c u on top - satyabrata dam

I am curious to visit and experience new places, especially those that are labelled difficult to reach, hostile (geographically) and otherwise out of main touristic destinations. Since Kosovo declared her independence in 2008, and formed itself as the youngest and newest European nation, it has been on my travel wish list. Formerly considered a war torn and ravaged nation, it is presently a haven of peace and tranquillity. Finally this year, during my European trip, I decided impromptu to dip into this small nation of wonders. Needless to say, I am primarily attracted to the natural bounties, mainly mountains and forests, of a nation. Other attractions like culture, history, craft, museums, and any kind of manmade structures, aren’t that high on my list. Though I like unplanned trips, which takes twists and turns according to my impulses, it never hurts to do a bit of research, especially when Uncle Google is so accommodating. And during this research I came across an absolute ge...

Sometime back I had written a post on the ‘must haves’ for an outdoor trip, things without which you must never venture into the wilderness. Following that and even otherwise, people have been asking me to come out with a more extensive list of things to pack in when going outdoors. Pack in the thrills without the frills. What should be an ideal check of list for an outdoor trip, where you don’t take too much neither too little. So that it covers the essentials and few more as well. Obviously I had to think like a normal hiker or walker. My personal list would be too little for most people since there are times I don’t even carry food or source of fire. But then not everyone has adequate survival skills or experience, hence missing out on certain items could be calamitous. So here are my recommendations with few additional items that I think are ‘luxuries’ but then we live in different times and these days people often feel an ipod is an essential. When I do extreme light-weight solo...

Unless you are a dedicated and hard core outdoor photographer it is highly unlikely that you would carry a solar panel with you when you venture away from the civilization, to charge your batteries. One of the biggest concerns of any outdoor photographer is how to conserve the battery power to the maximum possible limit. Since most often you can’t recharge the batteries in the outdoors you have to prolong its power by optimizing your usage pattern so that you get all the pictures you want and not let your battery die on you. The intrinsic battery power to a large extent depends upon the type of battery your camera uses; a lithium battery is much more powerful than normal pencil AA cells but needs to be recharged, whereas in AA cells always go for Duracells. I will discuss more on the battery type and power features and safekeeping in the outdoors in a separate post. The obvious solution to prevent running out of batteries is to carry extra sets with you and keeping them dry and warm ti...

Dear Friends, if you are a regular visitor to my blog then it is safe to presume that you do have some amount of interest in venturing into the outdoors and wilderness; cerebrally perhaps if not always physically. You might also be venturing into the real outdoors where survival might often be a direct outcome of your own actions and the gear that you carry with you. Far from civilization or any mortal help it is wise to be prepared for the unknown, for that uncertain factor that even the best laid plans cannot rule out. I always have a ready backpack in my home along with a ready survival pouch. I just replenish the contents as and when they get consumed or else expire due to shelf life. But never would you find even a single content missing from my packs, even when I am at home. Well, I am an extreme outdoor person and I always expect and am ready for a disaster. Like I often say that with me around, you are safe from any kind of disaster including nuclear fallout. I do exaggerate ab...