LONG WEEKEND – DAY 1- RAGIHALLI STATE FOREST

This was our first trip together after a long gap of many months. We had a long weekend ahead of us. With all anticipation, we planned a nature photography trip close to Bengaluru. We wanted to disconnect with the world, and seek the journey of solitude and peace. Our main purpose was to pursue our passion of landscape and bird photography. It was a Saturday evening, we headed towards Ragihalli State forest reserve, just 30 minutes drive from where we live in Electronic City, Bengaluru. We found a pocket of nature teaming with wildlife, the first sign was a call of peacock at a distance. It happens to be a resort deep inside the edge of forest boundary. There we found a wild flock of parakeets so playful. A total of 4 parakeets. Vathani was particularly interested in the silhouettes of the birds, and I was more keen into its behavior watching from the distance. Time went fast watching them do their natural fun activities. Along with wildlife, there was a group of mosquitos too, where were sucking all the blood it can. We were fully covered from head to toe, but it still manages a way to harass you. At a distance we found abandoned houses, and sound of large animals at a distance. It could be of wild elephants that call their home here. Vathani was in the moment of solitude watching the birds and taking pictures of birds including Asian flycatcher, oriental white eye, green bee eater, and the dove. I have hard time remembering the names, but she knows all in her head.
We found 2 h of quiet time with no one around. It was a moment of great solitude for both of us. We loved watching these birds. Sun was setting at a distance. The golden light was illuminating the near by trees, and I found this perfect composition that was pleasing to eye. The scene was inviting and spectacular. The golden light accentuated the scene involving a symmetrical trees and a pathway. We spend some more time before we headed into the park on our bike the “Chetak”.
On the way, there was a pond near by the road, and Vathani was quick to suggest a sighting of a crocodile. To my surprise, I was reluctant to believe. As we probed further, a resident male monkey charged at us. Since we were on the motorbike, we quickly accelerated and escaped the scene from the charging monkey. But in my mind, I wanted to confirm if it was a crocodile at a distance. We came back to same spot away from the monkey. Vathani zoomed into to find a dead log instead of claimed Crocodile. I was laughing at her with all the build up she created for not approaching the pond due to resident crocodiles. It was a brief moment of suspense and revelation.
From there, we found many peacocks calls, and they were running wild inside the forest. It was quite far away to take any meaningful picture.

The drive through Ragihalli reserve is pleasant with beautiful winding roads. As the sun was setting, many birds found their way onto the electrical wires and poles. Especially a flock of green bee eaters were basking in the final sunshine. As the time was approaching, we had to leave the park before they closed it down.
We headed then to Totikallu falls. At the entrance of Totikallu falls, we sat and enjoyed the beautiful sunset and the after light. Dusk was truly special when you are close to some one who you love. I took her then to a near my restaurant in Benerghatta and we had local dishes where I had the wheat parrota and egg curry and she had the delicious dum chicken biryani. We called it for the night for more travel to Ramanagara at the dawn of next day. We will share that in the next blog post. We also made a YouTube video to record our travels. You can find the link below.