14 October 2008

A long weekend in the Western Ghats

India's landscape is as diverse as its people. The Western Ghats are a 1600 kilometre-long mountain chain that descends down the western coast of India. They erupt in the north-western state of Gujarat and descend straight down along the western coast of the Arabian Sea through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, ending at the southern-most tip of India in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu.

The dense forests, lakes and rivers are home to many bird and animal species, as well as a variety of plants and flowers not found anywhere else in the world.

I spent four days in the Chorla Ghats which border the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. Arriving on the tail end of the monsoon, the hills were a rich, lush green with many rivers and waterfalls gushing through the dense landscape.

The 70-kilometre trip from Belgaum in North Karnataka took 3 hours through very rocky, post-monsoon pot-holed roads! Once we crossed the border into Goa, the roads improved considerably:

The road in Karnataka:


Just a few metres away, over the border in Goa:


Some photos from a long weekend in the Western Ghats:









2 comments :

Tracy said...

simply beautiful~

Colin Todhunter said...

I've only ever passed through them on the train from Chennai/Bangalore to Goa and the scenery is wonderful - just like your photos.