Trip to God's Own Country - 2

The next day we set off early in the morning to Pokkat lake. We reached there at around 8.00 and it turns out the lake opens for public after 9.00. So we loitered around the place admiring the freshness and greenery encompassing us.

Nothing special about the lake but makes you feel at peace with the world - very serene, pleasant and the garden (well-maintained, in spite of the number of people who visit it) around it had some very beautiful flowers. Shopped at the local Ayurveda shop too!! The boat ride was ok, but some of us got a chance to row the boat too. Not me though. The lake was 60 ft deep and when the boat gets rocking, I get screaming. :-)

Later we set out to Eddakal Caves. Located a good 5000 ft above sea level, this required some climb over a rocky hill too. This cave is a narrow stretch with Neolithic age carvings. The local guide there showed us the carvings of a king and a queen and an elephant sans the trunk. It looked like a tiger though. :-) There were some writings too. Looked like some ancient dialect. The caves were very cool and it was a relief being there after the climb. The plain next to the cave also had a view point. For 5 bucks we were allowed to peer into the telescope-like-equipment and look far far away.
What could be seen: The edge of a distant hillock had a stone cross on it. A Sphinx like stone formation nearby. A school with its vast playground and a Dam (Forgot the name of it).
The view was really good, with lush green fields and tall trees all around us.

We walked all the way down stopping only for fresh lime soda and lime/orange confectionaries and for photographs. Ya, had a chance to work on my photography skills. Tried using the sepia, b/w mode and tried blurring out the background focusing only the flowers, capturing the view of the horizon and sunset in the sanctuary. They came out pretty neat. Didn’t get decent snaps of the animals though. :-(

On the return journey, we saw a huge herd of Elephants in Bandipur. One of them had also strayed very close to the road along with its baby. But the forest officials came out of nowhere and started chasing everyone out. Hadn’t risked stepping out of the vehicle though, so no harm done. All in all a very enjoyable trip. Exhausting too. Guess I need one more holiday to get over this one. :-(

On btw, did you know that the ride in a Tata Sumo Victa is very smooth even at 130kmph? And that it can go from 60-0kmph in 3 seconds!!


AND if you are still awake, have a look at these photos. :-)

Pokkat Lake

Chemra peak

Pleasing isn't it?

Focussed

Standing out

Glorious

Walk 0f Life - My fav

Carved (Eddakal Caves)

Writings in Eddakal Caves

Update: Pics were taken from a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 (or LZ2).