Trip to Rabindra Sarobar on 21/07/2014

Rabindra Sarobar. also known as Dhakuria Lake, is a must visit among all the tourist draws in Kolkata My City. It is a man-made lake, situated in the southern part of the city. This huge water body is surrounded by Rashbehari Avenue to the west, Southern Avenue to the north, Suburban Kolkata railway tracks to the south, and Dhakuria to the east. Morning walk, jogging, picnic, sports, and offering prayers to the sun are some of the common activities noticed here.

A brief history of Rabindra Sarobar (Dhakuria Lake)

This lake was created in the early 1920s by the Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT). Formerly, it was known as Dhakuria Lake due to its proximity to the Dhakuria area. However, in 1958, the name was changed to Rabindra Sarovar to pay homage to the world famous Bengali author and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Gardens, children's parks, and an auditorium (Nazrul Mancha) are some prime features of this area. People mostly visit the place for recreation. There are a range of migratory birds that visit this place during the winter months. However, the count is falling most probably due to the increasing extent of pollution. Fishing is stringently banned in this lake and the water body contains different types of fishes.

Landmarks

The landmarks in and around Rabindra Sarobar lake are Mukta Mancha, the sole Japanese Buddhist Temple of Kolkata, Rabindra Sarobar Stadium (a football stadium), a mosque, and a number of swimming and rowing clubs, namely Calcutta Sports, Anderson, and Lake Friends. The lake lies within walking distance from the Ramakrishna Mission, Golpark. It can be easily reached from both Rabindra Sarobar Metro Station and Tollygunge Railway Station.

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Trip to Purbasthali (Chupi Char) on January 30, 2014

Purbasthali is a tiny village lying in the Kalna subdivision of Burdwan district. The distance from Sealdah is almost 125 km. The most convenient means of going to Purbasthali is boarding the Sealdah-Katwa local. It will take around three and half hours to reach there. Purbasthali is mostly famous for its oxbow lake, also known as Chupi Char. The oxbow lake is huge in size and was the creation of the Ganges river. The distance from the famous pilgrimage site of Nabadwip is just eight kilometers. The length of the lake is around 2-3 km and is home to a range of migratory birds, especially in the winters.

My companions in this tour were Bimalendu whom I met in CKBS and his friend Soumyadip. We boarded the Sealdah Katwa local from Bidhannagar Road station at around 8 am in the morning and reached Purbasthali at around 11 am. Auto rickshaws and vans are available at the station for visiting the oxbow lake, a prime attraction during the winter months. Boats and canoes are available on hire for touring the lake because one cannot get a close view of the migrant birds if they don't go for a boat ride on this lake. The rates differ depending on the time for which you are hiring a boat. We had the opportunity to view a number of birds coming from as far as Siberia. Asian Openbill Stork, Bronzed Drongo, Common Sandpiper, Little-ringed Plover, Red-crested Pochard, Common Greenshank, Common Teals, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Indian Pond Heron, Little Cormorant, Northern Pintails, Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, and Small Pratincole are some of the commonly found bird species in this place.

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Trip to Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary (Narendrapur) on January 21, 2014

There are a number of bird and wildlife sanctuaries in West Bengal and Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary, also known as CKBS, is one of them. Closely located to Ramkrishna Mission Narendrapur, the sanctuary is also called as Kayaler Bagan. Visitors come here to see a wide assortment of birds which is often a rare spectacle in the city or metropolitan areas. Those who want to visit this bird sanctuary can avail the metro rail and get down at Kavi Nazrul metro station. Plenty of buses and auto rickshaws are available from this place to CKBS. The nearest railhead is Narendrapur, 15 km from Sealdah.

My visit to Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary is also memorable for another reason. This was the occasion when I met another photography enthusiast Bimalendu Hazra, a medical student from the Midnapur district. Though he was much younger to me, I mingled with him quite easily and clicked a number of shots together.

CKBS is mostly known for its collection of avifauna, ferns, orchids and butterflies. It was set up in the year 1982 and has emerged as a popular destination for birdwatching. The place usually remains crowded during the weekends. The name of this reserve forest was changed from Narendrapur Wildlife Sanctuary to Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary in order to pay homage to the well-known sculptor Chintamoni Kar. If you visit there, you will mostly see birds like Asian Koel, Indian Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Scaly-breasted Munia, Jungle Babbler, Long-tailed Nightjar, Green Bee-eater, Kingfisher (both White-throated and Stork-billed), Dove (Common Emerald and Spotted) and Woodpecker (Rufous and Streak-throated).

The link to some more photos is given here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.709378279094533.1073741853.672990912733270&type=3

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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.

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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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