In the home of ‘The big five’

The thrill began around January when a friend proposed a trip to South Africa. It seemed a bit long and high budget trip, however it was an opportunity to see wildlife in another continent.

After researching where to go and what to see and getting a few estimates and budget planning, we asked Swapnil (Daffodil holidays) to plan the trip for us and accompany us to Kruger national park.

We reached Johannesburg, South Africa really early in the morning on 1st May, and had breakfast at the airport. Swapnil had hired an eight seater van for all of us and we immediately started for Kruger. The most convenient way to travel in South Africa is Self drive cars and there are many companies who rent cars. On the way to Kruger, Swapnil briefed us about how we were going to go, where we will be staying and once we enter from the Kruger gate the safari will start etc. 

Since we were going to stay in the core area, there was a higher possibility of seeing wild animals anytime anywhere. We entered Kruger around noon. The first animal we saw was an Impala. A beautiful animal with a shiny golden brown skin and wavy horns with a design of rings on them. After that it was a treat for the next 4 days :D. 

A well spent day at Doha

We had planned a trip to South Africa. Due to rescheduled flights we had a 15 hours lay over at Doha.

We started early morning on 30th April from Mumbai. It was a long night with 3 children, 4 sleepy adults waiting to board the flight. We reached Doha at 5 am in the morning Doha time. 

We were worried how we will be able to keep children engaged and happy for that long, considering certain restrictions in public place. But they started playing the minute they saw an empty area on airport :).

We had checked whether we can go out in Doha city and visit places. By the time we reached Doha we knew 'On arrival' visa was possible for Indians with certain bookings in place. 

वाघांच्या राजधानीत...

काही महिन्यांच्या उपासानंतर जंगलात फिरायला जायचं ठरलं. आज उद्यात तारखा ठरवू म्हणत माणसं ठरेपर्यंत दोन आठवडे गेलेच पण १६-१९ नोव्हेंबरला भाचेकंपनीसकट १० जण ताडोबाला जायला गोळा झालो. 

ताडोबा आणि अंधारी अभयारण्याचं  (Tadoba and Andhari Tiger Reserve - TATR) मुख्य वनक्षेत्र (core) हे ६२५.४ स्क्वेअर किलोमीटरचं आहे. आजूबाजूचं काही (buffer) क्षेत्र मिळून एकूण क्षेत्र साधारण १७२७ स्क्वेअर किलोमीटरचं आहे. कोअर भागात जाण्यासाठी कोलारा, नवेगाव, मोहारली गावातून दारे आहेत. बफर भागात जाण्यासाठी, कोलारा, पळसगाव, अलिझंझा ही प्रवेशद्वारे आहेत. आणखीही काही प्रवेशद्वारे आहेत पण वरील प्रवेशद्वारे प्रामुख्याने वापरली जातात. कदाचित या दारांपासून एका वेळी आत जाऊ शकणाऱ्या गाड्या जास्ती असल्याने किंवा या ठिकाणी पोहोचणं त्या मानानी सोपं असल्यामुळे तसं असावं. 

Trip to Kerala

Since one of my friends, Rajashree announced Kerala as her wedding venue, me and my husband, Parth started planning for the trip. This wedding was on 31st Jan 2011. Another friend of mine was getting married on 30th Jan in Pune and I wanted to attend both the weddings since both are my very close friends. So after quite some discussions and change in plans, me and Parth decided to take a flight on 30th Jan afternoon, so that we could attend both the weddings.

30th January
We packed our bags and left home at 8am to meet and give best wishes to Ninad & Swaroop on their wedding day.