Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

May 31, 2009

In less than a month, I got a chance to visit Srirangapatna the second time. This time, I stayed away from taking a dip the Cauvery river; we were just two this time and it is not as much fun without a group; also, I was avoiding the creepy kelp (smile). Of course, the Tipu Tomb (Gumbaz) and the summer palace couldn't be missed; especially, the paintings on the palace wall deserved another look. We also sneaked in a visit to the Englishman Jail (or something like that) - a place where the English prisoners were kept in waist high water chained to the walls. Apparently, when Tipu lost the war, he was kept in the same dungeon.

Afterwards, we visited the 1200 year old Ranganatha swamy temple. Apparently, every place the cauvery forks, there is a Rangan temple. This one happens to be the northern most one; the middle one is is Talakad, the southernmost and last one is in Srirangam (in Tamilnadu).

And then we took a short drive to Ranganathittu, a bird sanctuary on six islets in the Cauvery river. I have tried a few times in the past to go there, but always the weather or the season played spoil sport. This time, the fading light was threatening, but we were ready to give it a shot. According to my research, Jun-Nov was the best time to go; we were on the last day of May, and I figured birds would be a bit forgiving. This wikipedia site can tell you more about this sanctuary.

The boat ride was fantastic; short, but gets you close to the birds. The lack of a proper telephoto lens kept annoying me until the boat pulled over about 3 feet from a crocodile lying motionless on a rock. We stopped for about 5 minutes admiring it. Somewhere along the line, I heard the boat rower/guide say that the best season was from feb-jun. Go figure. All I know is I saw plenty, but would have liked to see a LOT more. Apparently, the forestry department is planning to construct six more islets to provide a safe nesting ground for the migratory birds. So, next time, I am hoping to trap twice the number in my camera. And, yeah, my telephoto zoom is in the mail; that should help as well.