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Trip to Snake Park, Badu, Madhyamgram

January 5, 2015 (Monday) was a wintry day. However, that did not stop me from going out for a trip to Snake Park at Badu, Madhyamgram. I have been contemplating to visit that place for a considerable period of time but was not getting the time due to my busy schedule. I got it on Monday and did not miss the opportunity. So, I picked up my trusted mid-range DSLR Canon EOS 1100D and set off for Madhyamgram. My companion on this tour was Kunal Putatunda da, a man who is also interested in photography like me. At around 9 am in the morning, we boarded the Garia-Barasat long route bus from Garia bus stand. We reached Madhyamgram Chowmatha at around 11 am and took an auto rickshaw from there to reach Badu, our destination. Calcutta Snake Park was established in 1977 and its distance from Madhyamgram Railway Station is around 5 km and from Dumdum Airport, it is 10 km. Bus no 93 from Bagbazar can also take you there.

The Snake Park houses a number of venomous and non-venomous snakes. The ornamental snake or Kalnagini is a top draw of this zoo. We also saw a number of monitor lizards in the zoo such as the yellow monitor (Varanus flavescens), the water monitor (Varanus salvator) and the land monitor (Varanus bengalensis). Crocodiles are a major attraction of this zoo and park. There are a number of marsh crocodiles (crocodilus palustris), drawing a significant number of visitors. In addition, there are some rare species of birds (avifauna) which include both Indian and foreign birds that you can see. We kept on clicking the shutters till the time we really got exhausted. After eating lunch at a streetside hotel in Madhyamgram Chowmatha, we returned home by 4 pm that day.

Photo album link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.900200173345675.1073741873.672990912733270&type=3

Trip To Diamond Harbour on January 12, 2015

On Monday (12/01/2015) morning, I along with my friend Mr. Kunal Putatunda went to Diamond Harbour. We boarded the Diamond Harbour local from Baghajatin Railway Station at 9:15 am in the morning and reached there at around 10:40 am. Diamond Harbour is approximately 50 km from Baghajatin and a popular weekend tourist destination in the South 24 Parganas. However, the importance of Diamond Harbour as a tourist spot has waned over the years, especially due to emergence of other popular weekend spots like Mandarmoni, Bakkhali, Tajpur, Garchumuk and so on.

Lying in the southern suburbs of Kolkata, Diamond Harbour is a small town forming a part of the South 24 Parganas district. It is close to the Mohona or the meeting point of the Hooghly River with the Bay of Bengal. This place was previously called Hajipur and you will also see the remnants of a fort, probably set up by the Portuguese. Local people call it the fort of Chingrikhali or Purono Kella. There is also a lighthouse. If you want to see the 32 Kopat or lock-gate, you need to go for a launch ride from Diamond Harbour jetty to Kukrahati (Purba Medinipur). Diamond Harbour serves as the gateway to many other nearby places such as Kakdwip, Gangasagar, Bakkhali and Namkhana. There are many small hotels where you can stay for the day.

Now, back to our trip. Obviously, we had our cameras with us and they never remained silent. I carried my Canon PowerShot SX500 IS since it has a good zoom lens. Besides natural beauty and seaside shots, we also took snaps of two huge container ships. After capturing around 65-70 snaps, we ate lunch at a local hotel and boarded Diamond Harbour local at 2 pm. By 3:30 pm in the afternoon, we were back home.

Photo album link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.905286732837019.1073741874.672990912733270&type=3

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