A Memorable day of the year

As planned we had this year "Parisara Sri" and "Samaja Sri" Award function on 1st of April 2010. It was also a annual fest called "ayanotsava" of the village deity Sri Lakshmi narasimha swamy. The event was supposed to start at 6PM, But as our chief guest of the occasion Mr. Vijaya Kumar Range Forest Officer(RFO) of Sagar arrival was delayed, event started of at 7:30PM. Villagers had taken a very special interest in setting up dais for the event. The function was started off with invocation by Ms.Bhageerathi. Then Our Trust Joint Secretory Mr.Sridhar Hegde welcomed the gathering. Chief guest RFO vijayakumar inaugurated the function by lightening up the lamp. Then Trust Secretory Mr.Sampath Kumar briefed about organization last 1 year achievement and the next year plans to the gathering. Then award was presented to the awardees. This time "Parisara Sri" award was presented to Mr. Ranganath Hegde, a well known environmentalist who has been involved with many environmental organizations like "vruksha laksha" andolana. The award carried a cash prize and a memento. The award was presented by RFO Vijayakumar. His achievements were read out by Kumari Nayana. Then "Samaja Sri" award was presented to Mr. Siddaraju, State advocacy Secretory, Dalith Human rights. Mr. Siddaraju has been very active social worker and he has been involved with providing free legal help to the poorest of poor daliths in the state. The award was presented to him by Tust president Mr.Subbarao. His achievements were read out by Kumari Asha. Then "Seva Sri" award presented to Mr. Srinivas , driver and Mr. Ramesh, conductor of Gajanana Transport for their hard work and selfless service.
Later while addressing his inaugural address, RFO vijayakumar stressed the need of eco friendly alternative economical activities in and around forest. He briefed the gathering about the significance of eco touirism in the region. He detailed how kerala has been benefited with eco tourism activity. Later "Samaja Sri" Awardee , Mr. Siddaraju spoke on the occasion. He also stressed about the need of alternative economical activity in the vicinity of the forest, so that poorest poor gets benefited. Then "Parisara Sri" Awardee Mr. H G Ranganath Hegde spoke on the occasion and stressed the need to prevent forest destruction further in the region. He also said how forest destruction has been ruining the life of local dwellers and how its affecting the common man as a whole. Later kumari nayana gave vote of thanks. Mr.Ganesh , member, gram panchayath was the master of ceremony.
There were journalists from most local and state media. It has been covered very well in the media. Here are some press coverage clips(click on image to zoom in),

Vijaya Karnataka Dated 3rd April 2010
























Samyuktha Karataka dated 3rd April 2010

The Invitation to be part of movement to protect Environment

Dear All,
It has been Our organization "The Sharavathi Nature Conservation Trust(R)" sole aim to protect last remaining forest all over and in particular Westernghat. As part of this we have taken up various activities.

To name few,

• Pristine forest destruction is happening for various reasons. One of the major reason is livelihood of forest dwellers. So our organization initiated alternative economical activities like providing employment to the local youths, who were once part forest exploitation. To create employment, our organization started activities like Trekking, Nature camp and water sports in Sharavathi Backwater.
• Organization has been working with forest department to conserve and protect some of the endangered species of the plants. As part of this in June 2009, we collected about 100 varieties of Tribal medicinal plants and we have replanted them in a secure place. The plan is to protect them and also get the research done on their medicinal value scientifically.
  
• Government has setup forest force to protect the forest. But as usual, its a typical govt setup where very rarely honest and sincere work of the officers to protect the forest are recognized. So the our organization has setup an annual award called "Parisara Sri", which will be awarded to the honest forest officer. This initiative is to recognize the good work done by the officer and to encourage the officer to take up the good work with more vigor.

The Invitation:-
On 1st of April 2010, we have organized a function to present the 2010-11 annual "Parisara Sri" award. This year along with the forest officer recognition, we are recognizing people who are doing social service in the region.

This Year Awardees Are,

2010-11 "Parisara Sri" Award --> Mr. Shivamurthy. Range Forest Officer (RFO). Kargal Range.
2010-11 "Samaja Sri" Award -->Mr. Siddaraju R.State advocacy Secretory.Dalith Human Rights

I Invite all my fellow Trekkers, nature enthusiasts to attend in large number to this function. Your presence will surely encourage the awardees to take up the work with much more vigor.

Function Details:-
Date: 1st April 2010, Thursday.
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Sri Lakshminarashima swamy temple, Gubbagodu village, Sagara Taluk, Shimoga District.

For more details please mail me to prapancha@gmail.com

Regards
Sampath Kumar
Secretory
The Sharavathi Nature Conservation Trust(R).

Wealth and environmental disaster

Wealth and environmental disaster

I always felt unprecedented wealth generation or inorganic growth leads to environmental disaster. Last week i could see myself when I traveled abroad. I visited Bahrain, an oil rich gulf country for a personnel visit. Oil economy has brought fortune to gulf countries. We can see this everywhere from sky kissing buildings to SUVs zooming at max throttle on roads, there were no small cars on the road at all, swanky malls with all over world cuisine food stalls sans a single vegetarian restaurant etc., I hardly saw someone walking on the beautifully laid out pavement. If there was one or two, it was only a Indian or Filipino labor class people !! who make up large labor class there.
I could see only very handful of public transport bus. For the first few days i was forced to roam around in taxi even for a small distance, finaly fed up with this thought of taking stroll to go to our desi restaurant called "Mysore Hotel". I was fed up with only salad and juice and i was missing my favorite "anna-saaru". The restaurant was about 3 KM from the hotel where i was staying. started walking towards hotel on neat pavement. It was so windy, and there was a light fine sand storm... by the time i reached restaurant , there was this fine sand all over me. As they have money, they can always take up planting some desert friendly trees, but i noticed its hardly bothered them.
It was so nice to find "namma udupi hotel" in a place like this. But that was my last walk on pavement..it was not that i was lazy, but i was so scared of crossing roads! there were absolutely no signal for pedestrian crossing! so i was worried going under wheels of zooming cars..!. Added to my scare, just a previous day a keralite who was a pilot there came under wheels of a zooming car!.
Somewhere everyone dream is to get this kind of life. But i feel its an environmental disaster in the long run. Already global warming is creating havoc in everones daily life. Also we should not forget the havoc this creates on ones personnel health.I just got this article to share with for the reference, Interesting article on human cause on global warming
Everyone's day to day life style is the most important reason for the environmental disaster than the pollution caused by some industry, though they are also major contributors. i keep telling people how we have distanced ourselves from the "Living in harmony with nature". We have forgotten walking even for a small distance, we have stopped using the public transport, we need electricity for everything etc etc., This type of lifestyle is causing more damage than the industries etc., We need to care for environment , we need to care for mother earth. otherwise we will leave this earth in barren, unlivable condition to our next generation. We have responsibility leave this planet in livable to condition to our next generation as we got it from our forefathers.

This weekend activities

We have fallowing activities for this weekend.

Itinerary of 1 day Trek and 1 day Water sports activities :-
Day 1:-

* Reach Trek starting point and have Breakfast.
* Start the trek towards first veegi falls. Spend some time in falls
* Trek to second veegi falls. Play in the falls if interested.(Depends on water level and trekkers speed)
* Have lunch and trek Trek up the valley and come to road.
* Travel to Backwater camp site
* Transfer to Island in coracle.and camp in a Island.
For More information and photos of the First day water falls trek, please check the fallowing link.
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/11/1-2nd-nov-2008-trek-report.html

Day 2:-
* Wake up,Freshen up and Have Breakfast
* Group Introductory session and initial briefing by the Camp leader
* Introducing everyone to water, and a small swimming/floating session.
* Initiation to Coracle paddling.
* Have Lunch and rest for half an hour.
* Start the different type of boating( Kayak, canoe, raft etc) session.
* Have high tea and transfer to mainland in coracle.
* End of session.
For More information and photos of the Water sports / camping, please check the fallowing link.
http://groups.google.co.in/group/sharavathy-valley-trekking/web?pli=1

Please mail to prapancha@gmail.com for more info...

This weekend Trekking to new route

Hi All,
There are group of people who will be trekking in a new route this weekend. So if anybody is interested to trek in this route, please let me know ASAP.


Trek Route:- Bheemeswara Water falls--->dabbe water falls---->Hosagadde.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.


Level of Trek:- Moderate

Departure:- 01-Sept-2009 Thursday night.

Itinerary:-

Date:- 01-Oct-2009

* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 10:30 PM.

Date:- 02-Oct-2009

* Reach Kargal in Shimoga District by 7:00 AM.
* Hire a local jeep to trek starting point.
* Freshen Up , Have Break fast on the way
* Reach Trek point and Start the trek
* Start the trek towards Bheeneswara peak.
* Reach bheeswara and play in the water falls and have lunch at bheemeswara.
* Start the Trek towards dabbe and camp in a tribals house by 6:00 PM.
* Have a Camp fire and enjoy the evening. Also interact with Tribals.
* Have dinner and retire for the day

Date:- 03-Oct-2009

* Wake up by 6:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Break fast and start the trek by 7:30AM to Dabbe.
* Reach dabbe and go down to dabbe and Enjoy in the Water falls
* Have luch and Trek to Hosagadde.
* Catch waiting jeep to Sagar.
* Reach Sagar and have dinner.
* Start the journey back to Bangalore by around 10:00 PM

Fore Photos and the blog of the route, Please click on the link below
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/07/mungaaru-maleye-yenu-ninna-hanigala.html


Anybody interested to joining us, please confirm as soon as possible as we need to reserve the bus ticket.

Please MAIL me to prapancha@gmail.com if u need any more information

Its Time to Celebrate and Thank People.

Greeting from all staff of "The Sharavathi Nature Trails..."
Hurray ! we have completed 1 Year of Water sports activities !

Though we were organizing Trekking activities much earlier, we are just completing 1 year of water sports activities by this weekend.

Nostalgia :-)
What made us to start these activities?
I have been an ardent nature all through my life. Whenever i see a beautiful landscape, i get the most satisfaction compared to doing anything else. When i first trekked in Sharavathi valley, I just loved every bit of the this rain forest. I liked the peaks, water falls, valley and ever lively streams. Also i will not forget to describe the Linganamakki Reservoir backwater region in the valley. I simply call it as "Heaven on earth". Yes it is indeed. That thick lush green vegetation, those mountains guarding around the backwater makes the place heavenly. When i first Trekked in 90's i just fell in love with this valley. I used to trek every weekend in the valley then. Seeing my enthusiasm, trek organizers offered me a volunteer post where in i will guide the trek team. I was so happy for getting what i was interested in !.
As i was interacting with tribal people of the valley regularly, i came across lot of harsh realities. Major problem was that of livelihood ! for them. Many families are the one displaced when Linganamakki dam was built. All they got is an acre or so land when their loved house, land submerged in the backwater. By now this one acre has been divided in to small pieces of land among sibling , so the livelihood problem. They were forced to find the alternative livelihood as the land they got was not sufficient at all. But the alternative they found was really bad for the forest, themselves and to everyone ! ie., they started cutting off and smuggling rose wood / jungle wood logs !. Forest department had harrowing experience to contain this problem. But people are really nice, they were doing just for the livelihood.

How it started ?

I watched all these problem and decided to do something for it. That's when i came across Narayana of kattinakar. He is simply awesome. His attitude, his abilities to grasp things, his love for the forest, his forest knowledge all became handy to put things in order. What ever i plan and inform him about it, he would simply do it and show me. I really got the major support from him. Thats when we decided to keep doing things which will employ these people, so that they get the decent livelihood. We started off organizing trekking and initially we employed about just 3 people. But our perseverance gave the great result in the first few days itself. And now we have been able to create employment for about 20 youths. Encouraged by this, we started off thinking other type of activities to employ more people. Since i had little knowledge on water sports activities, we thought we would do something on these lines and started searching for a perfect place. For almost 6 months we searched for the place and finally we landed at Gubbagodu.

The people who have helped us

Though we had idea and knowledge, we had problem for the capital required to purchase the equipment. Even conservative estimate started crossing a Rs lakh mark !. When i approached few regular trekkers, they were all appreciative of this effort and helped us generously. Among them are Rahul pathak, his cousin Prshanth pathak and Vinod gaitonde. These people's monetary help and the moral support helped us to start off things smoothly.
Though surrounding villagers were skeptical about our motive initially, they all supported our effort eventually. We will remember the services of Mr.Subbarao of Gubbagodu village at this moment. Without his consistent effort , it would have been difficult to convince sarrounding villagers. The other 2 persons who helped us to settle down and convince villagers are Mr.Sridhar Hegde and Mr.Ranganath Hegde. Both of them worked hard to convince villagers and Govt authorities to grant permission.
Another person whom we remember forever is Mr.Vijaya Kumar, Range Forest Officer of Sagar sub division. He is one of the most upright officer. smugglers have a very bad time in his tenure. He was appreciative of our effort and he encouraged us to carry on as it helped the department in containing the illegal logging and smuggling of other forest resources.
When we went and met Mr.Praveen Kumar, The Assistant Commissioner of Sagar Sub division to grant permission to conduct the activities, He too appreciated the idea and helped us to settle down. Our sincere thanks to him.
Other two persons we would like to thank is Mr. John Fransis (Joe) and Mr.Shashidhar Gadad. Initially they helped us by shooting some of the most beautiful photos of the camp place.
Last but not least, Almost all our trekkers have helped us directly and indirectly, we would like to thank all of them.

The Invitation

Our Water sports / Nature camp program completes 1 year by this weekend with much success. To mark this occasion, We plan to have a "Pooja" in our camp at Gubbagodu on 27th September 2009 Sunday.
On behalf of Trustees and staff of The Sharavathi Trails..., I cordially Invite you all for the Pooja. Please free up yourself This weekend and grace the occasion.

Sampath Kumar
Secretary
The Sharavathi Nature Trails...

A memorable trek with a unique group

A memorable trek with a unique group

In our country there are so many problems, issues, crisis etc., Though Most of them are solvable easily, we make them complex and live with them !. In the olden days nature of problems were different, like mostly it used to be related to eking out livelihood. But now we must say we have almost come out of this problem atleast in urban areas today with economy booming. Especially after IT/BT and other export related economy boom, we have almost solved the livelihood problems. But in this process there are many issues which have come up. Among these new type of problems are disappearing of joint family living concept is a serious one as it creates emotional problems. With this problem seriously affected are our elderly people. Though many of our elderly people have no problem financially, problem is activity less, loneliness life disturbs them a lot emotionally.
Many of us sheds crocodile tears for them but ultimately only few come forward to help them. "Ananda Balaga" is one such informal group, is doing great service by involving elderly people in activities like Trekking, Camping and trips to many interesting places in all over country.The group has covered many himalayan trek routes like Manasa sarovar, aadhi kailas, pindari glacier etc., and also they have explored many routes in our own wetsern ghats. This group was started by Anand sir, who has retired from Government services. He is a nature lover himself and he is the motivational force behind this group. As i have trek organizing experience, i must say its toughest job to put people together...!. Still anand sir does mind going through this process.
In the month of April "Ananda Balaga" approached me for the camping/water sports in sharavathi backwater. I happily agreed and we had a great camping time for 3 days. It was most memorable association for 3 days with great minds assembling in one place. For our luck we had a cultural fest also. Gubbagodu , near by village to our camipng place, had a annual utsava and cultural evening. The group had a chance to enjoy the cultural programs.
After the camping program, Anand sir was planning for a trek from ling time in sharavathi valley. Finally they decided to trek and fixed the dates for 29/30th August and as suggested by me we planned to trek in our ace route Basavana baayi-->belligundi -->goodanagundi falls route. After all yes-no-yes group size became 20 people. I requested him to organize private vehicle to reach the trek starting point as going by bus will waste precious morning time. Accordingly TT was arranged. I requested group to leave bangalore as easrly as possible, so that we can reach trek starting point early and start off trek. It was anounced that departure time is 9:00pm but as usual we left by 10:00 pm by 1 hour lag. We reached Kattinakar by 7:30. On the way from sagar itself, it was raining heavily...indicating whats there in store for us for next 2 days. We were lucky, by the time we reach kattikanakar, rain had taken a break and allowed us to finish daily routines and freshen up. After we freshened up , hot masala idlis were ready for the breakfast. Dharma as usual had prepared nice masala idli and sambar with chutney. All of us had breakfast n as usual kashaya and tea. Took a drop till hogevaddi and started off the trek to the basavana baayi which was our first destination without wasting time. Trekkers were so scared of leeches..!! couple of yards trek, red zone for many started !!.. leeches started having a great feeding fest !. Some did not bother much for the leech but many started removing them... But i must say leeches are the most intelligent parasites on earth ! :). By the time they remove in one part they used climb in other part...in the end they never escaped the sting !. With blood stained legs, finally we made it to the Bsavana baayi. First thing everybody did is to remove the shoes and deleech the legs..!. After a while we decided to move to the falls. As it had rained heavily, stream which we had to cross to reach the falls was full and brimming. With our guides help everyone crossed and reached the falls. As usual it was amazing scene, everyone just plunged in to the falls and pulled everyone who were scared in to it. Everybody enjoyed for quite some time and had to return as everyone was hungry. By then Dharmanna had prepared a nice lunch, wasted no time and had lunch nicely.
After the lunch, we split the group in to two based on individuals interested and capability to trek. One will take tougher route to reach our night halt tribal house and other will take easy route. I went with a tougher route. We usually dont trek on trails..we just barge in and make our own trails. So we started off the trek in the dense forest towards kendollare peak. Trekkers were all fine on trek front but many were scared of leeches. After seeing their plight, i directed manju, our guide to change the course and make to the plain land instead of the thick jungle. So we avoided kendollare peak and came to plain of nakkalu village. As there was still time we decided to climb a small peak and then descent to the kanchigadde majnanna's house where we were supposed to halt. in the plain there were no leech so every one were thrilled but rain started pouring. Trekkers did not bother for the rain and we climbed the "hoovina bare"peak. After spending couple of minutes on the peak, we started the descent as it was getting dark. It was about half an hour trek and we were there in the house where we had to camp. it was so chill. Narayana had sensed the situation and had put up a small camp fire. All of us had a small warm up session and by then hot tea / kashaya along with Hot Mirchi bajji were served. It was a great relief to warm like in this fashion. After little relaxation there came call for dinner. Menu was nice pulav, chapti and payasa...everyone enjoyed the food. As we were tired, went to the sleep early and opened eyes only in the morning!. By then bed tea was ready and we hall had tea.Rain god was kind enough and had taken a break..so we all ran in different direction in the forest behind the house to get freshen up...! we wasted no time and started off the trek.
Looks like rain god finished the break and started pouring heavily..but we did not bother for him much and we trekked towards padubeedu, where we supposed to have breakfast.The trek trail from kanchi gadde and padubeedu has a beautiful grass lands. These grass lands are treat to the nature lovers. They look like well maintained golf course !!!. By the time we reach padubeedu Dharma had prepared akki rotti and badane kaayi chatney...all of us had stomach full rotti. Again we wasted no time and started off trek to our next trek point, goodananagundi falls. It was again trail in the thick jungle. People found it tough to wade through. Leeches had a feast day in this trail..!.But everyone made it to the falls. As it had rained heavily, falls can be seen from far only. It was mejestic falls, i call it as Nayagara of our state. Specially the background and stream way and the rock formation around the falls is amazing. Everyone enjoyed the falls view and started the trek back. On the way we took deviation and went to the stream just above falls and some swam for some time there.
After this falls view we started trek to the belligundi falls. coming back was bit easy, everybody trekked well. We reached belligundi view point and we were lucky, the valley was clear. otherwise many times in rainy season, valley gets covered and will not get cleared for hours. Belligundi view is just amazing, its very artistic background attracts a lot. we spent lot of time over there. after photo shoot we decided to trek back to padubeedu. By the time we were back, yummy lunch was ready. We hogged like anything. Rain god did not show any mercy, he was at his fierce as possible. After the lunch we trekked back to kattinakar. As it was chill weather, we decided to have a hot tea and kashaya. After the tea party, we said bye to narayana and co...started off journey back to bangalore.
It was memorable trek in many ways..It was nice group of various background and different age group. All thanks to anand sir for putting together such a nice people.

More Photos :-

1. http://picasaweb.google.co.in/rekha62ak/RecentlyUpdated?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6T9bvhp5bgxAE&feat=email#
2. http://picasaweb. google.com/ Tejnashrivastava /MY1STTREKKING? feat=directlink
3. http://picasaweb.google.com/rusha58/DeepuCamera?authkey=Gv1sRgCKevk4C4xuzA0wE&feat=email#

Our Central Environment Minister is working in top gear

The central government will soon set up a national authority to enforce environmental laws, minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday.
“At the state environment and forest ministers’ meeting yesterday (Tuesday) in Delhi, there was a broad agreement on this aspect. We need an institutional set-up to enforce environmental laws and impose penalty for non-compliance,” Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told reporters.

Ramesh said the government will circulate a discussion paper on the National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA).

Earlier, speaking at a meeting on Management of Agro Biodiversity Hotspots in an Era of Climate Change, the minister said around 21 percent of the country’s geographical area is under forest cover.

“Of that, two percent is high density and 10 percent medium density forest area. The remaining is degraded forest cover,” he said.

The consultation meeting was organised by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.

Ramesh said the challenge was to cut the degraded forest cover area and also improve the medium forest cover.

Why vegeterianism ? some points to ponder

What do George Bernard Shaw, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leo Tolstoy, Leonardo Da Vinci, Paul McCartney, and Pythagoras have in common? If your answer
is they're all towering figures of European culture, you're only half right. The answer is: they've all been passionate promoters of vegetarianism. While Pythagoras dealt with three straight lines, McCartney sang about the long and winding road. Indeed, the effort to promote vegetarianism has been a very long and very winding road. But with the former Beatle's initiative of meat-free Mondays, and the Belgian town of Ghent pledging to go vegetarian one day a week to do its share for the planet, the only direction that road is heading is forward.

While these laudable actions are finally grabbing headlines in the West, in India vegetarianism has quietly been a way of life for centuries. But, whereas in Europe and America vegetarianism goes hand in hand with liberalism and progressive values, the opposite seems true in India. It is almost as if meat eating is seen as an act of rebellion against 'orthodox' society, a sort of status symbol drawing on western ideals. With many Indians upwardly mobile, increase in purchasing power has seen a parallel rise in meat consumption. Unfortunately those who have turned non-vegetarian are often unaware of the direct causal relationship between what they eat and the poorest having nothing to eat. Put simply, over-consumption of meat directly contributes to world hunger.

India, where precious national parks are already under threat from illegal cattle-grazing, is the world's eighth largest producer of meat. Despite the sacred place cows occupy in Hindu culture, and despite the importance of buffaloes in agricultural work, India continues to churn out an annual 4.9 million tonnes of meat. Statistics compiled by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) show that the total number of animals slaughtered for meat in India nearly doubled from 66,299,600 in 1980 to 106,239,000 in 2000. In a world increasingly facing scarcity with regard to basic human requirements, as evidenced all too clearly in last year's global food shortages, increasing meat production looks to be progressively unsustainable.

Rearing animals for human consumption is a grain-intensive process. According to Kaushik Basu, professor of economics at Cornell University, as the populations of India and China begin to consume more meat, an increasingly greater strain will be placed on grain supplies, exacerbating world hunger. It's a point also made very clearly by David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University: "If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million."

Ksenia Glebova, a member of the Finnish Green Party turned vegetarian after volunteering in India. "The meat industry wastes huge quantities of food and water which are required to raise animals. Instead these resources could be used far more efficiently and equitably," comments Globova. Her call is supported by research from Cornell University, which reveals that for every kilogram of grain-fed beef, 100,000 litres of water are used. This finding is nothing new to animal rights organisations that believe alleviating the suffering of animals also helps alleviate human suffering.

Most crucially, as governments around the world struggle to lower their dependence on fossil fuels responsible for pumping millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we must also recognise the part played by our diet. The FAO has found that global livestock production constitutes 18 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. This figure is expected to more than double by 2050, precisely because of increased meat consumption in developing countries such as India.

"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, going vegetarian clearly is the most attractive opportunity," says Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

There are various compelling ethical reasons to abandon animal slaughter. The conditions of animals in slaughterhouses are heart-wrenching. They led Bernard Shaw to highlight the key point that slaughterhouses are kept far away from human eyes because that makes meat much easier to digest. As Jane Goodall so succinctly said: "Thousands of people who say they 'love' animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs."

Perhaps the next time we sit down to dinner, we should think about what we are doing. Not just to the animals, but to the planet too. It may be a long and winding road to a green future. But there's only one way to go.
Source :- TOI

2 days Mansoon Trek to a new route on 20/21st June 2009

Hi All,
Mansoon has set in the valley. As you are know, valley is so beautiful when it rains and it looks like heaven on earth. Many of our regular trekkers were keen to start the mansoon trek ASAP. So here is the new route to begin with for this season. This route is from Kattinakaru to Sullalli in sharavathi valley. On the route we will visit a water falls which we explored recently and which is yet to be named.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.


Likey Itinerary ,

Date:- 19-06-2009

Departure from Bangalore at around 10PM.

Date:- 20-06-2009

• Arrive at Kargal, Freshen up, Have breakfast and leave to Trek starting point by hired jeep
• Start the Trek from Kattinakaru
• Have lunch on the way and continue the trek to water falls.
  
• Reach the the falls and enjoy the beauty
  
• Trek to Mincha and camp at a tribal house

Date:-21-6-2009

• Wake up very early in the morning, have tea.
  
• Start the trek towards Sullalli.
• Have lunch on the way
  
• Reach Sullalli and Travel back to Sagar
• Reach Sagar and Have dinner
  
• Catch bus back to Bangalore

The above itinerary is totally tentative. It all depends on how people trek. The trek will be bit hard.

The above route is completely new route and it is in the core forest. So no snaps of the route is available.
Please mail me to prapancha@gmail.com , if u need any more info.

"PARISARA SRI" Annual Award for Year 2009-10

As part of our organization "The Sharavathi Nature conservation Trust (R)" initiative to take up various nature conservation, we have setup an annual award called "PARISARA SRI". We are going to present this award every year to the genuine people who are working for nature conservation and people who are saving prestine forest. The aim this award is to encourage and motivate the people to take up the consevration with more vigour.

This year we selected Sagar Range Forest Officer (RFO) Mr. Vijaya Kumar for the 2009-10 "PARISARA SRI" award. This officer is very experienced officer and a wild life enthusiast himself. This officer is very honest and very hard working officer. Mr. Vijayakumar went after smugglers, people who used to occupy forest land and curtailed the deforestation process. Within couple of months after he took over as RFO, we could notice the difference in forest administration. Also this RFO is very creative and brought various measures to save wild life and forest. So this time we were very happy to recognize such a great personality. The award carried a momento/citation and we gifted utilites like head torch/ solar rechargable lantern etc.,

We organized the first such award ceremony in GUBBAGODU village in sagar taluk where we are conducting our nature camp activities on April 11th 2009. The function was attended by RFO Mr. Vijayakumar, our trust president Mr. Subbarao and secretory Sampath Kumar . There was huge gathering as there was a village festival too on that day. All dignitories took the opertunity to sensitize the villagers on the ecological issues and importance of saving forest. Speaking on the occation RFO lauded our organizations nature conservation initiatives. Perticularly he was happy for our effort to create rural employment as unemployment is fueling various types smuggling in this forest region.
It was a memorable, colorfull and meaningfull event. We have decide to present this award every year to the distinguished people who are working on conservation issues.

2 days trek to belligundi water falls region

2 days trek on 10/11th April to belligundi falls region. In this route there are many beautiful mini water falls.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.


Likey Itinerary ,

Date:- 10-03-2009

• Arrive at Kargal, Freshen up, Have breakfast and leave to Trek starting point by hired jeep
• Start the Trek from Karni along with the Belligundi stream
• Have lunch on the way and continue
• Reach the top of the falls and enjoy the beauti
• Trek to Padubeedu and camp at a tribal house

Date:-11-03-2009

• Wake up very early in the morning, have tea.
  
• Start the trek towards the bottom of the Belligundi falls. (Depends on Trekkers enthu)
• Reach the bottom of the falls and enjoy at the falls
• Trek back to Padubeedu and catch Jeep to Water sports Basecamp
  
• Transfer to an island and camp at that night.
  

The above itinerary is totally tentative. It all depends on how people trek. The trek will be bit hard.

Photos and Blog of the above trek route:
http://gshashidhara.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-valentine-date.html.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jovin.d/BelligundiTrekking?authkey=ZUVGWuFPsrM#

http://picasaweb.google.com/prasanna.sga/BelliGundiFalls?feat=email#

http://picasaweb.google.com/mohanbrbabu/BelliGundiFalls?authkey=ST8GwVcDXZk#

Please me to prapancha@gmail.com to know more info

Updates -->Rural development activities for the current year

Dear All,
This mail is to thank you all for the support you extended for our Rural development initiative. I never thought a single mail would trigger such a over whelming support. It was a moral support and the Money support too !!!.

Now , i would like to update you all about the activities.

Multi purpose hall construction:-
As the Estimation was bit higher side(About 1.75 Lakhs), We have decided to procure only GI roof sheet this time and poles will be a local wooden poles for this year. The idea is to go for steel structure some time next year. We have procured about 100 GI sheet at the cost of about Rs.400/sheet.

Fallowing Members have contributed towards this fund:-

* Pranesh Vittal -------------------> Rs.300-00
* Amith K N -------------------> Rs.1000-00
* Vaidyanathan Y D-----------------> Rs.1000-00
* Govardhan --------------------------> Rs.3000-00

Special thanks to the above members for their kind support.Rest of the fund is through the savings from trek/camp activity.

Basic spoken English:-
This activity is on and we are publicizing the info among all villagers. The classes will be conducted after April 11th as there is an important local festival in those villages and all of them are busy with that. I will keep you all updated on this subject.

Note 1:- The Gubbagodu villagers have invited everyone for the annual local festival called "aayanothsava" on April 11th 2009. So if anybody wish to attend, You are most welcome. It will be a tribal cultural delight.

Note 2:- I have taken a new reliance mobile connection as there was a aritel signal problem in our camp site. So if u would like to contact me on the weekends, pls note down my another Mobile number (93792-68526)

Thanks and Best Regards

Sampath Kumar

Mob:- 98453-97386 (airtel) and 93792-68526 (Reliance)

Watersports in Sharavathi Backwater

Watersports in Sharavathi Backwater

Rural development activities for the current year

Dear All,
As promised by us in the beginning of the new year, we have started working on to better the lives of rural people in a very small way to begin with. On 1st Feb 2009, we have had meeting with villagers of Gubbagodu and surrounding villagers about the immediate need of the villagers. They have put forward their wish to have a small community hall in Gubbagodu. Gubbagodu village is in the forest and it is about 20 KM from Sagar town. Most of you who have come to our water sports/camping activity have visited this place. So if these poor people want to have any kind of gathering, they have to go to Sagar town in search of a place.

We have chalked out the fallowing activities for the current year,

• Construct the multi purpose hall.
  
• Conduct the spoken english classes for the school/college dropouts and any of the villagers who wish to learn the language. So that youths can find some small time jobs in city and villagers can start using power of internet to enhance thier agricultural skill.
• Set up a small scince (physics/chemistry etc) and computer lab in that village school.
  
• Provide a computer and a internet connection to the village, so that farmers enhance thier agricultural skill.
  

We also felt it will be a great idea to have a multi purpose hall. Later this hall can be used for various purpose like, to install a computer with a internet connectivity. This will open up the outside world to them. We can use this hall to train the average educated youths of the surrounding villages in computer basics, spoken english etc etc.

Now we have got the plan and estimation ready with us. Total area is around 600 sqft. Idea is to use truss and metal sheet for the roofing in the begining. For this purpose it is estimated cost is around 1.75 Lakhs.
So we request all our fellow trekkers/members of this community to contribute towards this cause. Please don't worry of volume of contribution, a single rupee too is a great contribution. All that matters is our good will.

It is voluntary, Please ignore this mail, if u think it is unwarranted

Also we are looking for people who knows kannada and can teach basic spoken english to people of Vilages around Gubbagodu in weekends. We will take care of volunteers food, stay etc ., Plan is to have couple of volunteers, who can spare one weekend in a month or so. Also volunteers can enjoy all water sports activities and no fee is charged.This water sports is in the village where we will be teaching the spoken english. So after the class, volunteers can can stay at our camp site and enjoy the activities...

For more info and itinerary of the water sports/camping activity please check this link http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2009/01/2-days-kayakingisland-campingtrekking.html

Let us make an attempt to change the lives of the oppressed....

Photos and few lines experience from UNISYS Company Group

We had group from UNISYS company on 7/8th Feb Weekend.
Here are snaps and few lines of their experience in our Water sports center.

Photos:-

1. http://picasaweb.google.co.in/johnyphotography/CIBASHARAVATHY?authkey=uOgD6aNoPIY
2. http://picasaweb.google.com/maranello.dreamer/SharavathiValley#
3. http://picasaweb.google.co.in/siddu.salimath/Sharavathi_Valley02?authkey=CVy8WHLbRss#

Few lines of experience of the Group:-

Hi Sam,

Thank you so much for this lovely trip J

I am sure each one of us will cherish this moment for ever.

Once again we (CIBA Team) wish you Good luck and May God give you the strength to conduct more trips like this and be a reason for happiness to many as you always did.

Team,

Many wanted to get Sam’s email and mobile number

Email is as given above and the Mobile number is 9845397386

Regards

Johny

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sam,

We have no words to express our grateful feelings…………..this one is really one of THE BEST trip I ever went. We enjoyed each and every second…..Thank you so much for organizing this awesome trip and saving our mother nature….keep up the good work and wish you all the very best & great success.

Thanks to Johny for introducing us to this wonderful, Beautiful, etc, etc.….location(Sharavathy) and person(Sam)J………………

Thanks,

Benjamin.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sam,

Thanks for making this trip as a memorable and wonderful trip, I had a nice time and enjoyed this trip to the core.

I’ve loved every moment, to say in specific … diving and swimming in natural clean river water …. after many………. Years…!!!!

We were amazed by just not the nature but you and your team’s service and care… It’s simply superb….. Thanks to your team…! Will meet you all again…!

Johnny, Thanks for introducing this beautiful place. Hope we’ll repeat this trip again …!

You are simply amazing with your camera………..! Wish you all the very best....!

Kind Regards,

Ram

Trek on 14/15th Feb 2009 weekend

Dear All,
Most of you have trekked in our evergreen route Basavana baayi -->Belligundi Falls --> Goodana gundi falls. And most of u have liked the belligundi falls a lot. In this route we have just seen beauti of this falls from far in belligundi view point enroute to Goodananagundi falls. The view point is amazing as you have seen it and now it is time to see this falls from the just top of the falls and if everyone is able to trek we can even go to the bottom of the falls too.!!.
We are planning to trek along with Belligundi stream from KAARNI. Enroute to the main Belligundi water falls, we can come accross many mini water falls.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.


Likey Itinerary ,

Date:- 13-02-2009

Departure from Bangalore at around 10PM.

Date:- 14-02-2009

• Arrive at Kargal, Freshen up, Have breakfast and leave to Trek starting point by hired jeep
• Start the Trek from Karni along with the Belligundi stream
• Have lunch on the way and continue
• Reach the top of the falls and enjoy the beauti
• Trek to Padubeedu and camp at a tribal house

Date:-15-02-2009

• Wake up very early in the morning, have tea.
  
• Start the trek towards the bottom of the Belligundi falls. (Depends on Trekkers enthu)
• Reach the bottom of the falls and enjoy at the falls
• Trek back to Padubeedu and catch Jeep back to Sagar
• Reach Sagar and Have dinner
  
• Catch bus back to Bangalore

The above itinerary is totally tentative. It all depends on how people trek. The trek will be bit hard.

The above route is completely new route and it is in the core forest. So no snaps of the route is available. But below are some portion trek route snaps.

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/prapancha/ImportantTrekCampSnaps#

Please reply me, if u guys wish to join us.

Blogs, photos and experience of our campers for the past fortnight

Fallowing are the Blogs, photos and experience of our campers for the past fortnight.

Anil Kulkarni & Team:- From 21st to 23rd Jan, 3 days.

Blog:-http://anilwrites.blogspot.com/2009/01/sharavathi-valley-trek.html
Photos:- http://picasaweb.google.com/anil77k/SharavathiValleyTrek#

Swaroop & Team:-

Blogs:-http://www.swaroopch.com/blog/water-sports-in-sharavathy-valley/
http://thoughts.vinayakhegde.com/2009/01/24/trekking-and-water-sports-in-sharavathy-valley-backwaters/


Photos:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroop/sets/72157612696783655/
http://picasaweb.google.com/SahaiAbhi/SagarTrip#
http://picasaweb.google.com/vinayakh/SharavathyValleyTrip#


Few lines of experience at the camp by campers:-

Gentlemen

Here we go...

Thanks Abhi for the pics.

Sampath...Thanks for everything.

I am already looking forward to another adventure with you guys!!

Cheers...

Mihir Das

---------------------------------------

Some other salient notes:

* I was happy that we have such easy-going organizers. We were allowed
to do the water sports as much as we wanted and whichever we wanted.
That kind of flexibility is rare.
* Because there are a fixed number of people at any time, the
facilities are guaranteed as opposed to competing/waiting in queue for
most sports facilities in camps/lodges.
* The place, the people, everything, was memorable.

Special appreciation for Sampath and the whole organization for organizing this as well as doing it for the right reasons:

Regards,
Swaroop

------------------------------------

Hey this is Anil... The trip u organised for us was just too good. Thank you very much and also Narayana, Bhatru, Ashok, Ravi, GAngadhar... We had a blast there, The best so for for me and my frens. i dunno how the team made a difference to narayana and others...I thank them all for being so patient with us and humble... Bhattara adige matra super... i'l surely be coming again and again... Ravi told me abt new boats and stuff... inform me if thee are any additions...

Regards,

Anil Kulkarni

2 days Kayaking/Island camping/Trekking in Sharavathi Backwater on 17/18th

Hi All,

The Program:- We have 2 days Kayaking/Island camping/Trekking in Sharavathi Backwater on 17/18th Weekend of January.
These activities are not only for the fun, but they are also important life skill learning sessions. Here, You will learn to Paddle Coracle/Kayak, Swim with life jacket, Row the raft, pitching the tent and lighting camp fire.

Sharavathi Backwater:- Sharavathi backwater is about 60 KM in length and about 15 KM wide !!!!. It became backwater when dam was constructed at Linganamakki of sagara taluk in Shivamogga(Shimoga) district to the river Sharavathi. This backwater has created lots of islands, it is so great to explore all these, where thick vegetation still exist and lots of wild life in it including some rare birds.

Date:- 17/18-01-2009 weekend (2 Days)
Camp Site:- Sharavathi Backwater Near Sagara in Shimoga Dsitrict

Accomdation:- Dome tents on an ISLAND in the backwater.
Food:- Food is going to be Simple Vegetarian food and it will be freshly cooked food at the camp site.

Transport:- It is an option. u can travel on ur own (we will guide u how to reach there) or we can arrange transport

Itinerary of Camp activities in Sharavathi Backwater.

Day 1:-

• Arrive at Camp site. Freshen up and Have Breakfast
• Group Introductory session and initial briefing by the Camp leader
• Introducing everyone to water, and a small swimming/floating session.
• Transfer to Island in coracle.
• Long Swimming and floating session. Initiation to Coracle paddling.
• Have Lunch and rest for half an hour.
• Start the Islands exploration trail by Coracle.
• Return back to the camp site and have tea
• Have a camp fire and fun time at camp fire
• Have dinner and retire for the day
  

Day 2:-

Wake up early in the morning. Freshen up and have tea
A small swimming/floating session
Introduction to Raft Paddling

Introduction Kayaking and Individual Kayaking session.
Have lunch

• Trek from yalakanagadde to "Devara gudda" peak view point. Spend time on Backwater view point and climb down to Bus stand
• Travel back to Sagar and take Bus back to Bangalore
  
• End of session.

Photos of our Adventure Water sports and camping Faliclity in Sharavathi backwater
http://picasaweb.google.com/subbukl/61_kayaking_sharavathi_valley_nov08#

or
http://picasaweb.google.com/bkpurushotham/Sharavathi#
or

http://picasaweb.google.com/stanfrancis/VIRGINLANDONSHARAVATHYRIVER#

or

http://picasaweb.google.com/shashi.gadad/SharavathiValleyWaterSports#

or
http://picasaweb.google.com/punithaharsha/SharavathyTrek25Oct08#
or
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ganeshkudva1977/Sharavathi06Sep08#
or
http://picasaweb.google.com/naga.2005/KayakingCampingTreking#



Blogs on our new Adventure Water sports and camping Faliclity in Sharavathi backwater
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/

http://vivek-nag.livejournal.com/4623.html

Please mail me to prapancha@gmail.com for any more info...

New Year Greetings

Dear all,
Year 2008 has been an Activity filled and very satisfying Year for “The Sharavathi Nature Trails…” . It was a proud moment for all of us, when our new Water sports/Camping Activity became operational. It was with your blessing and active support which made us realize this dream.
We anticipate your continued active support and blessings to improve the activities further. Our aim is to expand the direct rural employment further and there by contributing to rural household economy.
Our One more greatest achievement is that, we were able to convert small time timber smugglers in to force which is fighting against the tree cutters in the Sharavathi Backwaters by providing the alternate livelihood for them.
We promise to work for the over all rural development and nature conservation. Also to serve the true nature lovers with renewed vigor.

Here is our new year wish to all of you…..(pls click on image)