India Extends Visa-on-arrival Facility To 180 Countries

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Tara

The Times of India reports that India will be implementing a new Visa-on-arrival system which will be a great asset to tourism. Although some countries like the USA can visas valid for 10 years once you go through the procedures, others like Australia have visas that expire after 6 months and you have to go through the procedure every time you travel.

“We have decided to extend visa-on-arrival to tourists from 180 nations. It will take 5-6 months to put the infrastructure in place. We hope to implement this from the next tourist session beginning October,” planning minister Rajiv Shukla said.

The facility will be implemented at 9 airports initially (although only 8 airports are named). Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Goa and Trivandrum. I am surprised not to see Bangalore on the list since this is a major airport in India.

Tourists will also have the option of applying for an electronic visa (ETA) which is similar to an ESTA for the USA, ETA for Australia and India’s neighbor Sri Lanka. For my recent trip, I had to go to the Indian visa processing facility in Brisbane which was a pita given there is very little parking nearby and is very expensive. By contrast our Sri Lankan visas were done online in a matter of minutes!

I have to admit, ease of obtaining a visa plays a huge part in my decision making as to which country I choose if I am targeting a bird species that is present in more than one country. All else being equal, I will choose the country I can get a visa on arrival or do an ETA.

This is a great move on behalf of the Indian government and should greatly boost tourism in the country and increase job opportunities for people working in tourism!

A Visit To Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC), Bangalore

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Tara

During my brief visit to Bangalore, I caught up with a friend who lives there and is very passionate about conservation and wildlife rescue. Avin Deen is also the Indian representative for the World Parrot Trust. Avin picked us up at the Park Plaza in the morning and we had quite a long drive out to Bannerghatta as we hit peak hour traffic but it did give us more time to chat. During our last visit to India, Avin had taken us to SAI Sanctuary and on a birding excursion to Coorg and he was also keen to find out what birds we saw on our recent trip.

WRRC has been rendering the following services to wild animals:

Rescue of wild life from injuries, accidents, illegal wildlife trade and other sources
Rehabilitation
Prevention of cruelty
Humane Education
Information and expertise
Campaigns and legal battles in support of wildlife
Research and surveys on captive elephants.

Most recently, they rescued 21 Alexandrine Parakeet chicks who had been recovered from wildlife poachers and were in the process of rehabilitating them to be returned to the wild. Full story is here. They also have a large number of Rose-Ringed Parakeets. In these photos you can see some parakeets in their aviary as they recover their health.

These birds are actually very lucky as if they had not been rescued they would have had a miserable life in a tiny crowded cage or more likely died from the mistreatment. But thanks to WRRC, they will fly free again someday. WRRC has other birds and animals as well.

Avin Deen & Dr. Roopa Sathish

Ina Tuatai, Tara Tuatai, Dr. Roopa Sathish & Mr Anand

WRRC needs as much help as they can get to continue with their very important work as they are very limited in funds. For more information on how you can help WRRC, become a volunteer or organize a visit if you are visiting Bangalore, please see their website and contact them as below.

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre

‘Southern Cross’

9-A, Myrtle Lane

Richmond Town

Bangalore 560025

Tel: 91 80 22947300, 22947301

email:wrrcbrc@gmail.com

Gateway City: Bangalore, India

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Tara

I briefly touched upon Bangalore as a gateway to Coorg but this will be a more comprehensive guide. Bangalore is India’s third most populous city and is known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its role as the nation’s leading Information Technology (IT) exporter. But once you get out of the urban jungle into the lush Western Ghats a far more beautiful jungle awaits you!

BANGALORE AIRPORT

Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru is a large modern structure.

But nothing wrong with starting your birding a bit early at the food court! These photos were taken in the domestic terminal.

GETTING THERE

Bangalore (as well as all Indian cities) requires a Central Asian award. There are no direct flights from the USA, Canada or Australia so you will have to travel via Europe or South-east Asia.

STAR ALLIANCE

Thai flies from Bangkok

Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt

Singapore Airlines flies from Singapore

ONE WORLD

Sri Lankan flies from Colombo

Qatar Airways flies from Doha

Malaysian flies from Kuala Lumpur

Dragonair (Cathay Pacific affiliate) flies from Hong Kong

British Airways flies from London

SKYTEAM

Air France flies from Paris

Saudia flies from Damman, Jeddah, Riyadh

NON-ALLIANCE BOOKABLE WITH MILES

Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi (AA partner)

Emirates flies from Dubai (Qantas partner)

Air Mauritius flies from Mauritius (Air France partner)

DOMESTIC

Air India (future Star Alliance), IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways, Jet Lite

WHERE TO STAY WITH HOTEL POINTS

As one may expect, India’s 3rd largest city is well supplied with chain hotels you can book with points. Pay close attention to the location as you can get stuck in traffic for hours!

Best Western – 3 hotels ranging from 12,000 – 16,000 points

Choice – 2 hotels ranging from 8000 – 12,000 points

Club Carlson – Park Plaza – 38,000 points My review

Hilton – Double Tree Suites – 40,000 points

Hyatt – Hyatt Bangalore MG Road – 12,000 points

IHG – Crowne Plaza – 30,000 points

Marriott – 4 hotels ranging from 7500 – 30,000 points

Starwood – 5 hotels ranging from 4000 – 10,000 points

GROUND TRANSPORT

Booking buses and trains in advance can be a challenge for foreign tourists as bot Indian Rail and most bus companies require a mobile phone to set up an account. I have a more detailed post on my experiences with buying bus tickets during my recent trip. Back in 2011, I was able to book trains online with Cleartrip. It seems they changed the procedure so you now have to get an account with IRCTC.

TO & FROM THE AIRPORT

There will be prepaid taxis available at any time your flight comes in. See more information and approximate fares here. You’d be looking at 600-800ish rupees.

There are also Vayu Vajra airport buses but only a very few run through the wee hours when flights tend to come in. See the website for schedules and fares which are very cheap. We ended up jumping on the first one that was going downtown (just after midnight), then getting an auto-rickshaw to our hotel. Local people know the approximate fares for taxis and auto-rickshaws but for tourists it is best to ask someone what they would pay to go someplace and bargain to the best of your ability!

WHAT TO DO & SEE IN BANGALORE

Bannerghatta Wildlife Sanctuary – detailed report coming tomorrow. Located in Bannerghatta National Park.

Lal Bagh

Government Museum

Karnataka Folk Museum

Kempegowda Museum

Shopping areas – Chickpet & MG Road

Hotel Review: Park Plaza, Bangalore

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Tara

The Park Plaza, Bangalore is a very nice hotel in a very inconvenient location. It looks deceptively near the centre on a Google map, but never underestimate the traffic in Bangalore! It took almost an hour to get there in a taxi from Shanthinagar bus stand at 7pm.

Once you do get there, it’s a beautiful hotel with great facilities and views over the city from the pool. Of course my reason to choose this hotel was to use my Club Carlson points. I have a pretty good stash from promos in prior years and after the devaluation last year I am wary of hoarding hotel points. The only thing I didn’t like was the glass vanity area in the bathrom which could be hazardous if one slipped and fell and happened to grab it. I’m not a fan of glass in bathrooms over all anyways.

The view from our rooms wasn’t so great, the view from the pool side was better.

A standard room here costs 38,000 points and as a Club Carlson Visa holder, I could have had an extra night for free but I choose to spend more time birding instead. Even on a point stay, we got a free breakfast buffet and free internet which I was up to 2am using after being off the grid for almost a week! We did check out the spa hoping for a massage but found it too expensive so relegated ourselves to the sauna in the restrooms which was free to guests.

The location is the main downside to this hotel. There is nothing interesting in the area for tourists. The main landmark that taxis will know (if they don’t know the hotel) is the Innovative Complex cinemas. Luckily I have a friend in Bangalore who came to pick us up and take us to a local wildlife sanctuary, otherwise we would have been bored with the area. I think this hotel probably appeals more to business travelers as there are a lot of companies around here and Bangalore is the techie capital of India.

One other thing to note if you are paying your incidentals with a Club Carlson Visa. The hotel bills as “Charishma Hotels”, not Park Plaza or Carlson Rezidor or anything he system recognizes as triggering the extra points for using the card at a Club Carlson property. I did finally get the points as a manual transaction from Club Carlson. Also be aware that you don’t get points for incidentals on award stays. I am used to IHG where you do get points for incidentals and didn’t look at the T&Cs too closely for this program. I would have gotten some points for the dinner we had in the Indian restaurant if it had been a cash & points stay.

Booking Buses In India

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Tara

If you are visiting India for birding and eco-tourism, airline miles won’t get you to where you need to be. You will need to take buses from the main cities to the small towns closest to the national parks and reserves. Although most bus companies have online sales, they require an Indian mobile phone to complete the order and in most cases an Indian credit card as well. For some bus routes, you can use Make My Trip. In other cases you will have to wait until you arrive in India and make your bookings locally. This usually won’t be a problem as the comfortable AC buses are rarely fully booked unless there is a holiday such as Holi or Diwali. Unfortunately the United States tab only allows you to book flights, hotels and holiday packages, not buses or trains. But you can still do research and plan in advance!

Notice how you can choose the Gudalur pick up point as well as the main Ooty bus station.

You won’t get any further without an Indian mobile phone number just as you see below in the Red Bus example. But this is a useful tool to search routes and prices. You should search all the tools as not all bus companies are represented by each booking agent.

Red Bus has many bus routes all over India. You can use this website to get an idea of timings and prices. If you buy a SIM card in India, you will be able to book these tickets online. Here is an example of a route from Kochi to Bangalore. This is a 12 hour trip so most people would want a comfortable sleeper bus, see the yellow highlights below.

When you click on view seats, you will see a chart of available seats. Select an open seat and you will see the price.

This is where you will get stuck as you need an Indian mobile phone and it won’t let you change the country code.

The last tool you should check, especially for the routes in my Coorg & Mudumalai blogs is Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. You won’t be able to use this site to book online either but they will have extensive routes all over the state and you can book any of their routes in advance at any bus station served by KSRTC. Here’s a sample display to get from Bangalore to Gonikoppal in Coorg. A few things to notice is that some buses leave from Shanthinagar bus stand in the city centre and some leave from the Mysore Road bus stand (near the Transit Hotel I stayed in). Given Bangalore’s extreme traffic jams, it’s best to use this bus stand. We wanted that early bus at 5:45 but couldn’t find it and ended up on a Mysore bus which worked out fine. The help desk and ticket office weren’t open that early and I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to help us.

Buses are a great way to travel around India! I found the locals were very friendly and the AC buses are comfortable.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi)

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Tara

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia. Males have elongated central tail feathers, and in some populations a black and rufous plumage while others have white plumage. Females are short-tailed with rufous wings and a black head. They feed on insects, which they capture in the air often below a densely canopied tree. This one I saw at Gouri Farms in Gudalur is a mature male.

With an extremely large range and a large population that appears to be stable, they have been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN since 2004. This is great news for birders as we have a lot of opportunites to see this stunning bird. Get your award ticket to Central Asia or South-east Asia and try any of the national parks. Southern India is a great place to start, especially Mudumalai National Park.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

FES

VIDEOS

This bird is poetry in motion!

And a good parent (though I wouldn’t want to eat that bug either)!

Western Rosellas Disappearing From Their Usual Habitats

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Tara

This is very upsetting, we can’t afford to lose anther beautiful parrot species and Rosellas are too gentle natured to fight back. The baby Rosellas are so cute and vulnerable, they need protection and Parks & Wildlife should be protecting them. Western Rosellas should be easily seen in Dryandra, Stirling Range and near Perth. I’ll be looking for them in a few weeks.

Mudumalai National Park, Tamil Nadu, India

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Tara

Mudumalai National Park is located in Tamil Nadu (fly to Bangalore on a Central Asian award, then take a bus) and adjoins Wayanad in Kerala and Bandipur in Karnataka. The very impressive bird list includes (to name a few) Malabar Trogon, Malabar Whistling Thrush, Large Racket-Tailed Drongos, Spotted Babbler, Green Pigeons, Brown Dove, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Parakeets, Bulbuls, Cuckoos, Hornbills, Scops Owl, Tiny-eared Owl, Black Woodpecker, Mynas, Barbets to name a few. Among birds of prey, the Crested Hawk Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagle, Buzzards, Harriers, Falcons and the King Vulture are predominant. The Mudumalai National Park also attracts a considerable number of migratory water birds. Most tourists come here hoping to see a tiger (and usually don’t) but still enjoy watching elephants and monkeys which are easily seen.

The main Ooty-Mysore road runs straight through both Mudumalai and Bandipur so you may be lucky enough to see wildlife from your car, especially monkeys! If you want to really get into the park, you must take a tour from the park headquarters.

Deer are seen everywhere!

And it was pretty cool to see peacocks!

This is where the main park headquarters is.

We had hired a jeep for the afternoon and he parked here while we walked up to where you buy tickets.

Monkeys hoping for a handout.

Book the safari here. It was around 135 rupees, 25 rupees for a camera and the minibus goes when full. We only had to wait about 20 minutes to get enough people.

Off we went and promptly saw more deer and peacocks.

This was my best find, I saw the flash of green in the trees and knew it had to be parakeets. It wasn’t until I zoomed in that I was able to identify Plum-headed Parakeets. I was the only one in the minibus who was excited to see them, the other (Indian) tourists didn’t even lift their cameras!

Monkeys were of greater interest to the other tourists.

After the safari which lasted about an hour, we were led across the street to see the elephant feeding……………and more monkeys! This is included in the cost of the safari.

Lodge Review: Gouri Farms, Gudalur Near Mudumalai National Park, India

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Tara

I knew I wanted to visit Mudumalai as the bird list is very impressive……………….oh yeah, they have tigers too! My search on a reasonably priced place to stay nearby had me searching Google maps for the nearest towns and typing the name of the towns into Trip Advisor. That’s how I found Gouri Farms…………………and what a great find!

The map on the website is pretty good if you just look for the landmarks but our nervous taxi driver kept stopping to ask for directions. We got there just after noon and were greeted by Dr Shyla and her family.

We were only staying one night to visit Mudumalai so we booked the smallest double room but they have rooms of all sizes available and would be a great place for a bird watching group. Breakfast is included and you can also order meals in advance for a good price (less than $5). They only serve vegetarian meals but they will cater to tourists who don’t want spicy food.