T Nature Club is pleased to announce its winter trail to a beautiful region of the North East India… Namdapha.

Dibru-Saikhowa is a biosphere reserve. This little known site, is one of the biodiversity hot spots situated in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra. It is located in the alluvial flood plains of the Brahmaputra. Fashioned by nature – earthquakes and ever changing water courses it has numerous island pockets and water bodies providing an unusual habitat for varied wildlife
and aqua fauna and avifauna.

Contained between the Debang, Lohit & the Great Brahmaputra rivers,the 340 sq Kms reserve was set up with a view to protecting the grass land and swamp habitat. Its internal water channels & bodies,seasonally flooded forests, “beels”, and grassy pockets, makes it an interesting birding destination for rare specialized grass land and swamp forest birds such as the threatened Marsh Babbler, Jerdon’s Babbler, Black throated Parrotbill, Rufous-vented( swamp) Prinia, and Jerdons Bushcat. You can also spot altitudinal migrants such as Pale-capped pigeon, White-tailed Rubythroat,and Black – breasted Thrush, and various warblers. More than 300 species have been recorded.
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Photography Expedition to:
Agumbe Rainforest
May 30-31, 2009

GreatEscapes, in association with Pixetra Club, presents an expedition in to the heart of the Western Ghats with wildlife photographer Amoghavarsha.

Spend 2 days in the thick rainforests of Agumbe, a
King Cobra haven that receives the second highest rainfall in India.
Camp at the country’s first rainforest research station – the ARRS,
and experience Radio Telemetry Tracking of animals first hand.

The photo expedition involves trekking through pristine forests which are home to several rare and endemic species of animals, found nowhere else on the planet. Photograph these rare species in addition to beautiful waterfalls and landscapes that would leave you mesmerized.

The total cost of the expedition ex-Bangalore is Rs 8900/-,
which includes a pre-expedition workshop, travel charges to Agumbe and back,
food and accommodation, local transport and guide and tracker charges.

For further details log on to

www.greatescapes.co.in

To register, please call

Ajay: 98441 61733 / 98861 01005
or Email

info@greatescapes.co.in

Or directly contact:

Amoghavarsha:

+91 9901044344

Website:
http://amoghavarsha.com

Email:
email@amoghavarsha.com

Environment Support Group

Presents

Urban Explorers

A summer workshop for kids (ages 11-15)

A five day action packed week of exploration of Namma Bengaluru

Understand your city: Learn from outdoor sessions

Learn about how old is my city? How big is my city? How many are we in the city? How do we move in the city and what are its impacts? From where does my city get its water and what happens to the water I flush? How green is my city? How much waste does my city generate and where does it go? What is climate change and how will it affect me?

And most importantly what can I do for my city?

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Bangalore’s first underwater photography exhibition. Check out the magic of marine life this MONDAY 5TH JANUARY 6:30-9:30 PM at Global Tree Cafe, F&B (Pappanna St, off St Mark’s Road)

www.fandb.in

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Amoghavarsha J S, who has moved from the I T industry to become a wildlife photographer, is well-known to all of us. His photographs have been featured in the WWF calendar, and he has been showcased in prestigious magazines such as Better Photography. His last wildlife expedition to Agumbe was a great success (yes, I know, because I paid and went!) and by popular demand, he is repeating the expedition this month, on the 24th and 25th January 2009.

You will find all details at:

http://amoghavarsha.com/workshops/agumbe/

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Several cyclists of Bangalore have got together and done a very professional job of putting together a Tour Of Nilgiris event, that will kick off from St Joseph’s at 6.30am on 25th December, and go through 919 km of mountainous terrain until the 1st January 2009.

Details of the Tour Of Nilgiris are at:

http://www.tourofnilgiris.com/

I am a cyclist, but I can’t participate, fossilized as I am (it would be, quite literally, the last thing I do!) I am drooling over the mental picture of the cyclists sailing through the incredible beauty of the Nilgiris….I can do *that* quite well!

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The Tour of Nilgiris is a 7 day, 919 km bicycle ride across the famed Nilgiri mountain range in South India. The Tour of Nilgiris takes off from Bangalore on 25 December 2008 and ends on 1 January 2009. As the name suggests, it is a tour and not a race. 

There are around 40 participants and do visit this page to get an idea about the background of these interesting (and daring!) folks! To ride for 919 kms will definitely be a feat of sorts. The places are already full up (they had 40 places) but you can do your bit and support the cause in different ways as listed on their site. 

An excerpt of one of the profiles: “Dattatreya Pandit Patil, 37, is a grape farmer and passionate cyclist from Sangli. He believes cycling is good for health, good for the environment and good for national integrity and peace! And it is not empty talk. He has been running a district cycling association for more than a decade in Sangli where he trains children of ten years and above for state and national-level competition.”

Currently, they have the following sponsors:
Official Accessory Partner: Wildcraft
Official Radio Partner: Radio Indigo 91.9FM
Official Medical Assistance Partner: Manipal Hospital
Official Print Partner: Time Out Bengaluru

Do support them and spread the word around!

After hectic schedules, weekend breaks gives you such a wonderful feeling. Isn’t it? Last weekend, we trekked to Hebbe falls Chikmaglur. It was a splendid trek path; a great stress buster indeed.

Trek path

Greenery everywhere and beautiful rivulets impending; to add to those were tender coconuts to quench our thirst made the trek even more exciting.

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Small Rivulets on the way

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Elsewhere on this blog, in a different post, a reader had commented about Veena Stores in Malleshwaram. When yours truly was passing by the place, it struck a tiny bell. However, due to circumstances, I could not stop to check out the place. Managed to take a pic, though. From first impressions, the place – no more than a hole in the wall, it appeared – strikes you at first go as a) it attracts customers from all strata of society – from the arriviste / nouveau riche right down to the humble daily wage earner, as represented by the SUV and the bicycle in the pic below and b) patrons seemed content to stand outside, oblivious to the heat, dust and passing traffic, sporting very satisfied looks as they ate!

Obviously, it called for a repeat visit. And that opportunity came by during the previous Saturday when your’s truly made it a point to stop and visit this well known and highly recommended place.
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For the first time in India, the gruelling Bangalore Ultra will be organised on December 16, 2007.

Runners for Life (RFL), a division of The Fuller Life, is organising the event on the outskirts of Bangalore. An Ultra Marathon is a run where the distances covered by the participants are greater than the standard marathon’s distance of 42.2km. It usually consists of a mix of trail and road running across scenic surroundings.

At the Bangalore Ultra, runners can pick any distance (the favoured one is 52 km) provided they manage it within the 12 hours that the course is open. The distances in an Ultra marathon (up to 104 km) are truly testing and the event attracts runners for whom the only competition is against themselves. That is why the tagline of the Bangalore Ultra is “It’s Tough. Are you?”

Contact Information:
Arvind Bharathi (arvind.bharathi@thefullerlife.com)
http://www.BangaloreUltra.com
Phone: 080-4112 3851 (business hours 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.)

Runners for Life is a club for runners and the race caters to serious athletes. The number of registrations is capped at 200. Runners for Life, the organisers behind this run, has over 700 runners on their mailing list and their membership includes running enthusiasts of every shape and size including CEOs, techies, marketing folks and entrepreneurs. The club was formed to give runners in the city a platform to run and train together.