Trails of Nature - 4

Everlasting flowers


For a South Indian, Everlasting flowers invariably means nostalgic memories of visit to Ooty or Kodaikanal. No one returns without buying a bunch of them.

Ladies selling white and yellow colored paper daisies are seen everywhere in these hill stations, most of them grown in their tiny cottages. It is the livelihood of many families.

I was lucky to click these flowers from the garden of my hotel. These flowers remain dry and preserved for a long time.

Growing Everlasting flowers is a big business in Australia. One day I would like to visit one of these Gardens

Thanks for the visiting Trails Of Nature
Have a nice day...

Pillar Rocks and Devil's Kitchen

Little did we know about these places when we visited Kodaikanal. It was a bright sunny day and the sun too strong for mist or fog to appear in the background.


Our first visit was to the Pillar rocks, 8 kms from Kodai Lake.

Three boulders standing tall in the midst of breathtaking greenery.

There is a beautiful garden nearby and plenty of picnic spots in the shades of the Rocks.

Between the pillar rocks the ravines are called Devil's Kitchen.We heard some creepy stories about youth getting trapped in those caves never to return. Out of curiosity we visited the Devil's kitchen. It had an eerie atmosphere mostly because the people around kept on telling the stories of 12 boys who fell into the cave and only one could be rescued. The mouth of many caves are indeed narrow and its difficult to imagine someone falling inside and getting trapped. However locals swear that they are very deep and rescue will be difficult.

Government has closed all entrances and every possible crevices to prevent further bad incidents. You see barbed wires and metal fences all around; your guardian angel greets you with a ravishing smile. So you must have realized that we had a Devil's kitchen minus danger zone expedition.

Interestingly the place is now called Guna's caves after the Kamal Hassan movie 'Guna'.

View from Devil's kitchen.



Thanks for visiting. Have a nice day.

Trails of Nature - 3

So 2010 Tiger statistics in India were in news last week. Some people are pointing to figures and beaming that the Indian Tiger population has come up(from 1411 to 1706). Skeptics believe that the rise in figures is apparent since the latest count has included a few more forests(previously naxalite invaded). We won't know the truth for sure! Thats all I have understood. This was followed by a new cry from Animal lovers that leopards are also in trouble. Now that tiger population is on the verge of 'safety' they might be able to concentrate on leopards....


Talking of tigers,


I met him at Singapore Zoo along with his two siblings. We were informed that his father is 'Mohan',father of many cubs, all having blue eyes. Mohan was captured by an Indian Maharajah in 1951 and lived in his palace all his life. I was curious about the secret of the white fur coat and so did a little google research after return.

The genetics is quite complex and the white fur is attributed to an Autosomal recessive gene. These white tigers are actually mutants and not a subspecies. They also exist among the Bengal tigers. Those which live in captivity are not pure Siberian tigers. They are instead the result of Siberian tigers breeding with Bengal tigers. Estimates show that only around one in 10,000 wild tiger births will result in a white tiger.

Due to the popularity of white tigers, they are used to attract visitors to zoos and will hopefully help raise awareness about all tigers and their situation.

So will Tigers survive this century?

Kodai Lake

Where do you plan to go during this summer vacation? Of course The answer is "somewhere cool"! In the scorching summer heat, Kodaikanal turns out to be one of the most sought out tourist location in South India.

In Kodai the most beautiful attraction is invariably the Kodai lake itself.

Located at an altitude of 2285m, the lake appears star shaped when viewed from a height. The Palani hills are also seen in view.

The walk way around the lake is pretty and well maintained for driving or trekking. There are also facilities for bicycling and horse riding.

The lake is sprawled over some 60 acres with a boat club.

It is a surprising fact that the lake is man made, the marshy area was developed into the gorgeous lake by Sir Vere Hentry Levinge, the then Collector of Madurai in 1863.

The garden around is well maintained and you could spend hours trekking around the lake simply admiring the beauty.

So what is your favourite Summer retreat?

Again Thanks for visiting....

Trails of Nature - 2

Dear friends,

Today you are welcome for birding in my own courtyard. There is a window in my study overlooking a combined bush of Hibiscus and Ixora. I never found both these plants interesting, but in the afternoon they are frequented by some visitors for nectar.

On separate days I could click Mr and Mrs Loten's Sunbird. These birds are 10-12 cm long and seen extensively in Southern Peninsular India and Srilanka. They feed on tiny insects and are often seen hovering around flowers for nectar. Their long bill distinguishes them from Purple Sunbird.

The male birds are glossy purple colored with grey brown belly. He was closely followed by his girl at that time. They must be having a nest nearby which I couldn't find (they flew off hastily sensing my intrusion).

The females lack the purple color altogether. They are yellowish brown with yellowish underparts.

It seems the female enjoyed the photoshoot with me! Look how she is posing for me.

The breeding season is Nov to March in India (Wiki information), the nest is often seen as a suspended bag of cobwebs, twigs and grass.

Look out for them in your garden and I am sure you will find them.

Trails of Nature - 1

Dear friends,

Do you know me?

I am a Malayan Tapir, right now living in Singapore Zoo.

Mine is an endangered species mostly owing to the loss of habitat, rainforests . We are extremely sensitive to changes in our environment especially due to human habitation.

We are herbivores mammals. One reason for our extinction is due to the fact that the females reproduce only once in 2 years and the gestational period is quite long - 12-13 months. Most of the times it is a single baby.

The babies look plump and cute with stripes and spots over the body that they are called walking watermelons. The spots help them for camouflage.

We have a trunk that is formed by fused nose and upperlip. It gives us a powerful sense of smell.

We are good swimmers as well as runners inspite of some 200-300 kg body weight. We manage to escape from most of the predators except one, that is human beings!

Many organisations have been formed to protect us from extinction like Tapir specialist group. This picture has been saved from tapirs.org to show you the other tapirs.

One last word from me, SAVE RAIN FORESTS..... and save the many homeless unfortunates including me and my family.
Thanks for stopping by.

Trails of Nature

I love nature, don't you?

I am starting of series where I introduce to you a little bit of nature. It might be a flower, a bird, an animal or anything that is intricately related to nature. My photographs are taken by my companion cam Mr. Nike - the Nikon P 100 , and forgive us if they do not come upto your standards. If you are up for a bit of fun you are welcome aboard, I shall take you to new nature trails.

PS: Not necessarily jungle safaris, but also shots from my own courtyard, zoo,parks and wherever green comes to life. I shall meet you with nature trails on all Wednesdays.