My second post is about a serene place, tucked away in a corner of my hometown Mysore. Mysore is famously known as the “Royal City”. The Wodeyar dynasty ruled Mysore for nearly six centuries and their grandeur is still reminiscent in the city of Mysore. However, the grandeur of Mysore and all the other blah blah about Mysore you will find at many a place on the internet. Let me leave that out and talk about the serene place I promised you. The place I have in mind is Karanji Kere.
The lake
Karanji Kere – is the name of this beautiful lake in Kannada, the local language of Mysore and literally translates to “Fountain Lake” in English. It is located near the Mysore Zoo. This lake is pretty huge and has boating facilities.
The birds of the lake
This place is a treat for bird watchers and one gets to see many aquatic birds as well as other kind of birds. Many migratory birds like pelicans and painted storks haunt this place in the “season”, which is typically from October to May/June.
India’s largest aviary
A relatively unknown fact about the Karanji Kere is that it houses India’s largest aviary! This aviary in addition to housing some rare species of birds, also has a few lovely rabbits :)
Bird watching tower
The path around the lake makes a good walkway. There is a bird watching tower from where one can see the entire lake and its serene surroundings. The below snap taken from the bird watching tower gives you an idea. You might also like to know that this snap has found its way onto the wikipedia :)
The central island is the place where the migratory birds roost.
Butterfly Park!
The plants around the lake are well maintained adding beauty to the lake. At the end of the lake premises, there is a small island dedicated to the beautiful butterflies called the Butterrfly Park. This island can be reached via a small bridge.
Behind the lake premises is the Regional Museum of Natural History which is till in my to be visited places list :)
And yes, just for those of you who are taken in by the snaps above and want to see more, a whole lot of snaps from Karanji Kere is here on Nagesh’s Flickr stream :)
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