Antarctica – Western Peninsula (Part – 1)

We were originally supposed to cross the Antarctic sound to the eastern peninsula but that did not happen due to the weather condition , so we continued further south along the western side of the continent. 13 Jan 2018 Today morning started with a good note. The sky was crystal clear , though it was still very windy. I woke up early and went outside with my camera. Though there was not much wildlife to be seen but outside scenery was stunning . We were essentially going through glacial landscapes , with…

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Return Voyage back to Ushuaia

๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถย ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถย ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถ Distance from South Shetland island to Ushuaia is around 1000 km and it takes around 2.5 days for a ship to cross this. It was relatively quite as the realization is slowly sinking in that this trip is over . We had a glimpse of a world very different from our day to day world. There was a certificate ceremony which was great gesture from the company and we got a photo op with the captain and other expedition members. Crossing the Drake passage is relatively better this time though it…

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Antarctica – Western Peninsula (Part – 2)

15 Jan 2018 - 12AM Today we had a packed program for the day. I was up early to watch landscape and then we had an early breakfast at 7.30 AM. The plan at 9 was to land at Cuverville Island . This is located at the Northern entrance of the Antarctic peninsula. It is surrounded by a beautiful landscapes of glaciers and snowed mountains of Ronge island and Danco Land (Antarctic Peninsula). This island has biggest Gentoo Penguins breeding colony of the Antarctic peninsula. After spending couple of hours we left…

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Crossing Drake Passage

๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ถ In a traditional Antarctic cruise from Ushuaia almost 2.5 days are spent crossing Drake passage. I will try to reproduce my personal diary I maintained during this trip. 10 - Jan - 2018 Our journey to Antarctica has began. I was very excited since morning. I went for some last minute shopping and also got some USD in cash from a local exchange. I also visited local prison museum in Ushuaia to kill few extra hours. We were allowed to board the ship after due immigration formalities at about…

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Braศ™ov

๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ดย ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ดย ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ด I decided to skip Bucharest and head straight for Brasov. Brasov is considered the outdoor capital of Romania and can be a good base for Transylvania . Travelling with 1 year old baby makes travel planning very hard , so I decided to take it slow this time but still it was harder than I imagined. The flight to Bucharest from London was 4.5 hours. We took the train from Bucharest Nord at 17.45 . The train ride was supposed to be just over 2.5 hours but due an incident on…

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Seahouses – Puffin trip

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง We arrived Seahouses in the afternoon. We were staying in The Olde School house. The weather was very nice . Latter in the afternoon we went for a stroll along the coast. This is basically a large village. There are some of the best fish & chips are available here. Next day we went for all day bird watching trip to Staple Island and Inner Frane. It was breeding season ,the tour departed Seahouses harbor in the morning. We spent around 2 hours ย at Staple Island. We had to pay a…

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ISLAS BALLESTAS: The poor man’s Galapagos

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ชย ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ชย ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช I left Lima at 3 AM bus to reachย Paracas. I already had reservation with an agency but they did not turn up. Luckily there was another ย company who were conducting boat trip for a group. So I spoke to them and they happily agreed. The boat trip from Paracas to Islas Ballestas is 24 kilometers and it took us about 30 minutes to get there. On our way we saw Paracas Candelabra, a geoglyph that sits on a hill overlooking the water.ย The Paracas Candelabra is 180 meters tall and it can…

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Amazon : Along the Madre de Dios River

ย ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ชย ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ชย ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช Manu wasย established as national park in 1973. With 800+ bird species, 5000 plant varieties, 1000 vertebrate species ,ย 13 types of primates; covering an area of 17000 Sq Km; it is probably the most bio-diverse place in our planet. An arduous bus journey fromย ย Cusco took us to theย reserve area and then we entered ย the mysterious cloud forest. Humidity and altitude in the cloud forest makes it an ideal place for a variety of flora and fauna. I spottedย one pair of Cock on Rocks , Peruvian national bird. Slowly we descended and reached…

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Assam

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ It was a short trip of few days to visit my in-laws place. I stayed in a resort at Tinsukia for a day. I also went to Dibru Saikhowa national park and saw river Dolphins and few species of birds. This area is also famous for feral horses. After returning to Jorhat, I visited Digboy , Asia's oldest oil refinery. ย I also visitedย Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary. Thisย Sanctuary contains India's only gibbons โ€“ the hoolock gibbons, and Northeastern India's only nocturnal primate โ€“ the Bengal slow loris. Dibru Saikhowa national park Hoollongapar Gibbon…

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