The Lost World - Kanoor Kote

Kanoor Kote is located in the midst of Sharavathi reserved forest. Reaching this place for stranger would be tough as many locals on the way predict the kilometers but don't know the exact distance to Kanoor Kote. Kanoor Kote was built by Rani Keladi Chenamma who ruled Keladi province after her husband's death. Keladi chenamma's name is considered as one of the brave women of Karnataka and of its history. 

Kanoor Kote says every word of history which was lived there even today and to reach here is one major task for any tourist and it will make you still wonder how did they traveled in such route when there was no transport at all. The fort is located in the deep jungle which is Reserved forest for wild animals. One can hear a lot of animal making noise while trekking towards the fort. It is adviced to trek to the fort in group rather than alone or few.

We were charged Rs 150 by forest dept and a trekking fee of Rs 50 more. There are few forest department sign boards and few cement chairs to sit just before Kanoor Kote. There is zero amount being spent in preserving this old historic fort. This place is not an ideal place to camp overnight and instead would recommend to stay in some villager's house located few kms away. We had walked almost 30 kms to reach this place from Dabbe Falls. There is a jeep route which will take you almost all the way till this fort. You need to walk for about 2 kms at the end to reach this fort. Check out this video.

Camera: Nikon D600 with Nikon 14-24mm lens
Location: Kanoor Fort, Shimoga, Karnataka, India

Sheep grazing in front of the Himalayan Mountain range

Captured this during my trip to Sonamarg. This was early in the morning about half an hour after sunrise. In the background is the Himalayan mountain range during summer. This place was our starting point of Kashmir Great Lakes trekking and was on first day. Very scenic place, stayed overnight here in this place in a tent and captured some amazing shots. This place is on the way from Srinagar to Leh. Nearest city is the Sonamarg city which is about 30 mins walk from this place. The only residents here in this region are the shepherds and you will find many huts here. They stay in this region only during summer for few months after which this place is inhabitable because of thick snow.

Location: Sonamarg, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Camera: Nikon D600 with Nikon 14-24mm lens

Kukke Subramanya Temple in Karnataka

This place is around 2 hours from Mangalore and had to leave early in the morning. Reached there on time and captured this early in the morning. Image shows the entrance of Kukke Subramanya Hindu temple, one of the very famous and richest temple in southern India. To the left of the entrance is the chariot. Right behind the temple is the very famous trekking spot - Kumara Parvata. It takes a bit less than a day to climb all the way up. This place is know for poisonous snakes as is common to find once you enter the forest behind. This place is in the rain forest region of Dakshina Kannada and is known for heavy rain. Not an ideal time to visit this place during rainy season. 

Camera: Canon Powershot SX 100 IS

Location: Kukke Temple, Subramanya, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India

Sringeri - The 8th Century Monastery

Captured this photo when I had been to Sringeri. One of the oldest 8th century monastery. The old building that you see is the Sringeri Sharadha Peetha or Sringeri Matta. It's a must visit place if you have plans to travel to south India. Right next to this ancient Matta is the river Tunga and on the other side is the Sharada temple. This place is around 100+ kms from Mangalore and is around 300+ kms from Bangalore.

Camera: Nikon D600, Nikon 14-24mm lens
Camera Settings: 19mm, 1/250, f/8, ISO 100
Location: Sringeri, Karnataka, India

Note: Photography inside the temple isn't allowed.

Surathkal Light house late in the evening

Even though I work in Bangalore as of this writing, I visit Surathkal (my home town) atleast once in every 1 or 2 months. I have seen people visiting this place in the evening as there is famous temple and a light house. But after sunset at around 7-8 pm you will hardly find anyone there. Even though I spent most of time time here in this place, I did not ever stay back after 7pm. Recently, I have been to this place with my Nikon D600 camera and a tripod along with Nikon lens. It was too perfect for me with clear sky and for me to experiment with low light photography. I had to wait for almost an hour to capture this with no one around, just the beam of light from light house. Also, I'm lucky enough to capture shooting star in the same image. I had captured this at around a distance of 500-750 meters from light house. Below is the image and camera settings that I have used to capture this low light photo of night sky along with the light house.

Camera: Nikon D600

Lens: Nikon 50mm FX prime lens 1.4D

Camera Settings: Exposure 30 secs, f/5, 50mm, IS0 800, No flash, Used Tripod.

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Remains of building at Kumta Beach

In the image below you will find some of the remains of an old building (not sure if it's a church) and also there is a long straight path. The path is made of proper red rock and doesn't look like some ordinary trekking trail as shown in the image below. This place is full of volcanic rocks. As you can see in the video below the granite rock is really colorful. Also check my previous post - Kumta Beach in Karnataka.Overall this place is a very beautiful, unspoiled place. Nice place to relax and the idea time to go there through the year. This place is around 30 kms from Gokarna and is well connected. 

Camera: Nikon D600 with 14-24mm lens

Camera Settings: 14mm, 1/400, f/10, ISO 100

Location: Kumta Beach, Karnataka, India

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Overnight stay near Satsar Lake

This was during my Himalayan trekking where I stayed overnight at Satsar Lake which is at 12,000 feet and the temperature was around 5 degree Celsius. The place where we had camped was after the Satsar lake on the way to Gangbal twin lake. One of the most beautiful places on earth and definitely want to visit this place again. Captured this image of night sky and used my sleeping bag as tripod as I did not have one, to avoid camera shake and blurring of image. I believe it was full moon and this is the reason why the nearby hill is bright. It was too cold outside, managed to capture this sitting inside my tent with just my camera and head out. Also, this place is very close to India Pakistan line of control.

Camera and lens: Nikon D600, Nikon 14-24mm lens

Camera Settings: Focal Length 17mm, Exposure 5s, F Number f/2.8, ISO 4000, No Tripod, No Flash

Location: Satsar Lake, Jammu & Kashmir, India

Beach that you need to visit

This is one of the most beautiful places on earth which is beautiful, peaceful, unspoiled and a must visit place. This place is around 600 kms from Bangalore and is a over night journey. It's close to Kumta and Gokarna city. Captured this image in the afternoon at around 2:45pm, on the way from Holanagadde Beach to Sangam Beach. You do not see to many people here and some love it this way. You might find few foreigners who have come to this place to spend their vacation and learn Yoga. In the image below you see some of my friends who were with me walking along the seashore. Watch the two videos below and also the photo that I have captured.

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Camera: Nikon D600, 14-24mm lens
Camera Settings: Focal Length 14mm, Exposure 1/400, f/10, ISO 100

Location: On the way from Holanagadde Beach to Sangam Beach, Karnataka, India

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Videos:

Holanagadde beach, Karnataka, India

Sangam Beach, Karnataka, India

Evening at Om Beach, Karnataka, India

Om beach another beautiful beach and is next to Goa in India when it comes to foreign visitors. Another beautiful beach, unspoiled. This place may be a bit crowded sometimes during peak season. I had been there during my Kumta - Gokarna trekking and had spent evening playing volley ball in the beach. It was great fun and we even took a dip in the sea water. There is a shelter house and bathroom available till 6pm at Om Beach near the Forest Department office. This place is the one which you need to visit and stay there for a while if you want to get relaxed. There are enough number of Yoga centers nearby. This place is controlled by Forest Department and it's common to see police officers in most of the places. So, consider this place to be a safe place. Check out the video below before you visit this place.

Camera: Nikon D600 with 14-25mm lens
Location: Om Beach, Gokarna, North-West Karnataka, India.
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Paradise Beach in Karnataka

Here is a beach which you don't want to miss located near Gokarna in the north-west coast of Karnataka state, India. Beautiful and clean beach will hilly terrain. I had been to this place on a weekend for trekking to the nearby place. Boat ride is very cheap and you can enjoy to the max. You will find river/fresh water dolphins in the seashore, and you will be lucky to see this only when you go by boat around the Paradise beach. There is a light house which adds as an extra wow to your photos. Check out the some of the images in the YouTube video that I have captured. This place is safe to visit as you will find police all around and lot of foreign visitors here. Also, this place is well maintained by forest department.

Camera: Nikon D600 with Nikon wide angle 14-24 mm lens.

Location: Paradise Beach, Gokarna, Karnataka, India

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Happy Kid from Russia

Captured this photo of a young little shy girl who had come with her parents to stay at Sangam Beach. Spoke her dad came to know that they are from Russia, and had come to India to stay in the beach hut which they love the most. Captured this kid's photo when she had come out of their hut with her mother. Asked her about her friends and she pointed to the little kitten. People from all round the world come here, learn Yoga and spend their vacation in the beach huts here.

Camera: Nikon D600. Lens: 50 mm prime. Settings: 1/100, IS0 400, f/5
Location: Sangam Beach, KA, India (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DiOPQSQXC0)

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Kumta Beach in Karnataka

Had been to Trekking with my friends, from Kumta to Gokarna Beach for 2 days. Spent over night at Sangam beach in our sleeping bags. These are some of the images that I captured at Kumta Beach located within 30 kms from Gokarna. This was the starting point of our trekking all the way till Gokarna.

Camera: Nikon D600
Location: Kumta Beach, Karnataka, India

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Mangodlu Beach in Karnataka

Mangodlu beach located around 20 kms from Gokarna is a beautiful place with beach which is not polluted at all. Not too many visitors visit this place, but if you go there you will love this place because of the quite and clean beach. Here in this region you will find some hilly terrain and in some of the parts there is no seashore. Other local attractions include - Kumta beach, Vanamali beach, Holanagadde beach, Sangam beach, Barka beach, Tadadi port, Aganashini river bank, Paradise beach, Halfmoon beach, Om beach, Kudle beach, Gokarna beach, Gokarna Temple.

Camera: Nikon D600
Location: Mangodlu Beach, in between Kumta and Gokarna, Karnataka, India

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One night beach stay

I'm from Mangalore and I used to stay hardly 300-400 meters from Surathkal beach for 22 years, but did not ever make an attempt to stay over night at beach. But now after 7 years in Bangalore, I went to 2 days weekend trekking from Kumta to Gokarna covering a distance of 30 kms in 2 days by walk and boat.  For the first time I spent whole night at beach with my friends. It was great fun to cook, set up campfire, and fun activities that we had after dinner. It was a total different experience to sleep at seashore in our sleeping bag. We were worried a bit about the waves and in the morning I overheard some of them saying that they could hear crabs passing right next to them. I just had a very good sleep, after walking on the previous day for more than 10-15 kms in the beach.

Camera: Nikon D600, Nikon 14 - 24 mm lens

Location: Sangam Beach near Gokarna, Karnataka, India

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Gokarna City Festival

I have been to Gokarna in the recent past during my Kumta to Gokarna beach trekking which was for 2 days and covered a distance of 30 kms by walk and boat. Covered multiple places including Om beach, Paradise beach and Halfmoon beach. Lot of tourists come to this place every year. We went to Gokarna Mahabaleshwara Shiva temple late in the evening and after visiting the temple we had our dinner there. It was festival time - Deepotsava. It was really nice to see each and every one come out of their house put rangoli in front of their house. Check out this video. It was more like festival of lights and this is performed on the day of full moon. At 9pm in the evening the grand celebration begins inside the temple premises. This place had equal number of locals and foreign tourists who had come to Gokarna to stay on long term. Just liked the local tradition and cultured that were being followed in this region of Gokarna located at North West Karnataka in India, makes this a must visit place.

Camera: Nikon D600 

Location: Gokarna, Karnataka, India

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Beach Trek from Kumta to Gokarna

I had been to (Full Moon) Beach trek with my BASC friends on a weekend. We all had great time there with loads of fun, cooking, campfire, full moon beach walk, exploring the unknown trail, boat ride, evening bath at sea and finally the festival at Gokarna temple. I wish if every weekend were to be like this. There were first timers and experienced trekkers, but this was a totally different experience - all in the sea shore including dinner, campfire and over night stay. We covered Kumta Beach, vanamali beach, Mangodlu beach, Holanagadde beach, Sangam beach, Barka beach, Tadadi port, Aganashini river bank, Paradise beach, Halfmoon beach, Om beach, Kudle beach, Gokarna beach and Gokarna Temple. Let me not write more instead check out all my video and photos and enjoy. Also, don't forget to share it with your friends and to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get the latest updates.

Camera & Lens: Nikon D600, Nikon 50 mm 1.4 d, Nikon 14-24 mm + Tripod.
Location: Sagar, Kumta to Gokarna, North-West Karnataka, India.

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And our photos:

Boat ride at OM Beach

I had been to full moon beach trek recently with my friends. We had to walk from Kumta to Gokarna beach in 2 days covering a distance of 30 kms. We managed to reach the port and a river. we had to cross the river, but as we did not have enough time and had lost our way earlier in the trek.. we decided to cover halfmoon beach, paradise beach, Om beach by boat. We enjoyed the boat ride. Check out this video and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to get more updates on photography.

Camera: Nikon D600 and Nikon 14-24mm wide angle lens to capture this video. 

Evening at Dal Lake

Location: Dal Lake, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India

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Camera: Nikon D600 with 14-24 mm ultra wide angle lens.
Camera Settings: Focal Length - 17mm, Exposure - 1/250, F Number f/8, ISO 110

This is one of the shots that I had captured of Dal Lake when I went for a walk along the Srinagar- Leh highway. Lot of tourists visit this place during Summer and stay in the boat house. This place is known for ‘Shikara’, where they will take you around in the lake and cover fountain, floating garden, flower market and the beautiful landscape.

South India Tourism - Pandya Nagari

Karkala is a town and also the headquarters of Karkala Taluk in Udupi district of Karnataka, India. The first name of this town was "Pandya Nagari" during the Jain regime but afterwards it was changed to "Karikallu" because of black stones. Black granite is abundant in this area, and is in wide use in the local architecture. The statue Gomateshwara (Lord Bahubali) is located about 1 km from the center of the town and is 42 ft. high, believed to have been built around 1432 AD. Yearly celebrations are in the month of February called "Rathotsava" and once in 12 years "Mahamastakabhisheka", sacred bathing of the statue with saffron paste, milk and water and sprinkled with sandal wood powder, turmeric, and vermilion is celebrated. This statue of Gomateshwara in karkala is the 2nd highest next to the Gomateshwara statue, located at Shravanabelagola. Karkala has a number of natural and historical landmarks including the Ramasamudra Lake.

There are 18 basadis of antiquity including Mahaveera Basadi, Chandranathaswamy Basadi, Adinathaswamy Basadi, Ananthanatha Basadi, Guru Basadi and Padmavathi Basadi.

South India Tourism - Surathkal

Surathkal is on the shore of Arabian sea and boasts of having beautiful beaches. There is a beach in front of the Sadashiva Temple.The beach is known for its clean surrounding and its lighthouse.

Surathkal is famous for the some of the age old very famous educational institutes/colleges like NITK, Govindadasa college and many other schools. Surathkal was once a Grama panchayat, then town panchayat, municipality now merged with Mangalore city corporation.

According to legend, the name Surathkal is derived from "shiratakal" meaning "headstone" in Tulu (local language). When Lord Ganapathi kept a shiva linga belonging to Ravana on ground, Ravana tried to pull the linga from the ground but could not. The place where the linga is supposed tohave been is now known as Gokarna. Due to the force exerted by Ravana, some pieces were scattered. One such piece from the head of the linga is said to have fallen in present day Surathkal. The famous Sadashiva temple is said to be built around that piece of linga. Men in the coastal line go for fishing, as early as 4am in the morning and will be back home by 12pm. Women go to market to sell those fishes (Most common types of fish that they sell include the famous "Banguday", "Bootai"). People here speak Tulu (Majority), kannada or konkani and are proud to be called as "tulu nadu da jokulu".