Gudavi – Malnad’s Hidden Wonderland

Black headed ibis

Deep within Malnad *, where the district of Shimoga meets Uttara Kannada district, there exists a seasonal lake surrounded by dense forest.  Every year, from August to November, this lake plays host to hundreds of nesting ibises and egrets.  The lake and a portion of the surrounding forest form the Gudavi Bird sanctuary.

Our journey to this place started at 6:30 am from Shimoga.  The road to Gudavi winds its way through open countryside covered with paddy and maize fields, scrub forests, with the mist covered mountains always looming in the distance.  Through out the journey, you will see various birds like black winged kites, kingfishers, francolins, doves, parakeets and swallows.

We reached the sanctuary just when the gates were being opened.  Unlike other sanctuaries, Gudavi opens only at 9:30 am.  So, if you are interested in photography, better choose a cloudy day or stay until evening.  From the gates, it is around a kilometer to the lake and the parking lot.

Starting at the parking lot, there is a path circumambulating the lake.  Along the path, towering bamboos form a canopy overhead.  If you look up, your eyes will be greeted by huge webs constructed by giant wood spiders and black wood spiders.  Keep looking, you may see a flash of gold, which is a wood pecker taking flight, or a patch of white, which is a langur hidden in the foliage. 

Black headed ibis feeding its chick

The trees within the lake are dotted with white – the pure white of egrets and ibis chicks, and the dirty white of adult ibises.  A word of caution in case you are photographing the ibises, the camera tends to over expose the bright white of the chick’s body as the background and the chick’s head are dark.  In order to compensate for this, it is better to under expose the photograph a little.

Common coot with chick

Now, for a moment, we will take our eyes off the tree tops, and look at the reeds and the surface of the lake.  There! Can you see the coot, followed by its unbelievably bright colored chicks?  Or, the little grebe swimming in front of us?

Half way through the path, there is a watch tower which gives a bird’s eye view of the entire lake.

View from the watch tower

After walking all the way through the path, it will be time for lunch.  You can either have it in the canteen within the sanctuary or have it on the way back.  We did not have food in the canteen, and hence cannot comment on its quality.

Some More Pictures:
(Click the buttons on either side of the images to view next/previous image)

Some Information regarding the sanctuary:

Entry Fees: Rs. 50 per person, no fees for still cameras

Opening time: 9:30 am. 

With luck, you may find someone to open the gate earlier.  Otherwise, the birds and butterflies in the forest surrounding the sanctuary can keep you occupied.

Route:

Shimoga -> Savalanga -> Shikaripura -> Shirala koppa -> Soraba -> Gudavi.

The road is quite good, going bad only in a few places (this is being repaired too).  It took us around 3 hours to cover the distance of around 100 km to Gudavi from Shimoga. 

Food and refreshments:

Reasonably good hotels can be found in Shikaripura, Shirala koppa and Soraba.  There is a canteen within the sanctuary too.

Bird List: 

 For those who are interested, the following are the list of birds which we spotted:

1. Purple heron
2. Pond heron
3. Large egret
4. Small egret
5. Cattle egret
6. Whistling teal
7. Small Blue kingfisher
8. White breasted kingfisher
9. Red wattled lapwing
10. Bronze winged jacana
11. River tern
12. Small green bee eater
13. Chestnut headed bee eater
14. Drongo
15. Pea hen
16. Spot billed duck
17. Red whiskered bulbul
18. Flame back woodpecker
19. Black headed ibis
20. Little egret
21. Common coot
22. Little Grebe
23. Night heron (juv)
24. Open billed stork
25. Purple moorhen

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* Malnad, approximately translated as the Abode of Mountains (Male = Mountains + Nadu = Abode), is the name given to the region where the Western Ghats passes through the state of Karnataka.