Of Green Hills and Other Colours

Sahyadri mountain range or the Western Ghats running along the west coast of India is a great place to be during and soon after the monsoon season. Pictures speak for themselves and the one I love the most out of my pictures is this :

 

We spent our time at Tapola village, about 25 Km from the popular tourist spot of Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. The resorts of Mahabaleshwar pride on swimming pools, multi-cuizine restaurants, fun-zones and spas to pamper the city guests where as this place boasts of nothing but peaceful time with Nature. 

The above picture was shot from the lush green (should have I said that !) hillock just behind our tents. We were at Nisarga whose name easily pops up on search engines. Basic tents but spacious enough for 3, clean rooms and attached toilets which work efficiently and hot and homely food made to our order. Would any one want to spend a week doing nothing except lazying around on a cane jhoola or going for leisurely walks on empty roads or a boat ride in blue calm waters of Koyna river very close to the confluence of 3 rivers ?

The route to this place passing through Mahabaleshwar is also not less enchanting :

This place is quite close to Kaas plateau known for the tiny colourful wild flowers that grow only for a few weeks during  August / September. Declared now as Biodiversity World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. We did not make it to Kaas but flowers were all over wherever we set our eyes and wherever they managed a slightest foothold even on the rocks on the roadside.

 

 

   

So close to Mahabaleshwar, we did make our regulation visits to number of 'Points' and a few names still in the memory are Wilson, Babington, Kate and Lodwik Points. There were few more like Arthur and Savitri  where the fog totally overwhelmed us and could not do anything but enjoy the local ''bhutta'. Very vitalizing. And as we drove around without any map in hand or with no particular destination in mind, it was just impossible not to take a few stops wherever we sensed photo opportunities :

 

Needle Hole at Kate Point. Can you also imagine elephant ? In fact I can see more than one.

Lastly birds, which I do not like to miss whenever I go to a place with or even without vegetation. Plenty of them were spotted but the one I would post here is a Malabar Crested Lark enjoying its time on Panchgani Table-land.

Thank you.