En route to World’s End
And so began a 9 km hike.
The wind made my hair dance.
Thataway.
Into the strange hush we trudge…
Except for a curious knocking sound made by an unseen bird, and the rustle of the wind through the grass…not a sound.
The trail was sandy at first…
Wet and surrounded by vegetation further on..
Just the gentle sound of light rain on the overhead leaves…
When the going got rocky…
And dream-like.
We reached World’s End, the lesser one. A misty, windswept precipice not as high as the actual World’s End, but the view was similar….if only we could have seen it. (It is a cloudforest after all.)
We walked on from there and soon….
We were halfway through our trek! Here stands a triumphant Amu, at the edge of a precipice that plunges dramatically for almost a kilometer down to the lowlands below.
This is what we saw.
An assortment of nationalities.
One of the local guides there warned us that if we had found the walk challenging thus far, it would get tougher henceforth, especially the detour to Baker’s Fall. We could turn around and go back the way we came….or continue to walk till the end.
It was a no-brainer. 🙂
Onwards!
Misty magic ~ 1
Day 2 in Sri Lanka.
It was arranged that a man with a jeep would pick us up reeeaaalllyyy early the next morning, and take us to Horton Plains, a plateau 2100-2300 metres above sea level.
It was cold, drizzly and foggy, and I began to get doubts about how warm our flimsy cotton hoodies would keep us…
The driver stopped at a bend in the road, where he thought we might spot white-bearded monkeys in the misty trees.
And we did 🙂
It was a longish drive, but our gazes were riveted to the landscape we were passing through, forests, rivers, lakes and farms with Fresian cows grazing on the slopes, all enveloped in cloud. The driver was friendly and eager to educate, so he shared titbits of information as he pointed out various noteworthy sights, some left behind by the British, like this forest of Australian eucalyptus, a non-endemic species, not to mention a thirsty bunch of trees.
And a sulky monkey.
I was amazed that the driver’s eyes were sharp enough to spot this poor badly injured female (whose name I forget, a species of lizard endemic to Sri Lanka as I was informed).
How did we know it was a female? Take a look at that egg…
Nothing much could be done, but to pick her up and deposit her in the foliage on the side of the road.
We drove on, and soon….
As we drove in after paying the fee, the sharp-eyed driver once again pointed out something I would surely have missed. A Sambar deer, sheltering near a rhododendron bush
We ate our packed breakfasts huddled in the relative warmth of a bare basic restaurant, where we drank some horrible but warming coffee before setting off on our hike, umbrellas in hand. I had half a mind to skip the whole thing altogether, as my hoodie and three t-shirts were doing nothing to keep the wind from chilling me to the bone. But then I figured walking would warm me up…..and it did.
I’m sure glad I didn’t chicken out, as what followed turned out to be a dream-like hike through surreal landscape, the undisputed highlight of our SrliLankan experience 🙂
suspended
Day 1 in Sri Lanka; A bridge, on our way to Nuwara Eliya. Rather rickety!
this picture clicked by the ‘real’ photographer in the family…..Amu 🙂
Zen
1st August; Day 1 in Sri Lanka; Location: Lake Lodge, Colombo. A small pond at the entrance.
(the credit for this particular picture goes to my daughter, Amu. I felt compelled to add it here as it is even more Zen than the flowers 🙂 )
the moon and the mazaar
Went up on the roof to see if I could take some nice night shots. On one end was a waning moon….
On the other, a bedecked Mazaar, all dressed up for the 12th of Rabi ul Awwal……
Crepuscular, much?
*munch munch*
Celebrate?
14th August 2012. Independence Day.
the offspring
in the mood to party…
…seconds before dashing out the door 🙂
Happy 65th Pakistan.
Caged
What I didn’t get to see up close in the wild in a reserve called Mikumi in Tanzania…..
lion
It helps though, that I now have a much better zoom lens. 🙂
If I had to pick a tree…
…it would be this one.
I just have to slow down, or stop altogether and stare, if I chance upon an Amaltas on my jaunts around the city.
If this isn’t magic…what is?
Monster truck
Halfway to Sehwan, a truck adda for some chai.
bursting at the seams..quite literally.
keeping it in perspective…and oooh got a light bubble 🙂
Dusk
In a garden named after Gandhi, in the heart of the city….a remnant of a colonial past.
the light changed rapidly as the sun set…
dusk
Steps
Daressalam University is built on lush green hills, the terrain undulates and leads to various buildings, crossing bridges, traversing slopes, and many tree-shrouded steps need to be climbed along the way….
very many steps...
climb we must!
blue-y sunny poolside morning
Not in the mood to swim, but just sit outdoors and study my new camera, I found my way to the hotel pool, there to potter about taking pictures of things and peruse the manual. No one there except me, blue sky and gorgeous East African clouds…
(click on image to enlarge)
why are East African clouds poofier than Southeast Asian ones? 😐
anything Masai catches my eye
It was fun setting the timer and dashing back and forth several times to get a ‘reasonably good’ shot of myself. I just hope no one was watching from their windows…..
creature comfort
Nothing like travelling thousands of miles across ocean and continent, weary from lack of sleep, dying for a shower and a snooze, to check into a hotel in a foreign country, travel some more in an elevator, walk down a carpet-muted corridor, slip a card into a slot in the door….open it, and find this…..
successful use of timer methinks
mandatory mug shot, more success with timer
I do confess I was a happy creature in Tanzania last March, exactly one year ago 🙂
looking at places from an aerial perspective~1
This post is for people like me who have only seen Dubai while descending and departing. I happen to be one of those geeky people who’re fascinated by geography, so (when on a plane) instead of watching a movie or reading a book or sleeping, I’d rather be sitting with my nose pressed against the window with eyes peeled for any glimpse of unusual topography. Even ordinary topography is fine, actually. Here’s what I saw while flying over the U.A.E…
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(Pssst…..I had to heavily tweak the brightness and contrast to edit these photos. Otherwise they were crap)
Solemn little skeptic
Encountered early Sunday morning, 25th March, at the Burhani Car Rally 2012. This little girl was NOT too impressed by all this festivity and refused to crack a smile despite her mother’s cajoling 🙂
Zahabiya and her pretty offshoot
'when in doubt, chew your finger'
*frowns*
Skepticism, y'know, is the first step on the road to philosophy 🙂
14th February~early morning drive back home.
It is not often….not often at all, that I am up and out of the house driving around so early. The man who usually does these things is out of town, so yours truly must drop the offspring to school. Yesterday as I drove back home, I witnessed the most glorious sun, just over the horizon as I went around a bend on the sloping road. ‘Oh WOW!’, is all I could say, and kicked myself for not having a camera on me. Promised myself I would remember to take it with me this morning, as the sun dawned on Valentines Day, 2012. The sky was less polluted this morning it seemed, and the sunrise wasn’t as spectacular as it was yesterday. But it wasn’t bad either.
Have a great day people.
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the road to Sehwan
sheep grazing...
men in pickup...
travellers...
two young ladies who came up to see if we'd give them some money....
...smiled when they saw my camera 🙂
and brought some buddies 🙂
Sunset at the beach….
at the end of a beachy day at Sandspit, you back your car out and glimpse the sun through the reeds. must take picture. (completely unedited)
Mun-zooms 