Saturday, October 30, 2010

Flora and Fauna - Sagarmatha National Park

It was a dream that took me to this wonderland. I was fortunate enough to have my eyes to witness the beauty of the place and experience its feel. The amount of aesthetic overload on my eyes was so overwhelming to me that, I could not stop myself capturing it through my lens and get them back to rejoice over it until I perish. As I write this I am getting nostalgic about those days spent in this dreamland.

Looked like valley of flowers!

Sagarmatha National Park was created in 1976 and has also been listed under the Unesco World Heritage Site, reflecting its importance as a preserve for rare Himalayan flora and Fauna. Flora and Fauna in this park is very dense and the bio-diversity is beyond ones imagination. Especially the floral variety. As I sailed into the park I started seeing many varieties of species beyond my expectations. I did expect to see a lot of rare variety of flora and it surprised me beyond my expectations. I am posting here some of the pictures that I captured through my lens during those days of wonderment in nature.

Satyrium nepalense - Ground Orchid

Impatiens
Fungi 
Although I could not spot much of the epiphytic orchids, I did spot many varieties of ground orchids. And at the lower altitudes, till up to Dole, the national park was full of trees mostly of Rhododendron and the Fir. They were so beautiful and welcoming that I felt as I was walking in the heaven. 



As I pierced in to the wonderland further, so far away from home, other than three of us, it was only the trees, those little colorful flowers, chirping birds flying around as if our presence was unnoticed and the constant hum of the Dudh kosi river, were good enough a company to me that I forgot myself completely for a few days. 



Fungi

Himalayan Crows
Once we gained the altitude, far away from where we started, deep into the mountains, closer to the Mt Everest, I could not believe myself on the variety of wildflowers on the grass slopes of the mountains. They were just an amazement and a curiosity for me. 




There were a lot of birds and I hardly could identify them. And because I was too tired while walking, I even missed clicking pictures of a few birds. But while coming back from the Everest base camp, I spent a good lot of time walking slowly and observing birds for most of the time. I saw a bird couple mating together, lost in their own world,without noticing my presence, allowing me to wonder for a while which made my day worthy enough. I even saw some of the nests and eggs and waited for some time wondering if I can see anything more. Like this, my journey continued in its own wonderment. 




Even though we did not spot many wild animals, TS spotted a Red Panda and I missed to see it by a few seconds. But while coming back, we were lucky to spot the Himalayan Thars.

Himalayan Thars

And like this, during our journey on those mountains, whatever I witnessed through my eyes, were just looking wonderful. I was spellbound by the beauty of the flora and fauna in the region. It is a place that can be called the 'true heaven'. I am glad, I was there. 


Even the grass looked utterly beautiful!


For more pictures, visit: 

5 comments:

Narasim said...

As usual, great photographs.

It is nice to know that such an enormous variety of flora and fauna thrive all the way to the Base Camp of Sagarmatha.

The black bird couple, starlings, appear to be having a serious argument common among married couples. Why they would go up the Himalayas to vent their anger is a puzzle to me.

The photograph showing a cluster of violet and white horn shaped flowers is spectacular.

Please do me a favour. If you fall because of excessive consumption of certain fluids, please do not blame it on rhodadendran and fir trees for your misadventure.

Manjunath Byadigere said...

Beautiful photos Srik...
I liked the blue/violet shaded three flowers, it looks wonderful to me. The flickr photo set is wonderful too.

Sudhi said...

Thanks for introducing Himalayan Flora and Fauna.

Great photography!

Anonymous said...

Those are some really good pictures. Love them!

Anonymous said...

Dude its an awesome write up and the amount of info/pics both here and flickr makes me feel jealous of u ;) .

Thanks for sharing though :)