Karnala Bird Sanctuary

A break from day-to-day life we planed a trip to Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

The Karnala Bird Sanctuary is located in Panvel Taluka of Raigad District .The sanctuary is quite small with an area of 12.11 square kilometres.

 Trip Location

The sanctuary is centered on the historic Karnala Fort and lies just off the Mumbai-Pune national highway to Goa. It is located 12 km from Panvel. The nearest rail head is Panvel. Regular buses at an interval of 30 minutes are available from Panvel Bus Stand from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm. The sanctuary is open for visitors from sunrise to sunset. There are many hotels and resorts located near the sanctuary. There are two government rest houses inside the sanctuary area.

About The Sanctuary

The bird sanctuary is a popular destination for bird-watchers and hikers in the Mumbai area. The sanctuary is home to over 222 species birds of which 161 are resident species, 46 are winter migrant species, three are breeding migrants, seven species are passage migrants and five species are vagrant. Following eight species endemic to Western Ghats has been found in Karnala: Grey-fronted Green-pigeon (Treron affinis), Nilgiri Woodpigeon (Columba elphinstonii), Malabar (Blue-winged) Parakeet (Psittacula columboides), Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus), White-cheeked Barbet (Megalaima viridis), Malabar Lark (Galerida malabarica), Small Sunbird (Leptocoma minima) and Vigor's Sunbird (Aethopyga vigorsii). . Five rare birds, the ashy minivet, three-toed kingfisher, Malabar trogon, Slaty-legged Crake (Rallina eurizonoides), and Rufous-bellied Eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii) have been sighted here. The sanctuary is also home to 114 species of butterflies.

The Karnala fort is located on the top of the hill in the sanctuary. It is about 1hr. medium hard trek to Karnala fort.

After roming for about 3-4 hours clicking pic’s and selfies the journey back to home started.

A DAY WELL SPENT…. 

Ballaleshwar temple

On a beautiful day me and my family plan a short trip to Pali which is 58km from Alibag. Pali is situated on river base name Amba. It is a rular village but famous for Ballaleshwar temple. We started at morning and reached in 1 & half hour. Let me tell you the interesting story of this temple.

Ballaleshwar  temple is one of the eight temples of Lord Ganesha. Among Ganesha temples, Ballaleshwar is the only incarnation of Ganesha that is known by his devotee's name. It is located in the village of Pali which is at a distance of 98 km from Mumbai in the Raigad district. It is situated between fort Sarasgad and the river Amba.

The murti

The murti of Vinayaka sits on a stone throne, facing east with its trunk turned left and sitting against a background of silver which displays Riddhi and Siddhi waving chamaras. The murti's eyes and navel contain diamonds.

In the village of Pali lived a successful businessman named Kalyan with his wife, Indumati. Their son, Ballal, and the other children in the village used to play puja, using stones in place of murtis. Once, the children, going to the outskirts of the village, saw a very large stone. At the insistence of Ballal, the children worshiped the stone as Ganesha. Led by Ballal, the children became so engrossed in their worship that they forgot about hunger and thirst; day and night.

Meanwhile, the parents of the village anxiously waited for their children to come home. When the children did not return on time, they all went to Kalyan's house and complained about his son Ballal. Kalyan, flying into a rage, took a stick and went in search of the children. Eventually, he found the children listening to the Ganesha Purana. In his fury, he destroyed the small temples built by the children, who fled away in terror, leaving Ballal by himself. Ballal, completely submerged in devotion to Ganesha, was grabbed by his father and beaten until blood drenched his clothes. His father proceeded to tie him to a tree and trampled on all the puja materials collected by the children. Lifting the large stone which the children had treated as Ganesha, he threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. He taunted Ballal, "Now we shall see which God protects you!" Going home, he left his own son bound to the tree to die.

Still bound to the tree, Ballal cursed his father for having insulted Ganesha, "May he become blind, deaf, dumb, and hunchbacked for his disrespect to the son of Parvati!" Though filled with pain, hunger, and thirst, he continued chanting the name of Ganesha until, exhausted, he fainted. On waking, Ballal entreated Ganesha to come to his aid. Lord Ganesha, moved by the child's devotion, appeared in the form of a sadhu before Ballal and untied him from the tree. On seeing Ganesha, Ballal's thirst and hunger vanished; his wounds were healed and he was completely invigorated. He prostrated before the sadhu, recognizing him as Ganesha, and worshipped him. Ganesha told Ballal he would bless him with whatever he asked for as a reward for his devotion. Ballal entreated, "May I be your unshakeable devotee, and may you always stay in this place and remove the miseries of the people who seek refuge in you." Ganesha said, "I shall ever remain here, and will take your name before mine, being worshiped as Ballal's Lord (BallalEshwar)." He embraced Ballal and vanished into the nearby stone. The stone's cracks disappeared and was made whole again.

That stone statue is called Ballaleshwar. The stone idol which Kalyan threw to the ground is also known as Dhundi Vinayak. This is a swayambhu murti and is worshiped before Ballaleshwar is worshiped.

After workship in temple we had lunch in a small house which serve home 

 made food to devotes. After roming around we started journey back to home.

A DAY WELL SPENT….