Tuesday, October 13, 2009

kaas plateau

Kaas Plateau – a wonderland!!
Please be patient while the images getting loaded.


kaas plateau
Panoramic view,en route Kaas. click here for complete view

My desire is to visit the “Valley of flowers” in Himalayas where hundreds of wild flowers of all colors bloom, though I dint get a chance to visit Himalayas but lucky enough to visit the wonderland Kaas ,it was on 17th September 2009 Me and my friend vivek left pune by 7:15am by his car and drove towards the Pune – Bangalore highway, we hit the NH around 7:40 am and on the way to Satara had nice chai and Vada Pav at Sherival a small village on the highway.Reached Kass around 9:30am and was spellbound by the rich flora.

Road to kaas
Narrow road from Satara to Kass (25 km approx)
Satara is approximately 100km from Pune on Pune-Bangalore highway after crossing the town the uphill road takes to Kass plateau, this part of western ghat is famous for Flat table top mountains, with lateritic plateaus on top becomes home to millions of tiny flowers, the whole spectale is beyond words. Different types of wild flowers, herbs, orchids, shrubs, insectivorous plants etc., can be seen here.
Kass_cat
Kaas - a paradise for flower watching, birding and camping around with a gentle road running across the plateau and flowers of varied colors in millions on either side, the view is simply superb!!
kass Plateau
Lush green open land filled with flowers of varied colors and size


Vigna vexillata
Vigna vexillata

Eriocaulon tuberiferum,width=
Eriocaulon tuberiferum

Kass has a very good bird life with good sightings of Crested Buntings, common Crested Larks and Oriental White-eyes. For the first time I spotted the European roller.
Amazing place for Macro photography, one can go crazy seeing plethora of subjects to shoot.
Utricularia Pupurascens
Utricularia Pupurascens

Plateau of flowers
Purple bed of Utricularia Pupurascens

Bzy bee

Bee Pollination

Impatiens Lawii (pink- white)
Impatiens Lawii

Pink carpet
Welcomed by the Pink carpet

Drossera Indica
Drossera Indica an insectivorous plant, interesting plant with sticky tentacles

Thunbergia fragrans - Chimine
Thunbergia fragrans - Chimine

Argyreia elliptica
Argyreia elliptica

Kass_Pink_1

There are few other places to be explored nearby like Kaas Lake, Bamnoli ,since we were running out of time and had to go to office that night so we left Kaas around 4:30pm and reached Pune by 7:30pm, the whole day was awesome, day before work was hectic hardly find time to sleep and today whole day went running for flowers, flowers and flowers :) but Kaas has this mesmerizing effect of making you forget all the tiredness, that's true! totally invigorated after my trip.
Kass_Saffronflower_1
Murudannia Lanuginosa, अबोलिमा

kass_purple_whiteball_h
Exacum lawii

kass_purple_black_1
Murudannia simplex,निलिमा

Kaas_purple_pink_1
Impatiens Lawii flower

Kass_cotton

Hillock
Peteshwar hill with small lateritic platue on top

kass_kurunji_1
Pleocaulus ritchiei (Topli Karvi) टोपली कारवी

Utricularia in white
Utricularia in white

Pogostemon Deccanensis
Pogostemon Deccanensis, जांभळी मंजिरी

Pogostemon Deccanensis

Grazing gently
Grazing cattle

View of Satara town
Fast expanding township of Satara - a threat to this fragile ecosystem

Sad sight is that most of the place has been littered with liquor bottles, plastic plates, covers and cups by the unruly tourist who visit this place. State forest department has to take some serious effort in conserving this place by increasing the forest guard to keep a watch or we will be losing this wonderland forever.

Reference:
Flowers of Sahyadri by Shrikant Ingalhalikar.
Equipment:Canon40D with 18-55mm IS lens
For any queries and suggestions please contact me at cj.samson [at] gmail.com

27 comments:

Muhammad Mahdi said...

Amazing pictures samson. Thanks for sharing them with us.

I love the composition of the Vigna vexillata and the first kaas panorama. Great work.

Shankam said...

Awesome stuff Sam... what lens did u use? Good going mate.

Ranjini said...

Fabulous,Samson.Simply fabulous.I loved the way the pictures opened up-with the fluffy clouds,the whole meadows of flowers, the individual flowers....So far the best pics of Kaas i've seen.Beautifully arranged sequence of pics..

crjayaprakash said...

Flowers and Colours! Well done. Greens too are good. I admire

Clement Praveen said...

Its simply beautifull sam. Awesome takes..keep up de spirit :)

Unknown said...

Hey Sam Great shots.....Always been a big fan of your photography......keep on clicking ...... u rock.....god bless...

Anonymous said...

amazing dude......simply super pics!

Cheers,
Pratik

Unknown said...

Awesome annan... especially with that kit lens!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful place and shots. Quite an adventurous spirit you all have too! Thanks for sharing :)
Asha Susan

Kaaviyam said...

Wow!! Amazing place, breathtaking views, wonderful compositions, beautiful flowers....lovely flower carpet!!Love that panoramic view of en route Kaas....just breathtaking!! Awesome macros!! omg!....valley full of beautiful and colorful flowers.....amazing...I can imagine how it will be in person! Excellent work, good descriptions and lovely layout Samson!! Thank you very much for taking us to Kaas Plateau – a wonderland...through your amazing pictures!! Cheers!!! :)

Kushagra Sharma said...

photos are amazing.which camera was it..i mean which lens?..marvellous stuff

Anonymous said...

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww !
Too Good. Tooo GOod !
Thats just Awesome !!
I like it...

Regards
Abhijit Jadhav

Srinivasen said...

Beautiful location and nice images. Thanks for introducing such a lovely place

Donna said...

Awesome photos Samson...I was really impressed by these beautiful images and how well you have captured it all! Well done!!

Anonymous said...

fantabulous & Splendid Work...... great snaps....keep going.... best wishses from kothai & Bala.

നിര്‍മ്മല said...

Samson...,great to see these amazing shots...superb..!!!!!!!!thanks for sharing.

G&AM said...

Very beautiful. Ive seen some of them already at Flickr.

KS said...

I had an opportunity to see Kaas in early Oct-2009 (from mahalbaleswar) but a last minute hitch cahnged the plan. But I am glad I saw your wonderful pictures here. So now will try and go there next year. Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures on your blog - KS

Richard said...

Very nice.

kothai S Rajan said...

Fantabulous .... best wishes -kothai & bala

Hort Log said...

I am wondering what type of climate it is - temperate or sub-tropical ? I am hoping perhaps some of these plants can be grown in Singapore.
Anyway, very lovely shots and and beautiful habitat !

krish | കൃഷ് said...

Amazing photo series.
TFS.

Dina B. Knight said...

That was amazing... great compositions! I did enjoy viewing all those photos and love the whole thing. Thank you for sharing it to me..
Dina.

Unknown said...

each unique photos were speaking more peace words...
mindglowing
great job dude

Capt Suresh Sharma said...

Superb place, what a variety of flowers to shoot. Where is exactly and which is the best season. If possible let me know via my e-mail wildhiss at gmail.com

Unknown said...

hey.....
awesome picz.... wish i cud photograph lyk tat!!!.... so have ya bought the lens u were plannin to buy??

Unknown said...

im awestruck at ur amazing skill. keep it up. m waitin 4 more. god bless