sharjah Fish Market Bus Stand, View from RTA Bus

Sharjah Fish Market Bus Stand, View from RTA Bus

Sharjah Ansar Mall, Sharjah - Dubai Road, View from RTA Bus

Sharjah - Dubai Border. Al Nahda Bridge, View from RTA Bus

Air Conditioned Bus Shelter, Near Hor Al Anz Area, Dubai

Dubai, The Clean and Green City. Maintained with Support of these People and Municipalities Strict Action on Cleanliness

Women workers going after work, Hor Al Anz Area, Dubai

A Civil Defence Vehicle Taking Uturn near Deira, Dubai

A Civil Defence Vehicle Taking Uturn near Deira, Dubai

Dubai Traffic Signal and Pedestrian Crossing, Dubai

Dubai Taxi waiting at the Signal

Dubai Taxi waiting at the Signal

A Display Panel showing present time in the RTA Bus, Dubai

An Emirates Airlines Flight, Dubai

Road Signs at Dubai

People Chatting, Sitting in the Grass, View near Deira Dubai

View of Muragabat Police Station

REEF MALL, Dubai

View of Fish Round About, Deira Dubai

Etisalat Tower, Deira Dubai

Dubai Muncipality Building, Deira Dubai

National Bank of Dubai, Deira Dubai

Radisson BLU Hotel, Deira Dubai

Vertical Robotic Car Park, Deira Dubai

Staircase view of RTA Bus Dubai

Inside the RTA Bus Travelling from Sharjah to Dubai

Journey towards Fujairah Emirate in UAE

View of Burdubai Junction

Plaza Cinema Burduabai

View of Burdubai Junction

Ministry of Finance, Dubai

View of a Yatch docked near Dubai Abra

View of a Yatch docked near Dubai Abra

Touch me ..... Abra View

View of a Yatch near Dubai Abra

Rajish near the Abra, Dubai

View of a RTA Water Bus near Dubai Abra

View of a RTA Water Bus near Dubai Abra

Burdubai Area View from Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House

View of a Yatch from Abra area

A Small Boat Docked near the Abra Area

An Old House View from Abra

??

An Old House View from Abra

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Entry Pass

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Knife @ Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Knife @ Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Knife @ Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Gift Shop

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Entrance

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Views

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Stamps Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Stamps Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Stamps Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Coins Collection

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Sketch

Night View of Abra

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Statues

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Statues

Sheik Saed Al Maktoum House, Statues

Night View Abra

Infront of the Diving Village

Night View Dubai Creek

Night View, Naif Area

Night View, Naif Area

Night View, Naif Souq

Night View, Naif California Hotel

Near Naif Abra Station

Near Naif Abra Station

Near Naif Abra Station

Naif Abra Station

Naif Abra Station

Naif Abra Station

Naif Abra Station, Views

Naif Abra Station, Views

Abra, Views

Abras used to be the primary means of transportation between the two sides of the creek before cars could cross it via the several bridges or the Al Shindagha Tunnel. It is now mostly used by tourists, common folk and nostalgics. They still ferry up to 20 million passengers annually. It takes under 10 minutes to cross between Deira and the other side of the creek, Bur Dubai. Minor collisions are common as the abras jostle for space.

The abra service of today is regulated by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority. The old boarding piers have been replaced with six official boarding stations and fitted with spacing gates for crowd control; these facilities were built and are maintained by the Dubai Municipality. There are about 149 abras in service. All abras operate from about 5:30 a.m. till about midnight, while 10 abras run one of the three routes at all hours. The abras charge a nominal rate (2007) of 1 dirham per direct crossing per head, or 100 dirhams per hour for exclusive hire. “Rowing” abras are also available at 1 dirham per head or 30 dirhams per hour.

The fees and capacity are also regulated by the public transport authority, and the abra operators are issued permits by the RTA to grant them the license to operate within the law. The authorities are currently considering an increase in the traditionally accepted fare, and a switch to eco-friendlier CNG fuel or evensolar energy.

Abras are a part of the traditional creekscape of Dubai, and are considered a part of the city’s heritage. In January, as a part of the Dubai Shopping Festival, an abra race is run on the creek with a 6,000-dirham first prize.

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Abra, Views

Souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Roof view souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Abra, Views

Sandals at souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Dolls at souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

Souq Near the Abra Station, Burdubai

View of Dubai Metro Sign

Panoramic Images

VIEW FROM TOP OF INTERCHANGE NEAR WAFI MALL, OUD MEHTA ROAD

View from Oud Mehta Road, Towards Wafi Mall and Sheik Rashid Road

PANORAMIC VIEW FROM ABRA

View from Abra, Dubai Creek

On my 2007 Vacation, I wanted to visit some cool places in Kerala, but as time was limited and I want to meet lots of old friends, I was not able to make to most of the wishlist. But we were able to visit Peechi Dam in Thrissur Dist. Its located around 23 km from Thrissur City. This dam project started as an irrigation project, offers boating facilities at the reservoir.

Peechi is a good picnic spot. Peechi dam was constructed primarily to cater the drinking water needs of the population of Thrissur city. In addition it also serves as an irrigation dam, reaching out to the paddy fields in and around Thrissur city. Built across the Manali River, the dam is a vast catchment area of nearly 3,200 acres with extensive botanical gardens and cascading fountains offer numerous inviting avenues for tourists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peechi_Dam

Its nice to be here almost in any season, the monsoon attracts a lots of people to here, its the beauty of the fully filled dam water when the open shutters which attracts lots of visitors mostly from the near by places and districts to here. Boating is permitted in the reservoir and on lucky days one can see wild tuskers on the forested banks, part of which forms a reserved forest. Built across the Manali River, the dam is a vast catchment area of nearly 3,200 acres with extensive botanical gardens and cascading fountains offer numerous inviting avenues for tourists. One can see tuskers on the bank of this reservoir Peechi Wildlife Sanctuary, established in 1958 has got 125 sqkm area.

Route Map

View Larger Map

We started from Mannuthy a small town in the NH 47 which is around 7 kms far from Thrissur, as my friends Sajin, Pramod and Tony joined from there, we travelled in Tony’s car and I was visiting the place for 2nd time. I have been here during my college days and was not able to explore to the wild much. This time we were all ready to cross the limits and move in. As Sajin was familiar with the place and we  have around 6-7 hrs to explore the land, I was really thrilled.

Slideshow of All Photos - Press the [ ] Square on Bottom near to NEXT arrow to watch Fullscreen

We started of to Peechi from Mannuhy around 2pm, taking the easiest route, it took some 40mins on a smooth drive, reached there before 2:45pm, the view of the roads with all the lush greenery and trees.. a great view.

We crossed some paddies and lots of greenery.

As we were reaching we can find the Kerala Forest Research Institute(KFRI) entrance,

Established in 1975, the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) is an institution of the Government of Kerala under its Science and Technology Department. The Institute is dedicated to research in tropical forestry, environment and biodiversity conservation. In 2003, when the State owned R & D institutions were re-organized to constitute the Kerala State Council for Science and Technology (KSCSTE), KFRI also became part of the latter. The Institute is managed by a Management Committee (MC) chaired by the Director. The Research Council (RC) comprising eminent scientists of the country overseas and assists in developing appropriate research policies; it also monitors the quality of research undertaken by the Institute.

We slowly moved in towards the Dam and we expected the dam to have some good amount of water after the monsoon. It was in the beginning of the Jan and the weather was not that hot, around 28-30deg.

As we passed we can see the gate of Kerala Engineering Research Institute Ref. (KERI)

We just posed for a shot..

Me too, in the picture, was a nice one.

We first went to the top view point from where you can see all the area and it was so beautiful and as it was windy bit, we really enjoyed, we saw the full area, some panoramic images are shared on last, please see that to have an experience of the same

The Dam was having a good amount of water and it was nice to see that water spreaded along area.

We were walking to the top view point which you can see in this picture, on the left like a temple structure, thats the view point from where you can see almost all the areas of this dam.

There are lots of trees and herbals in the garden along a with some nice canals through which the water flows to this area

The Dam has a catchment area of 3200 acres which is a diversified Botanical Garden. We decided to move down and explore a bit crossing some fences which was there

Ohhh Beauty…

Long view of a great dam..

We reached here crossing through the dams walkway

This is the other side view, the shutter side, and there is a garden setup here, which is good and we invaded the scene later by the time it was time to leave…

We took some break here before we move to the deeper areas near the dams catchment.

It was nice having chit chat and pulling each others legs, cool ….

A young squirrel was watching us.. Nop he was collecting his dinner food..

Yes its time to go wild… we started exploring the dams reserved forest crossing some of the fences which was already used as way to walk through, Sajin know this way, so we were less worried.

I just crossed to shoot Sajin as he was going cool to the limits and I got him on frame

Now Tony follows Sajin and reaches the small Tree.

There was lots of variety trees which was full of green leaves some with very thick leaves.

Sajin, just checking his skills which should be forgotten

We found a small stream along the way, very nice and cold water flows through this.

Now we have crossed another fence and more into the dense forest, we can feel that there is very less noise, each step we place is on top of the leaves which are very dry.

Dry leaves everywhere, and a complete silence, we were just experiencing the beauty of wilderness.

We have reached an area which gives some navigational signs, and Sajin was telling there used to be camps for students here some where in the middle of the forest. Most of which for the awareness of the students.

Tony was rewinding the route which we took, while Sajin mentioned that we will not be taking the same route on return, eh? ok what ever we need to leave this area in 1hr

I was just sitting for a snap here, we took around one hour to reach here it was around 5pm and we were just looking around as the water was not that steep

Some local people used to come and catch fish by using some explosives and also college students visits this place as to spend their bachelor parties, I think now most of the students do not care for such places, they prefer party clubs and discos. In our time we used to explore all possible places, especially for a great outdoor time and adventure trip, myself with my college friends, been to all the nearby dams and waterfalls.. Nostalgia ..

We saw some trees, which actually lives on the other, parasites, but both lives….

An old Bogain Villa Plant..

Here we are, we made a quick visit to the dam and the forest and around 6pm it was time to return, this was taken from the from of the dam, shutters was mostly closed during this season.

We found a small nozzle which was pumping the water to the canal for irrigational water, what a force..

Panorama Images :: Click to see large size

ABOUT KARUNYA NIKETHAN

As the Technology advances and the computing needs moves more to the mobile side and when you need your data and emails along with the computing power to be always with you and working, you select a device which can do all of this for you in your day today life without much hurdles of size and wires. On such scenarios we were taking the help of the so called  smart phones till now and it was possible up to a level now. But when you need little more power and comfort and real estate of the screen you wish if you could have managed to get a device which we usually see in the Sci-Fi Movies such as Avatar & Iron man 2. I always was a fan of the Tablet PCs and have been following all the Gadget and Scientific research sites closely. Listed here are some of the Latest additions to the Tablet PC and Ultra Portable regime with most of them supporting touch screens.

Tablet PC

Definition (wikipedia)

A Tablet PC refers to a fully functional laptop PC, equipped with a stylus and, in some models, a touchscreen. This form factor is intended to offer a more mobile PC; Tablet PCs may be used where notebooks are impractical or unwieldy, or do not provide the needed functionality.^{[citation needed]}

The term Tablet PC was made popular in a product announced in 2001 by Microsoft, where it was defined as a pen-enabled computerconforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of “Windows XP Tablet PC Edition” operating system or a derivative thereof.^[1] Tablet PCs are personal computers where the owner is free to install any compatible application or operating system. Other tablet computer devices, such as eBook readers or PDAs, do not provide this option and are generally considered another category. The original Microsoft licensing specification required proximity sensing of the stylus, which Microsoft termed “hover”. This requirement was dropped with the later announcement of the UMPC.

As there are still lots of debates going on what should be the strengths and what operating systems can be ideal for the Tablet kind of PCs. We will be primarily looking the following characteristics when you will be going for  the tablet PC Side.

The advantages and disadvantages of tablet PCs are highly subjective measures. What appeals to one user may be exactly what disappoints another. The following are commonly cited opinions of the tablet PC platform:

Advantages

• Touch and Multi touch Centric and direct input type using the hand gestures and hand writing
• Light weight and long battery with standby time up to one week and working time of 10hrs+ and works with either the Intel Atom or NVDIA Tegra , Tegra 2 , Apple A4, Qualcomm Snapdragon A8 Chipsets etc
• Allows to you do both Data Transfers and also Voice and Voip using the 3G or 4G
• Most of the Tablets does support Bluetooth and WIFI, SD Card
• Operating System varies from Windows 7, Apple OS 3.0, 4.0 , Android 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, Linux Variants of Ubuntu and Mint OS, Fedora 10, Google OS (gOS) expected
• Enables users with Video Chat and Voice Chat
• Wireless sync of Data, Apps, Calendar, Contacts etc.

Disadvantages

• Cost of owning the Tablet may be high due to the fact that most tablets are touch centric and large screen with touch capacity and the battery for longer working may cost more.
• Accessory support is limited and can be costly mostly can be supported using bluetooth and WIFI
• Limited availability of the Expansion ports such as USB and Network Port
• Limited Computer Power and Memory, Multi Task is Limited
• Application availability limited for touch centric OSs with touch optimization
• Not fully stand alone and can not replace a desktop with a tablet PC in most cases
• As the input mediums are limited to touch and most tablets will not support a physical keyboard in package, with data centric applications speed may suffer and longer and continuos usage may result in more issues with palm and fingers injury.
• The screen is more exposed to  damages and impacts due to the nature of  input and less protection.

Look into the Existing and upcoming  Models

As all the mobile world was waiting for the release of Ipad from apple inc, so was I, I found the product release bit disappointing on my side not because of the fact it was not worth but because my expectations from such a high profile co. was so high, can not blame any one. The missing options in my concept are here, camera (at least one), USB port, SD Card Slot, uses Micro SIM, OS not Macintosh Full Version only Mobile Platform, no support for Flash applications

Apple Ipad

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

(Courtesy to Engadget Review http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/03/apple-ipad-review/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipad, )

The ipad is more than a device its and icon and fashion statement. There are more than 6 Models with 3 in WIFI only version and 3 in 3G+WIFI model, WFI only starts with USD 499 and 3G versions starts USD 629

The main advantages of Ipad are

• Screen and Portability, very good built quality and very responsive.( onboard is 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a digital compass, an accelerometer, microphone, and ambient light sensor)
• Support most 1,50,000 apps in the Apple store
• 16, 32, 64 GB with WIFI and 3G+WIFI Models
• Uses A4 Chipset for Processing with 1Ghz Speed
• A 25Wh Lithium Polymer not removable
• 10+ hrs Battery Life on normal Usage
• Support iBooks and Ebook reading support
• Near to desktop Web Experience
• The Apps support such as Remote administration to PC and Macs, support for accessories such as Bluetooth Keyboard, Dock and Cover

Videos Link here

We Tab

WePad Android Tablet Launching Soon

In CarryPad’s live blog coverage of the WePad conference today we learned of new specs, pricing and initial launch date. The WePad is an Android tablet with 11.6 inch touch screen display, 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor, 16GB of flash storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1, and 1.3 megapixel camera starting at €449 ($611 USD) in July 2010. Shortly a 3G-32GB flash storage model will be available for €569 ($774 USD).

We’ve already seen Notion Ink’s Adam Android tablet sparking interest and rivalry with Apple’s recently released iPad. We’ll watch how this tablet stacks up… see the chart below.

JooJoo  - Fusion Garage JooJoo

The JooJoo is a beautifully crafted piece of hardware, and even if the iPad wasn’t out there for comparisons, its minimalistic design would remind us of an aesthetically pleasing Apple product. The front of the device is nothing but LCD, and the slightly recessed power button on the left edge is the only physical button on the entire thing. We happen to think the lack of hardware controls might be one of Fusion Garage’s biggest mistakes since there’s no easy way of getting back to the menu or home screen, but we’ll get to all that interface stuff soon enough.

The champagne-colored brushed aluminum backside of the tablet certainly gives everything a sophisticated look, and it also feels really nice in hand, if just a tad flimsy in the middle due to its expansiveness. But a “handheld” the 12.8 x 7.8-inch JooJoo is not — at least not in comparison to the iPad or other e-readers, like the Kindle or Nook. The larger and heavier form factor makes it more of a sit up / lap device, rather than something you can use lying down and holding it up. Obviously the payoff is in the bigger screen, and we really shouldn’t whine too much about a 2.4-pound, 0.7-inch thick device when it comes to portability, but one-handing this thing is pretty much out of the question.

A single USB port, a standard headphone jack, and a microphone jack live on the right edge. You can use the USB port to charge the device, but that’s all it will do since the operating system is completely browser-based and doesn’t allow for side loading music, video, or pictures. The camera on the top of the screen is apparently meant for video conferencing, but all our attempts to video chat through Meebo or Tokbox failed.

Screen and speakers

Obviously the JooJoo’s heart and soul is its 1366 x 768, capacitive 12-inch display. We have no qualms about the responsiveness of the glass display – light taps and swipes were all we needed to make selections / scroll down pages as long as the software was keeping up (we had to restart the device a couple times to get things working again touch-wise) – but viewing angles are less than stellar. Unlike Apple’s IPS display, colors fade quickly when the screen is tilted to a 120-degree angle (as demonstrated in our video walkthrough), and when we held it up while lying on our side it was hard to position it to get a great view of the entire screen. The horizontal viewing angles are wide enough for sharing the screen with a friend or two, though.

Getting the screen to rotate from vertical to horizontal can at times be a bit of a crapshoot – sometimes the accelerometer decides it’d like to pitch in and adjust just perfectly and other times it needs a bit of a shake to rotate (JooJoo thinks we might’ve gotten a lemon in this regard, and the problem certainly wasn’t consistent). We’re told the sensitivity will be tweaked in an upcoming software update, along with the speed of rotation. Luckily the ambient light sensor is much more accountable, dimming the screen when not in use and raising the lights in dimly lit situations, but unfortunately it’s positioned right where you might be likely to rest a thumb when holding the tablet in a landscape orientation, causing plenty of unintentional dimming. The two speakers on the back of the tablet sound like typical netbooks speakers – they’re loud enough for personal listening, but won’t fill a room.

Software: Browser and more browser

The user interface on the JooJoo can best be described as a Monet – very attractive from afar, but a total mess up close. Very much like Dell’s version of Ubuntu, the Linux browser-based OS is centered around rectangular shortcuts like Twitter and Hulu which are divided into different categories, including News, Social, and Entertainment. When selected they simply just launch the respective site in the browser. The homepage shortcuts are certainly helpful if you are looking to go to one of the preloaded sites, but there’s no simple browser shortcut if you just want to put in your own URL. Instead you’re stuck opening one of the shortcuts and changing the address. Counterintuitive, to say the least. And that’s all there really is to the entire OS – there aren’t any onboard applications for viewing pictures or music — the only other screen is just a settings section for adjusting the WiFi or brightness. From anywhere on the device you can swipe down at the top of the screen to bring up a navigation bar, which includes browser controls, in addition to quick utility items like bookmark, volume, onscreen keyboard, and WiFi.

Video

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t (Tablet PC with Touch Screen and Keyboard)

Who says you have to pick between a netbook and the coming onslaught of standalone tablet devices? Okay maybe some (eh hem Apple), but Lenovo’s trying to have it both ways with the IdeaPad U1 and theS10-3t. In clamshell mode the S10-3t looks like any old 10-inch netbook, but swivel around its capacitive mulitouch display and it turns into that slate device you’ve been dreaming of. That’s not all: the S10-3t is one of the first netbooks (or netveritbles) that has the new Intel 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor. But can the S10-3t straddle both worlds and do it well? And perhaps more importantly, is it worth the premium $649 price tag?

There’s nothing too jaw-dropping about the S10-3t’s design, and we’d actually be totally fine with that if it didn’t have the glossiest black lid known to man. While the lid is inlaid with a subtle glitter tint and boxy pattern, you wouldn’t know it with all the smudgy fingerprints it collects. And though the plastic chassis feels solid enough, the lid did collect some scratches from being in our bag so you’ll want to pick up a case to keep the little guy clean and warm.

For a netbook the .79-inch S10-3t is actually rather trim, and it’s noticeably narrower than other 10-inch systems. While it’s obviously thicker than standalone tablets or e-readers like the Kindle DX, when equipped with its four-cell battery the 2.7-pound tablet was light enough to hold up in bed while reading. However, that eight-cell bulging battery version that we saw at CES looks like it would be incredibly uncomfortable to hold in arm.

We went into reviewing the S10-3t hoping it would be one of the faster netbooks we’ve ever used considering its new 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor and 2GB of RAM. However, those dreams quickly faded when we were met with the typical netbook performance. In fact, the N470 scored 1,348 on PCMark05, which is actually lower than the N450-powered HP Mini 210′s 1393. That’s sort of a letdown for us, but in typical usage — writing this review and surfing the web — performance seemed snappy. We did notice it taking a bit of time for certain apps within Lenovo’s NaturalTouch to open but we’re inclined to blame the slow 320GB hard drive or software for that. With no change made to the GMA 3150 graphics, the S10-3t was fine for playing standard def video, but couldn’t handle streaming a 720p music video without stuttering.

On our video rundown test the S10-3t’s four-cell battery lasted three hours and 12 minutes, but when we actually used the system to write this review and surf the Web we got close to four and a half hours of battery life. In our minds that’s not all that bad considering the battery fits flush with the system, but you can always go up to the chunky eight-cell for a couple more bucks.

As both a netbook and a tablet the S10-3t leaves a bit more to be desired. Sure, we’re disappointed that the N470 processor doesn’t provide improved performance, but what’s even more aggravating is that $649 buys you a tiny trackpad, sluggish touchscreen software and terrible viewing angles. Maybe you can live with those shortcomings, but we’re personally holding out for a better netbook / tablet combo to come along.

Video

Dell Mini 5 / Streak

Dell’s puzzled the world for quite some time with its outlandish Mini 5 / Streak — at first glance it’s just another Android-based MID, but a quick fiddle with it reveals the full-fledged 3G phone inside. So will it fit in a pocket? Can we carry it around like a normal phone? Is this the future form factor that will bring the ultimate balance between portability and practicality? With such heavy dose of curiosity, we eventually traveled all the way to Shenzhen literally just to grab this prototype. Now, before you read on, do bear in mind that some of its features — especially the OS — may not make it to the final design when it comes out later this year, nor do we know what stage this prototype was at. We good? OK.

Let’s start with the basics: the main specs on our unit include Android 1.6 (which will definitely be obsolete for the final product), five-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset (with CPU clocked at 1GHz), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and WCDMA radio. Sadly, we have no info on whether the Mini 5 will have other cellular radio options, but it wouldn’t hurt to send Dell a petition regarding this matter. For those who want the dimensions and weight in numbers, it’s about 152mm x 78mm x 10mm at 8 ounces (including the battery, which lasts for almost a day for normal usage on 3G). Memory-wise there’s 405MB RAM and 1.63GB of internal storage — a slight let-down for the latter, so let’s hope the retail unit will be given a more generous dose of silicon. You can add a microSD card next to the battery on the back, but it appears that the mysterious second card slot we saw in the earlier teardown only gave us false hope — we couldn’t find a way to get to it without prying open the housing. Connection to your computer relies on a proprietary port — similar but slightly larger than the iPod’s — to USB cable, which may suggest that we will see some more peripherals made for the Mini 5 and its future siblings.

Software, buttons and keyboard

We won’t bore you with a full list of preinstalled Android apps on our Mini 5, but there are indeed a few that are worth mentioning: the usual bundle including Google Mail, YouTube, Amazon MP3, WebKit browser (with pinch-to-zoom but no Flash support), Google Maps (no pinch-to-zoom, boo!), K-9 Mail (which supports Exchange server) and Quickoffice (a file browser that can also view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents). For multimedia there’s the standard Android music app, a Gallery app by ArcSoft (pinch-to-zoom supported), and a three-year trial of the forthcoming CyberLink Live for Android that gives you “instant access to your photos, music, and video stored on your home computers.” There’s no social networking integration (like MOTOBLUR and Sense) as such, but you can use the preloaded Meebo IM for chatting on AIM, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo, etc. If you want to be discrete about your gigantic phone, you may find the Voice Control app by Nuance handy for voice-dialing — it can be triggered by holding down the button on the bundled handsfree earphones.

Multimedia experience

Given the MID form factor and that gorgeous five-inch screen, we immediately loaded a few MP4 videos of various resolutions (1080p, 720p and 480p) to see what the Mini 5 could take. Annoyingly, our Mini 5′s default video player could only handle MP4V video codec, so we had to convert our test videos, including the MP4 files that were compiled by iMovie (which encodes in H.264). On the contrary, Carrypad‘s heard from Dell at MWC that the final product will support “H.264 and other codecs.” Even then, the device failed to open our 1080p files, but that’s not the end of the world considering 720p is already plentiful for the 800 x 480 screen — we had a 7Mbps 720p video playing smoothly with just the odd stutter. On a similar matter, the preloaded YouTube app performed nicely for us, except for the lack of higher quality playback options to make full use of the large screen.

Moving on to audio: the Mini 5 has a mono speaker on the back that sounds loud and surprisingly clear, but naturally, the bundled earphones sound even better — we’d scale it to somewhere between the levels of the iPod buds and Apple’s in-ear headphones. Fans of stereo Bluetooth headphones will be pleased to know that our Mini 5 supports A2DP and AVRCP, which are particularly useful for devices of such size.

Comfort

Understandably, most people are concerned about whether this 5-inch tablet would fit inside their pocket. We’re happy to tell you that it snuggled nicely in our jeans’ pockets, which is most likely to do with the device’s sensible thickness and our lack of tight pants. Apart from the slight exposure (as pictured below) and the occasional struggle when walking up stairs, we’ve had no other issues with pocketing our Mini 5. A more popular concern would be whether you’d look like a dork when holding the monstrous phone right next to your face. To be honest, it’s not too bad, except the user would most likely be more concious about the size, simply because you’d have to stretch your fingers a bit to accommodate the unusually large footprint and weight — you can see the size better demoed in the earlier walkthrough video. Just keep that to yourself and you’ll be fine — so far most blokes who’ve seen and touched our Mini 5 have said they want one, so this phone is already quite the masculine symbol. And yes, the phone makes a great tool for chatting up the ladies, too (although they’ve all said it’s too big and heavy after playing with it; perhaps the Mini 3 will strike their fancy?).

Wrap-up

Dell may not be the first to forage into the scene of oversized smartphones (see HTC Advantage and HTC Universal), but it looks like the combination of Android, Snapdragon, 3G affordability and resurrection of the tablet trend may give the Mini 5 a great potential. We found the five-inch form factor to be neither too big nor too small, perfect for browsing the web, watching videos (watch out, Archos 5!), car navigation and reading ebooks on the go. Even the battery life matches most current 3G phones, despite the larger screen and faster CPU. We haven’t seen one yet, but a dock for this phone would be a great addition as it’s just big enough to serve as a digital picture frame, if not a side monitor for your social networking apps or emails. Update: the dock exists!

Video

Archos 7″ / 9″ Tablet

Upon first look is there anything not to love about the Archos 7 Home Tablet? It’s .5-inches thick, has a seven-inch touchscreen, runs Android, and wait for it…only costs $199. It’s all sounded pretty great to us since its CeBIT unveil, but then small, yet saddening details began to emerge about the device: it has a resistive touchscreen, lacks an accelerometer, and doesn’t have access to the Android Market — and worst of all, it runs Android 1.5. Sure, you get what you pay for, but can the Archos 7 rise above those shortcomings and persuade us to dig $199 out of our piggy banks? We’ve spent the last week with the tablet, so you’ll just have to click on to find out.

Look and feel

There’s no denying that the Archos 7 shares DNA with the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, and considering we’ve always liked the look of the 5 that’s not a bad thing. The brushed metal back cover of the device feels comfortable in hand, and though it’s plastic at the core it’s still rather sturdy. It’s cheap, but we wouldn’t say it’s cheap-feeling. Sure, on the build quality scale it isn’t as rock-solid as the aluminum iPad, but the 7 Home Tablet has something the Apple’s tablet certainly should: a kickstand. A skinny plastic stand can be pulled out of the back of the tablet to prop it up on a tablet or desk, which means not having to invest infancy stands.

Size-wise, the tablet is actually ideal — the seven-inch display isn’t too wide, and at 8 x 4.2 x 0.5-inches it doesn’t take up much room on a nightstand or in a small shoulder bag. And because it weighs less than a pound (13.7 ounces, to be exact), it was quite easy to hold up in bed to read an e-book or surf the web – it’s noticeably lighter to hold up than the 1.5-pound iPad while lying down. It’s actually closer in size and weight to the 10.2-ounce and .36-inch Amazon Kindle.

There’s not much to report in the way of buttons and ports – Archos kept it relatively simple with a power switch and micro SD card slot along the top edge, and headphone / composite video out and mini USB sockets on the right side. There’s a circular opening on the front of the tablet where you’d expect some sort of cam, but unfortunately, that’s just a placeholder at this point. In the box, Archos includes a pair of pretty crappy earbuds, a standard mini USB to USB cable, and an AC adapter. Archos plans to sell the composite-out cable separately.

Android experience

In reality, the fact that the tablet runs an outdated Android 1.5 operating system will probably mean very little to the average consumer, but for us techies it means knowing that the software doesn’t include quick search, the advanced battery usage indicator, multitouch support (not that it matters on this device) and a bunch of other recent additions. Archos can always push a firmware update to the device, but these firmware updates will not be able to administer an Android OS update. Sorry. That’s really all we can say for this unfortunate reality.

Our bigger issue with the Android implementation is the lack of access to the Market. Yes, because of Google’s restrictions the 7 doesn’t have access the 50,000 apps designed for the operating system. Instead Archos has gone and created its own AppsLib store, which only has 1,000 approved apps at the moment. Even if Archos does plan to add 2,000 paid apps by the end of June, that’s still a lot of missing apps! And to say the selection is lacking is an understatement. Some of our favorites were missing, including Seesmic, Slacker, Pandora, and Facebook. And though Archos preloads five apps – eBuddy, Aldiko, ColorNote, DailyNote, and Deezer — there’s no Gmail and YouTube, and obviously those aren’t in the AppsLib store either. What does this all mean? It means you have to go out of your way to get your favorite apps on to the device. We managed to wrangle up Facebook, Seesmic, and Opera Mobile from AndroidFreeware.com. We also got Skyfire and Slacker by heading to their respective sites and grabbing them from there. But, yes, it’s incredibly frustrating to have to go searching for the apps / .apks around the net, and it’s even more frustrating is when they don’t work quite right.

Beyond the app experience, web browsing is what you would expect from an Android device. The default browser was quick to load sites and was easy enough to navigate using the resistive touchscreen. Again, we wished here that we could turn the tablet and read Engadget vertically. We did try out Skyfire so we could actually play some YouTube videos, but the browser itself was sluggish and videos were quite laggy even when connected to a very strong WiFi signal. Speaking of video playback, as a personal media player the Archos 7 does a stand-up job. With H.264, Realvideo, and MPEG-4 codecs it supports .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .mov, and .flv files. A 720p clip of Up in the Air played back smoothly with no audio or video sync issues. And after you’re done watching a video on the device, it also makes a decent e-reader with the Aldiko software – the app, though it takes a few seconds to open, defaults to a vertical orientation and on-screen swipes turn the pages. Since the book selection in Aldiko is lacking, we don’t need to tell you we were wishing for Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s Nook app, but that they aren’t available in the AppsLib store.

Notion Ink Adam

The folks from Notion Ink certainly haven’t been shy about showing off their Adam tablet in prototype form, but they unfortunately haven’t been revealing anything more than the most basic specs. That’s now changed with MWC, however, which seems to have made Notion Ink quite a bit more talkative. As we’d heard previously, the Adam is Tegra 2-based with a dual-core ARM CORTEX -A9 processor, and it packs a 10-inch transflective screen with a 1,024 x 600 resolution courtesy of Pixel Qi. Also now confirmed is a swiveling 3-megapixel camera, three USB ports, an HDMI out for full 1080p video, a promised 16 hours of battery life, built-in WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth, and some welcome touches like an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor and, of course, an accelerometer. As you can see above, the device has also undergone yet more changes from the last prototype we saw at CES, and

Videos of Some more Concepts and upcoming Models

Microsoft Courier Tablet

HP SLATE

Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC

/more links here

Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits
Believe in yourself
Consider things from every angle
Don’t give up and don’t give in
Enjoy life today; yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come
Family and friends are hidden treasures; seek them and enjoy their riches
Give more than you planned to give
Hang on to your dreams
Ignore those who try to discourages you
Just do it!
Keep on trying, no matter how hard it seems it will get easier
Love yourself first and most
Make it happen
Never lie, cheat or steal always strike a fair deal
Open your eyes and see things as they really are
Practice makes perfect
Quitter never win and winners never quit
Read, study and learn about everything important in your life
Stop procastinating
Take control of your own destiny
Understand yourself inorder to better understand others
Visualize it
Want it more than anything
Xcellerate at doing your best
You are unique of all God’s creations nothing can replace you
Zero in your target and go for it

Easter is a promise God renews to us in each spring. May the promise of Easter fill your heart with peace and joy. Happy Easter.

For Long time I was being invited by a friend to visit one of the beautiful islands in UAE, but because of time constraints and our holidays we used to postpone, but this time we found the time and we started off to explore the once in a blue moon opportunity. We started our journey from International city quite late on 11th Thursday, instead of the planned 5:30pm, also we have to face traffic issues. Meanwhile Salam Ikka and Shabin was waiting us at Samha, near to the border of Dubai, as we were late all of us was worried about the weather, which used to be foggy during this season and visibility becomes low.

100 Photos + 1 Video

Slideshow of All Photos - Press the [ ] Square on Bottom near to NEXT arrow to watch Fullscreen

We took Salam Ikka and Shabin from Samha, Adnoc Pump and started towards Abudhabi. The Island comes just before the Sadiyaat Islands and its sorrounded by some more islands in the area. This was shot at 9:15pm travelling with Sunilji, who came to pick us to the island, as it was low tide and the channel was low with water, they have to ride very carefully.

We got a very warm welcome at the place and momentarily we came to know that all of the four in the Island was so friendly like our friends and family, we soon started our dinner plans. As there was some charcoal we took for barbeque and some chicken with all the spiced to it,  and our favorite “tapioca” prepared from home, we all were around the barbeque stand soon. It was n’t much cold that time still the breeze was there.

The Wonderful Flames, I just took some snaps of the same and was wondering how nice the closeups came up

Later only I came to know that all the guys went in to the kitchen to fry the fish, they had caught freshly that evening just before we reached. All were in to the act of eating.

To the Grills, The Chicken is prepared to the Barbeque Grills, all were waiting to see how it comes out.

No more chicken, fresh fish first. Grabbing the freshly cooked fish from the Kitchen Salam Ikka, Justin, Rajish and Jabbar.

Salam Ikka with Shabin’s Pappa.

Just a helping hand only.

Sunilji and Sajish on chit Chat.

Barbeque almost ready.. oye oye..

“Chicken Leg Kollam” taking a leg piece

Our guys trying to finish the fish catch, eat slowly people….

We were on to discussions soon, with lots of things under the roof films, politics, religion etc etc..

So around 1.00 am we were on to sleeping mode, all were tired after the days work and long journey. We said Good Bye and went to bed, for a great sunrise in the island.

Morning I woke around 8.00 am and was not able to see anything because of the fog, I was thinking to sleep for some more time, but got up and started walking around, this shot was taken from the window of the room.

Morning birds were all making noise and singing, just some of the captured shots.

It looks so foggy outside and nothing much was visible to see in the place, I thought taking a walk all through the island as it was a special experience walking in this fog in an alien island in the morning.

The leaves where fallen and was full of dews. As I was just out and thinking where to go, Salam Ikka got up and joined, so we decided to make a walk around. I din’t carry the camera with me as we can’t see much in this foggy weather, and we didn’t expect the same to clear for another 2 Hrs.

We went back after a great 45 mins out in the mist and fog and was really fresh, we took coffee after reaching back, and all were awake and looking around to explore, by 9:15am the fog moved out and all of a sudden there was sunlight and we could see the full island and its beauty.

There are Mangrove [Kandal Trees] in the coastal line and it protects the soil from the water flow, this trees gives the island a green look and its even the food for the deers in the island.

Ohhhhhhh… Beauty of water. We enjoyed the beauty and it was quite nice to walk in the shallow water

The side rocks made shapes and it was sharp too.

The beauty of the Mangrove grown in the sides, took from the small walk bridge to the next portion of the island.

On the walkign bridge, in the background you can see the old Jeep in decayed stage.

Justin on the Edge, posing in the cinema style.

One cart which has been submerged in the water.

Just a small inspection of the cart. “Its too heavy man leave it here”

A Rock Art

“Eda pathiye poyaal namukka sraavine pidikkam, shradhichu nadakkoo..”

Justin and Shabin checking some thing on the ground “Pampano !”

“nammal innale kuzhichitta kuppi kanaanillada, sathyamayittum, pani paalinna thonnane”

An unused barrel, aged.

The Water show.

On the edge for the water shoot

From left Sajish, Rajish, Nalin, Jabbar, Salam, Justin & Shabin

I was joined on the photo.

Shabin was looking cool, “pinney enthaanu manasil!!! chullanayittundu “

“Nammal Pavam, Jeevichu pokkotte maashe…”

Thrimoorthikal, enta oru planning???

Sajish and Jabbar “Eda vishakkunneda, vegam photo edukku, fish ellam kazhinjo entho…”

On waters….

Shabin, Binoy and Salam

On top  some ducks pattern followed, bottom a Vathu (Big Goose Duck)

Different shots of the friends .. Rocks and Man

“Nallonam Thalli Nokkam, Chilappo start aayaalo!!!”

After the 90mins walk in the morning, we came back to the villa, to take rest and later decided to fish for sometime. We all were very excited as it was the first time after reaching here in UAE we got  a chance to be on the boat to be with the guys for fishing all were eagerly asking lots of questions, while Rajish was still busy trying his luck with the big fishes, with a small net which they gave, we hope for the best. haha..

Warrier Trying to catch fish………………… No fish and  and wasted a full bread from our breakfast!!

“Eda ithu Chathittu Kurachu neramaayi, Kalanjaalo??”

All was busy checking the different aspects of fish and fishing and was on the toes while Rajish was assisting Sunilji and Rafi to pull the net.

Justin was so professional to check and clear the fish and the rest of the unwanted stuff that we call were wondering about the true fisherman

“Nalla Vala Panikkaran, Ivane Kootti Naattil Poyalo?” Sunilji

“Athyavashayam Fishing Nammakkum Ariyamennu Ivarku Manasilayinna Thonnane!” Justin

“Eda Meen Chaadi Pokkathe Nokkane.. Kashta pettathellam veruthe aakum”

“Ivane njan thattum mone dineshaa..”

While we were on the fishing boat to try the nets and try our luck, Salam and Nalin was all happy to try a hand on the small boat.

There are around 50+ deers in the island and you can find them of different ages.

We decided to take a bath just before the lunch and all were just in water in the blink of and eye.

“Entamme!, Njan polum kelkaatha Kadhayanallo ithu” Shabin

We were all around while sunilji was sharing some of his experiences about fishing, We came to know that Blue Whales will not attack the humans, they flush the water out of the hole in the head, which is so high that it makes upto hundreds of meters, also that the Chakara (also spelt Chaakara) (is a Malayalam word used to describe a peculiar marine phenomenon in which a large number of fish and prawns throng together during a particular season as a result of mud bank formations) is the phenomenon happened in the beaches where mud is collected and becomes think, also it lasts for 10-15 years long, about the fishing patterns and how the Catamaran is  used for fishing and how it was operated with winds help.That 20 mins was really helpful to increase the knowledge and get some more idea of sea and sea life.

This is how they feed the deers with the Leafs from near by plants.

There are also some birds in the island which looks so nice when watched with their styles and lots of variety.

GUESS WHAT

Just a review of the snaps we took on this trip, looked so nice and enjoyed each moment.

It was time for us to leave in the evening, even though we all knew that 30 hrs was nothing to explore this place, but we were pretty happy that we made it and we all were repeating that we will come back for another elaborated visit with more things in plan.

We were almost to the other bank and I was thinking in mind, another day and back to the mechanical life again and was not sure, when we can return here. Still kept all the hopes alive and promised them we will  come back.

Nalin was smiling, just churning all that great experiences and lots of new friends and lessons which we learned from here.

So that was it and we really enjoyed each and every moment in the island. As it is a private island and we don’t want the location and other details of the same shared all over here, we have n’t posted some snaps here. When looking back in rewind the day went like a flash  and special thanks to all especially to Shabin, Sadananthanji, Sunilji, Aziz and Raphy.

PANORAMA IMAGES

A PANORAMA OF THE ISLAND Full View Click Here

A VIEW OF THE TIP OF ISLAND Full View Click Here

MORNING MIST COVERED IN PANORAMA Full View Click Here

Video

Turn out your light, show support

Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.

Pledge your support here and turn off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, 8.30pm, Saturday 27th March 2010.

It’s Showtime! Show what can be done.