The bhataktiatma : Travelogue of a wandering soul

As promised we were back for Hemant Ogale's monsson camp in Whistling Woods Amboli , we have seen the beautiful side of monsson , the mountains , the waterfalls and the green cover but this time we were here to explore Amboli's wilderness in monsoon. Amboli is the northern most point of Malabar region , off late amboli has been shining as one of the best biodiversity hotspots in maharashtra and india. Amboli is wettest place in Maharashtra infact its monthly rainfall in June ( around 3500mm) is more than that in cherapunjee, such climate is extremely conducive for rapid reproduction of frogs there are many frog species , some of them endemic to Amboli. One from species amongst them hogs the major limelight "Malabar Gliding Frog", green colored frogs resembling cartoon characters are one of the most photographed infact they have become a trademark of amboli. These frogs breed throughout the monsoon and as soon as monsoon ends , they vanish into the thin air , never ...

Summer has been particularly hot this year with temperature clicking 40s continuously, that kept us away (thankfully!! )from doing ghat routes or our beloved high endurance treks (injection treks) . I am not particularly fan of these treks however some routes demand high endurance and cannot be done in leisure, Ninand Bartakke came up with one such route in Ahupe Region and as temperature has been on decline in last few days due to pre-monsson showers we agreed to do it. Shidobadaar – Bhairaonathdaar , we had visited pimplegare , village nearest to shidobadaar opening two years back to check the possibility of doing this route , even then none of the villagers believed that this route can be done , they were worried about a huge overhanging boulder and loose rocks which make it extremely risky to do this route but we still wanted to try our luck and promised ourselves that we will be back for it , more than the route , Deorai ( temple garden ) at ahupe was more tantalizing , we h...

After the disappointment of Ranthambore I was eagerly looking for second chance and was fortunate to have it soon enough.One of my trek friends forwarded the email about Tadoba jungle camp by Atul Dhamankar. It was a golden opportunity not just tadoba but to spend time with one of the top tiger researches in the world Atul Dhamankar. Tadoba -Andhari tiger reserve has highest density of tigers in Asia and lies in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra near chandrapur . The temperature in this region often sores upto 45 degrees , the deciduous nature of the forest makes these summer season best for tiger sighting. Atul Dhamankar Some 10-12 years back I came across a book written in marathi by a 18-19 year old tiger researcher , "Ranwata" ( The jungle routes) is one of the best jungle adventure book i have came across till date was written by then teenager Atul. The book was account of countless number of days and nights spend on the Machan , the name Atul Dhamankar has been ...

In India when people talk about beaches , Goa , Kerala and Andamans ( Alibag or kashid for the urbaners )are first of the options or sometimes are the only options. With tourists flocking these places likes herds of wilder beasts , other options are worth exploring. So here are all the details of that other option… Konkan , Unlimited Maharashtra’s hidden treasure. Konkan is a coastal part of Maharashtra starting from Mumbai and ending at the Goa border in south ( Goa is also considered as part of konkan ..atleast before independence) . The easiest way to identify konkan is its red soil unlike black soil dominant in rest of Maharashtra. There are numerous ways you can reach konkan , you can drive , ride a bike or a cycle or if you are a trekker just choose one of the N number of routes available for descent into the konkan. The weather here is like any other coastal state in India, hot and humid but its slightly cooler than others because of the guarding western ghat mountai...