Eagle Nest...Nandu's Sanctuary....The Heaven of Nature Lovers & Photographers!!!
1 Night & 2 Days Trip to Eagle Nest Chiplun.
Writer, Photographer & Traveler:
Dr. Akash Akinwar Mumbai
Email ID: drakashakinwar@gmail.com / Website: www.drakashakinwar.com
(If you want to visit Eagle Nest Camp...Kindly Contact me on my email id: drakashakinwar@gmail.com or Plz Contact Nandu Tambe on following Numbers 9403800392 / 9422382785 / 9922587001 (Jio) .... Shrikant Tambe (Nandu's Brother) 9403800393)Konkan region of Maharashtra is popularly known as California of Maharashtra, very rich in Flora & Fauna. It is famous for its lovely villages, beautiful beaches, sea food, water activities, coconuts, betel nuts and cashew nuts etc. Every part of Konkan is famous for its own reasons. My story is related to the Shirawali village of Chiplun region of Ratnagiri District of Konkan.
We started Journey from Mumbai Dadar staion by Shatabdi Express early morning 5.30 am towards Chiplun along with my two uncle Mr. Niranjan Sthalekar & Mr. Dinesh Nadkarni. The journey towards Chiplun is very short after 4 hours at 9.30 am we reached at Chiplun station.
At Chiplun station we were greeted by our Wildlife Expert Mr. Nishikant Tambe aka Nandu. In our first visit i thought that Nandu is a very silent & reserved man, he was about 30 years old.
He took us to his Maruti van parked near station, after loading our luggage we started our journey towards his village Shirawali. Shirawali is a small village situated at 30 kilometers away from Chiplun station. It was a very pleasant & short (of about 30 minutes) journey towards his village. In that short journey also we saw some really good birds like Black Shouldered Kite, White Breasted Kingfisher & Malabar Crested Lark ( shown below from left to right).
When we entered his village i was surprised to see that the village consists of about 40-50 houses and Nandu's house was situated much deeper into the dense forest. (shown below)
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| Typical Konkani house of Nandu at Shiravali Village.This place is popularly called as "Eagle Nest Camp" because of a landmark "Nest of Eagle" in this area. Every year so many wildlife experts & photographers visit this place. Nandu is a perfect guide for all of them. |
Nandu is born & brought up at Shirawali village and very passionate & die hard nature lover as most of the time he spent in the close proximity of nature. He is been associated with Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) by doing many projects for them. He is a very keen observer & conservationist and very well known in the area as a Snake Rescuer, Crocodile specialist, Bird specialist & Nature lover.
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| Myself (Dr. Akash Akinwar - right side) with Wildlife expert Mr. Nishikant Tambe aka Nandu (left side with a stick) |
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From left to right:
Mr. Niranjan Sthalekar. Mr. Dinesh Nadkarni & Dr. Akash Akinwar at Nandu's house at "Eagle Nest Camp", Shirawali, Chiplun.
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After meeting Nandu's family members ( Father, mother, sister) and a formal introducton with them we had typical village breakfast of Tasty "Kande - Pohe" and "Coffee". After that we left for our morning Jungle Trail.
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DAY 1- "Eagle Nest Camp", Shirawali, Chiplun, Konkan, Maharashtra State, India. Morning Jungle Trail
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| Inside the dense canopy during our morning jungle trail. We encountered many beautiful natural elements as shown below. |
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| Funnel Web Spider |
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| Giant Wood Spider |
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| Mr. Dinesh Nadkarni & Mr. Niranjan Sthalekar during morning Jungle Trail |
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| Bull Frog |
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| Tall trees in the Jungle |
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| The landmark "Eagle Nest" at the top |
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| "Eagle Nest" |
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| Fishing at the River Bridge: it was a great place for fishing as we caught more than 20 fishes within 2 hours. |
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| Catch of the day |
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| Crocodile |
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| Crocodile |
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| Crocodile |
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| Indian Rock Python (Python molurus) |
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| Common Kingfisher
After finishing our morning jungle trail we came back at around 2 pm and had tasty Konkani Vegetarian lunch at Nandu's home. After lunch we went to sleep for 2 hours and then late afternoon was planned for fishing & crocodile watch near local river till late evening.
Nandu told us that the river contains about more than 700 crocodiles. So we all were very excited to see them in wild. Evening was reserved for the night trail. Night trail was organized in the close by jungle for the sighting of Leapord, Jungle Cat and many more nocturnal animals....we all were very excited for that also. |
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Night Trail photos:
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During night trail with Nandu's close friend Ram |
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| Night trail in process |
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| Beautiful moon shot during night trail |
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| Snake Encounter: Common Sand Boa Snake |
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| Snake Encounter: Yellow Banded Wolf Snake |
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| Rock Spider |
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| Artistic Spider Web |
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| The night trail ended well with a feast of Konkani Kombadi Vade Thali ( Chicken & special roti called as Kombadi Vade)...Yumeeeee! |
DAY 2- "Eagle Nest Camp", Shirawali, Chiplun, Konkan, Maharashtra State, India. Morning Jungle Trail
After early morning breakfast we left for early morning trail to watch few spectacular birds like Malabar Pied Hornbill, Eagle Owl & Kingfisher...and the show was like this....
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| Bronz Back Snake |
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| Signature Spider |
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| Signature Spider and Mr. Nandu (in background) |
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| White Throated Kingfisher |
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| Malabar Pied Hornbill |
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| Fish Eagle Owl |
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| Giant Wood Spider |
Cave Exploration:
The Cave exploration was one of the thrilling experiences at Eagle Nest Camp. As a first experience of cave exploration i was very much thrilled to see the dark cave and bats hanging on the roof of cave as told by Nandu. We were lucky to saw Scorpion Spider inside the cave.
My uncle Mr. Niranjan Sthalekar & Mr. Dinesh Nadkarni Decided to stay out of cave. So only Nandu & me were the two adventurist for cave exploration. We had heavy duety torch, head lights and stick to take care of darkness inside also any snake or scorpion etc inside the cave.
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| Me & Nandu at the entrance of cave |
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| Naturalist Nandu Tambe |
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| Bats hanging at the roof of cave |
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| Myself (Dr. Akash Akinwar): Mission cave exploration was successful ! |
After finishing cave exploration we came back as the tasty konkani lunch was waiting for us eagerly. Post meal time was reserved for sleep followed by our departure towards Mumbai with lots n lots of unforgettable and beautiful memories of purest Nature & Wildlife experience at "Eagle Nest Camp".
I am sure that soon i am gonna visit Eagle Nest Camp again for 3 days trip plan along with my Nature lover & photographer friends...!
(If you want to visit Eagle Nest Camp...Kindly Contact me on my email id: drakashakinwar@gmail.com or Plz Contact Nandu Tambe on following Numbers 9403800392 / 9422382785 9922587001 (Jio) Shrikant Tambe (Nandu's Brother) 9403800393)
Thanks for reading & watching this Blog.
See you until next time!
Regards,
Writer, Photographer & Traveler:
