August 23, 2014 -- Birding Trip to Bhakra Dam

India Aug. 23

Anand Sahib Dude

We hired a car and driver - requested Johnny from last weekend’s trip – and set out Saturday to drive to Bhakra Dam, NNE of us by 120 km. Some of you may remember that we hired a car ten years ago to see this dam, the largest in India, but were turned away when we got there because Rob did not have his passport along. There are security issues.

Anyhoo, this time we had made SURE to pack the passports, as well as the bird book, the binos, the camera, the tripod, wipe cloths for brows, hats etc. etc. There is a new road - built since 2004 – so our drive wasn’t too long (though probably 2 hr.) We arrived at the checkpoint and went inside to offer up our passports to an old, unsmiling Sikh gentleman with a long grey beard sitting at a wooden desk in the middle of a huge, dark, ALMOST EMPTY room. Over bustled a military man ( ~ 50 yr. old and in uniform) to check our documents. One look at my visa, and he said, “NO – Cannot see the dam.” I believe I squawked, “WHAT?????” so he pointed to the miniscule type on the visa page which states NOT VALID IN RESTRICTED and CANTONMENT AREAS. I pointed out that we were turned away 10 years before because of NO passport without mention of such a ruling. I asked, “Is it because we have a business visa and not a tourist visa?” NO. Can tourists visit this dam? NO. “Then how does a person get to visit this famous, largest dam in India Dam?” Only by getting permission from the Ministry. “You mean in Delhi?????” YES.

Having driven 2 hours without a pitstop, I asked this functionary if I would be permitted to use their washroom, or would I need permission from the Ministry, and he really laughed his head off at that one. Then proceeded to recount it in Hindi to a woman in an office who threw back her head and laughed too. He then sent for some hag who came back with a key and led me outdoors around back to what was basically his and hers outhouses. Oh joy. Don’t worry folks – we don’t leave home without T.P. The toilet was of the Indian variety but did flush, so that part, at least, was sort of modern. Picture follows.

There was absolutely no point in arguing with the Authorities, so we drove off, and our driver decided to take us to the Backside of the dam instead. This meant driving up, up, up into the Himalayas to get to the other side of the dam. Switchback after switchback – higher and higher – all the while Johnny is talking non-stop about the temple at the top that we must reach – one of the five most important Hindu temples in all of India. I understand about one word in 10 of everything Johnny says and Rob doesn’t do much better, but did glean that this route would, in fact, get us to the other side of the dam. And after a LONG TIME of switchbacks on a tiny road with no barriers – where passing on blind curves is no problem if you honk first – we got to a junction where Up to the Temple was left, and we went right – Down to the Dam. I was comforted by the thought that in my backpack was the barf bag from the airplane though in the end we got down to ground level with me using it.

So we came to another guard and another gate. Johnny said he would get out and try one more time. He had to show his ID and car registration, but we did NOT have to offer up our passports nor get out of the car and were told we could go through the gate and drive past the dam, but not stop and not take pictures. This was good news, because we were now only 8 km from Nangal and would NOT have to retrace our winding way up and over the mountain again.

We drove along until we were almost adjacent to the front of the dam, then came to another two guards on the road – shaking a finger. I thought he had seen Rob with his Cell Phone at the window, and expected big trouble but instead, he was telling the driver we could stop, but ONLY for 2 min. and NO PICTURES. So we got out, used our binos to really see the dam, and then drove to Nangal.

So here’s the thing. We did NOT get to go inside the workings of the dam but we did see the huge reservoir of water (from high up) and the dam itself on the same road we would have used – but looking right instead of left - if given permission from the very first checkpoint. Sigh!



Afterwards, we had lunch at the same Haveli as last weekend. Again we stood in front of the outdoor fans and got misted with cool water, and then set off with Johnny to the Backside of Chandigarh Lake to birdwatch.

Rob is going to send bird pictures and talk about the birding. All I will say is that Johnny has Eagle Eyes for spotting birds – WITHOUT binoculars. He must have the most long-sighted vision EVER!

Enough for now. We stopped in Nangal for local apples, where Johnny helped me select and get a good price.

Love, Hansi

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Hi all

It's been a while since I corresponded, mainly since Hansi got here and I let her take over the e-mail duties (she's finally got her e-mail to work properly, took me several days as well).

Yesterday, (Sat Aug 23) we hired a driver/car (Johnny as he likes to be called, same guy as last time) to drive up to the Bhakra Dam - Hansi is writing about the travails of that journey. I'm writing and sending along the bird pictures which I took. Many of them were from quite a distance so the quality is not great but the birds are still identifiable. Except for the ubiquitous Black Kite, these were all new (or "re-new" in a few cases, I guess) since we got here. Of course, two of the bird pix worth mentioning are the Black Kite and the Indian Pond Heron which come under the heading of "no way these are the same kind of bird". Naturally we were happy to see our old friend the white-throated kingfisher - how can you not love 'im! Lastly, we saw a white-breasted waterhen picking its way along the tall grass right at the water's edge - tried to get a photo but just couldn't get him/her focused.

We saw most of these birds around the "backside" of the lake in Chandigarh - aka Sukhna Lake (look up on Google) [no need  now that  I'm putting the emails in this blog--just click on the link above]. The backside is comprised of mixed swampland, backwater, tall grass and trees - good bird grounds.

Just around dusk we began to see birds a-plenty but unfortunately we were just leaving - we'll obviously plan a return around dusk another day. From what we gather this a stopping point for migratory birds later in the Fall so we have a lot to look forward to - can hardly wait.

For all of you who are not bird lovers . . . ?????

Hansi and Johnny in Nangal

Haveli lunch

Rob