Welcome to the wonderful word of birds

Birds are really amazing creatures. Completely fascinating in the fact that they are so colorful and THEY FLY!!! Something man has been trying to do since time immemorial. Also, one needn't go far to see them, they're all around us, roosting and nesting on our buildings and feeding in our gardens:)

Birds are probably the most loved group of wildlife on earth. Their constant presence, beautiful colors, intelligent actions and cheeky manners endear them to us all. From the ever Common Myna with its host of squeaks, squawks and chirps to the tiny Pale Billed Flower Pecker flitting about the bushes letting out a constant stream of chip-chip-chip and the beautiful Purple Sun bird, beautiful in its own right with an iridescent purple sheen that could rival the freshest paint and who can ignore the Coppersmith Barbette, always on the move with a red bandanna around its neck and head and last but by no means least, the crazy red wattled lapwing, never minding its own business with its constant cries of "did u do it, did u do it”. 

 Common Myna

 Copper Smith Barbette

 Red Wattled Lapwing

Birds are easy to love and easy to know. All you need to do is spare a second and give them a second glance. Look out for our weekly birding meet-ups by our very own birding team and see if you can join the fun:)

Note: Article written by Mel Irwin. 

An evening with Ranvijay Singh

An evening with Ranvijay Singh 

by Amar Deep

It was meet-up with a difference. When Diyanat Ali the Foudner of GHAC (Great Hyderabad Adventure Club) posted a meet-up with Rannvijay Singh of MTV Roadies fame, many within GHAC and many others outside were wondering what it had to do with adventure.

Those doubts were soon dispelled and in no time GHAC members and fans of MTV Roadies, RSVPed for the meetup on Monday, March 28th. So the event, ‘An evening with Ranvijay Singh of MTV Roadies’ had 150 GHAC folks attending with their guests at the venue, Lamakaan.

That dream came true with Ranvijay Singh right in front of them ‘Live’ for more than 2 hours of the prime time Monday evening with them. The best seats or let me put them this way, the closest ones to him were occupied by girls, while the young men kept a distance till he started to talk. Belying everyone's expectations, Ranvijay arrived with a clean shave look, leaving behind his stub in Ooty, taking a break from a movie shoot, and looked fresh and relaxed.
 

The evening started with an intro about Rannvijay by Diyanat Ali, GHAC host cum meet-up moderator. Many in the audience already knew Rannvijay well since the days when he had won the 1st MTV Roadies series. Sitting against the white projection wall of Lamkaan, Ranvijay bowled the pretty maidens in the audience with his looks and also spoke in a friendly non-scripted spontaneous style.

He was quizzed mostly by the girls present, and many a times, he had to request for the mike to be passed on to the guys too. With the answers came his enchanting smile and the one-liners, breaking all who followed him into multiple laughs. Apart from the questions on his looks, experience in the Roadies and other MTV reality shows he is hosting, the evening host posed him a question as to what he thinks is the in thing in adventure sports.

Rannvijay was quick to share that bouldering is the happening sport that has caught on with the adventure seekers all over the country. He spotted the boulders forming part of the stage backdrop at Lamakaan, and conveyed to the audience that climbing them and the bigger ones is indeed a thrilling experience to have. He highlighted the fact that Hyderabad has the geographical advantage of having rocks all around, and one does not need to spend hours looking for them, like other cities. Diyanat added on the news that GHAC has the best of equipment has more than 200 members who do bouldering along with NIM trained trainers.

Watch the Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlryxSpd7So

Rannvijay had a ready answer for a question from Diyanat on what he would do on finding an elephant. Rannvijay replied what a nature lover would, “Leave the elephant it the wild, where it belongs to.” Rannvijay shared that he met many youngsters who wanted to be on a reality show to prove themselves and hanging out in coffee shops and hookah bars to be cool. “Smoking hookah and spending hours in coffee shops leads one to nothing and I am concerned about youngsters wasting their youthful time.” he added. 

The adventurers attending gave him a huge round of applause when Rannvijay shared his close family connection with Hyderabad, and found the city to be happening and young. This visit to Hyderabad has  happened to him, courtesy Nagesh Kukunoor, who is shooting a new movie, with him in it. 

After the talk and answering quizzing questions from the girls about his single relationship status, his craze for bikes and biking, and his acting plans, Ranvijay readily posed for pictures, gave autographs with his charismatic smile. Nagesh Kukunoor and   Elahe were present through the talk and also obliged the attendees with pictures and autographs. 

Most of the GHAC adventurers attending were in awe with Rannvijay down to earth attitude and sportiveness to share without airs. His best line was that one needs to get more out of life, by connecting with nature and do what one likes to enjoy.

This was one of those evenings, which will be remembered and cherished by the GHAC members, where they connected moments with Ranvijay, the Roadie, the Reality Shows host, Adventurer biker, Passionate Traveler and now a silver screen Actor.

Diyanat Ali along with the GHAC members present at the meet-up, wished Ranvijay ‘all the best’ for the movie he is acting in and the reality shows he is hosting. 

Rapelling on a sunday morning.

An early morning wake up after a long time, do you know how awful that feels? especially for a lazy guy like me. But it was time and i had to leave for the rapelling event at moula ali. Moreover, i was supposed to assist the organizers!

Moula ali hasn't changed for months (and i hope it continues to be the same). A cloudy morning added to the view of a typical morning in hyderabad from a hill top. A quite breeze (which later turned to an incredibly gusty wind) with softness in air, just made a perfect start for a day. I felt like standing there and looking at the surroundings. Well! i can only speak for myself!

The team had already assembled and the ropes were in place and the first man was to take a 'rapelling plunge'. A good rapelling round for the first person and next it was me! but before i could take the plunge, i had to receive the much required 'gyaan' from the organizer. I learnt new terms associated with rapelling - harness, descender or figure of 8, b-lay (i do not know the spelling, think i should google it!). Very informative and the process employed for good descend was also mentioned.

My descend began. The path, from the start, had a gradual drop in angle to a certain point, after which the inclination was almost 90 degrees. The best part was here where i could start what i call a 'rapelling jump' and experience the rope controlled descend, jump-by-jump. The view down was excellent. Although for a first timer, the view would appear to be quite scary but one should never think of it. You overcome it and have a thought of experiencing the gradual descend. I'm sure you'll love it and would crave for doing it again!

Well, my completion of rapelling round was followed by me assisting in sending all the gears back to the top, after each participant completed his/her descend.

All in all, a great first-rapelling in hyderabad and the spot chosen by the organizers is apt. Cheers for good organizing!

More pictures at the rappelling photo meetup

First Ever Adventure Fashion Show at GHAC Carnival 2010

First Ever Adventure Fashion Show at GHAC Carnival 2010

Downpour did not dampen the spirits of city adventure buffs as they gathered at the Taramati Baradari on the evening of 15th August 2010 to celebrate two years of adventure activities, travel and trekking. It was "GHAC Carnival 2010" to mark the second anniversary of Great Hyderabad Adventure Club, a city-based non-profit organization focusing on adventure activities, a healthy lifestyle, nature and environmental awareness.

The event began with a dance performance  by Studio9 to mark the Independence day followed by a first of its kind adventure fashion show featuring lines for trekking, hiking, rappelling, rafting were showcased by the club. A blend of quick dry fabrics and cotton tees apart from the hiking gear, life jackets, water bottles and rest of adventure paraphernalia was showcased across various sequences.

The event was managed by Traditions while the fashion lines were sponsored by Wildcraft. Hungama Deals gave away Giordano watches and movie tickets while Meraevents gave away Tshirts and Caps to the adventure club's lucky members.

The Key Note Speaker Shri Rajiv Trivedi, IPS, Addl. Director, Andhra Pradesh Police Academy shared his paragliding, long distance swimming and other personal feats with the adventurers and asked them to be mentally fit and agile to take on challenges.

The Chief Guest at the event  Shri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Secretary to Government  of A.P. Tourism lauded the efforts of the club and extended cooperation from the AP Tourism Development Corporation in the club's future endeavors.  After a sumptuous dinner GHAC members sang and also hit the dance floor and jived to the tunes of the Hyderabadi rock band 'The Strangers'.

The main sponsors for the event was Reckon Security Systems. The Co Sponsors were APTDC,  Wildcraft, Nava Bharat Ventures andOlive Hospital. The associate sponsors were Bell India Pvt Ltd, Trip Naksha, HungamaDeals.com and KCHS School. The media partners were Red FM 93.5 and Meraevents.com

Kids and juniors summer outdoor adventure

This write-up, on Kids adventure , is given by Vibha Naik. Thank you for the article, Vibha. So, GHAC adventurer and organizer Vibha, on the first ever GHAC kids adventure...........

Most kids got up and reached the pickup points on time - they were surely very excited about this trek. Processed with rituals like disclaimers and some queries that some parents had, we were off on the bus. Keku took care of the kids in the bus, got them mingled up, played games and put them in the picnic mode.
On reaching there, everyone was very excited to see all the adventure activities that was awaiting. Some jumped onto the swings, some perched on the natural log benches, some watched the quacking birds.

They served us a welcome drink - neembu pudinah and that cleared our throats for a round of introduction. All from different schools and different grades (some in the school of life) were excited to know about each other. Some kids discovered that they belonged to the same school, same class but did not know each other (as they were in different divisions) and some discovered that they stayed in the same apartment complex, same floor but unaware that they all were coming. Pleasant surprises! Then came the breakfast - idli chutney sambhar and we stuffed in some calories before the exhaustive day began.

 A brief warming exercise conducted by Keku and Ranjanji helped stretch the body and muscles, preparing for the upcoming feat. The groups divided into 2 groups - one for valley crossing and the other for vertical surface climbing. After dressing up with the safety gear and guided by commandos, the activities commenced. The bold kids were the first to jump and others slowly made up their minds as they saw others perform. The kids were having a fab time - some wanted to repeat them as well.

 
Then came up enthusiastic parents giving a try and to their surprise, they did much better than what they expected themselves to perform. Water with glucose, vitamins and electrolytes (read Tang) was made available in ample quantities to avoid dehydration.

Then we took a short break for snacks and then started with rope walking and the burma bridge. Burma bridge was really hard and it was surprising to see many young kids perform the feat of course with all the safety gadgets. Some parents followed too.

 
And we were hungry to the core again. The lunch tasted so good - was it the preparation or just the fact that we were terribly hungry? And some parents were tired and sleepy, so caught up on the commando nets to swing and feel the cool breeze for a short nap. But kids, they wanted more.....And we began activities in the shade. First 'Housie' was conducted by Jaee and gathered so much excitement in kids and all. Then Ranjanji has an interesting game for kids convincing the importance of concentration in all the activities that we do. Venky then impromptuously conducted a concentration game which everybody so enjoyed. Then Keku began an innovative game for kids which helped them develop speaking skills and promptness. And yet the game was so much fun.

Then we were ready for some outdoor activities again - Adults tried their hand on archery while the kids were sent for river crossing. And then came the hot samosa and tea. As the sun started setting, we were ready for the guided jungle trek. Kids found this really interesting as we walked through the thorny bushes, posed for pics, spotted some wild boars at a distance and made some eerie sounds. We were back after the sunset on the ramp that gave us a beautiful view of the forest that we trekked.

 
Yes., All were tired and after a brief vote of thanks, we climbed up the bus on our journey back. Most kids as well as adults slept on the way back, but some super active kids were still enjoying the fun. Back in Hyderabad, all dispersed as they shared their contact numbers and hoping to keep in touch as they shared a memorable day out together.