A remote village
I began collecting money for a small camera from January, 2018. After months of strict saving, I got myself a second-hand Nikon P100 for 15000 Rupees with the 26 times Optical zoom. Bridge cameras are the best for starting out in birding.
On June 18, 2018 I embarked upon this beautiful remote village on the border of Sindh and Balochistan provinces which I will never forget!
My whole maternal family is filled with teachers, one of my aunt is a teacher at a school by the peaceful and calm Sea....We can even see the sea from her school. Many of her students come from surrounding households and villages One of her high school students invited her to his village which
is approximately 5-6 kilometres away from the school.
As our whole family is adventure-holic, on fine morning when we were at our Grandparents' at Hawksbay, we all decided to go there.
Around 20 people cramped up in the back of Suzuki, we began our trip.
The Suzuki driver took us all along the backside of Hawksbay. We firstly visited the school which strangely had a cargo contanier near the school building. The ground itself was around a 1000 yards wide by 1000 yards long, very long, I know.
We then took off for the village. The Suzuki took us on the road through the dusty, dry hillsides. As the suzuki did not have a hood, we were experiencing a very "wild" feeling, The sun was at are heads, the dry wind blew sand on our faces and we were yelling at the kids to sit down.
In between all this chaos I managed to see a Black winged kite flying quite high above us, almost like a swift.
We then moved on the Sonehra beach road. We had left the hillsides far on our left and could see the Sonera beach shore on the right. The Suzuki then turned left almost into middle of nowhere, facing towards the hills. As we got closer along the katcha/sand road road, a flock of Larks flew alongside our vehivle almost as if they were following us. I could not ID them in flight.
We then arrived at a proper village which we could not sight from the road. It was situated in the foothills of the hillsides.
We got off and met the locals. They were very poor but very hospitable. The village was filled with small huts, some agricultural land dotted with tall date trees and small chicken coops which were actually like mini huts formed from pieces of clothes and rugs.
The ladies and kids sat with the women folk of the villages while we (my three cousins, my elder brother, our driver and myself) were accompanied to an "Autaq" a Sindhi name for a "Guest house". It was a small cemented building with the door facing the beautiful hills. It was around 4pm now and all of us were starving. One of the villagers approached us with a kettle filled with water and a plate. He poured water fro each of us to wash our hands. They were truly serene people.
Our feast was scrumptious, the simple chicken curry and rotees filled our tummies well. Now it was time for exploring. We kept the children busy with the baby chicks while we, the bois set out.
I took my camera out and began photographing anything I saw. The date palms were filled with the the calls of bulbuls, both red vented and white eareds were present here. I saw a male Indian robin which was a lifer, it was followed by three more lifers; a pretty pair of inquisitive Graceful prinias, some Crested lark and a Bay backed shrike.
I then began to set out for the foothills all alone when I was called back by one of the locals, apparently, feral dogs are really dangerous around there.
It was a fun trip, afterwards, we all got back into the Suzuki and set out for the Sonera beach side. The beach was filled with local fishing folk's boats so we did not get a suitable place to see the sunset. Though I saw a Little tern in winter plumage hovering above one of the larger boats. It was a superb experience.
I would strongly suggest not to visit the village without a prior invitation from the village folk in order to not disturb their privacy.
My whole maternal family is filled with teachers, one of my aunt is a teacher at a school by the peaceful and calm Sea....We can even see the sea from her school. Many of her students come from surrounding households and villages One of her high school students invited her to his village which
is approximately 5-6 kilometres away from the school.As our whole family is adventure-holic, on fine morning when we were at our Grandparents' at Hawksbay, we all decided to go there.
Around 20 people cramped up in the back of Suzuki, we began our trip.
The Suzuki driver took us all along the backside of Hawksbay. We firstly visited the school which strangely had a cargo contanier near the school building. The ground itself was around a 1000 yards wide by 1000 yards long, very long, I know.
We then took off for the village. The Suzuki took us on the road through the dusty, dry hillsides. As the suzuki did not have a hood, we were experiencing a very "wild" feeling, The sun was at are heads, the dry wind blew sand on our faces and we were yelling at the kids to sit down.
In between all this chaos I managed to see a Black winged kite flying quite high above us, almost like a swift.
We then moved on the Sonehra beach road. We had left the hillsides far on our left and could see the Sonera beach shore on the right. The Suzuki then turned left almost into middle of nowhere, facing towards the hills. As we got closer along the katcha/sand road road, a flock of Larks flew alongside our vehivle almost as if they were following us. I could not ID them in flight.
We then arrived at a proper village which we could not sight from the road. It was situated in the foothills of the hillsides.
We got off and met the locals. They were very poor but very hospitable. The village was filled with small huts, some agricultural land dotted with tall date trees and small chicken coops which were actually like mini huts formed from pieces of clothes and rugs.
The ladies and kids sat with the women folk of the villages while we (my three cousins, my elder brother, our driver and myself) were accompanied to an "Autaq" a Sindhi name for a "Guest house". It was a small cemented building with the door facing the beautiful hills. It was around 4pm now and all of us were starving. One of the villagers approached us with a kettle filled with water and a plate. He poured water fro each of us to wash our hands. They were truly serene people.
Our feast was scrumptious, the simple chicken curry and rotees filled our tummies well. Now it was time for exploring. We kept the children busy with the baby chicks while we, the bois set out.
I took my camera out and began photographing anything I saw. The date palms were filled with the the calls of bulbuls, both red vented and white eareds were present here. I saw a male Indian robin which was a lifer, it was followed by three more lifers; a pretty pair of inquisitive Graceful prinias, some Crested lark and a Bay backed shrike.
I then began to set out for the foothills all alone when I was called back by one of the locals, apparently, feral dogs are really dangerous around there.
It was a fun trip, afterwards, we all got back into the Suzuki and set out for the Sonera beach side. The beach was filled with local fishing folk's boats so we did not get a suitable place to see the sunset. Though I saw a Little tern in winter plumage hovering above one of the larger boats. It was a superb experience.
Some kind of wild fruit....
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