Home is where the Heart is - Pictures close to our heart.

I miss our old thread where we shared pictures of our place & places we loved. It was a great thread and sharing created a sense of bonding between us. Here is the previous thread where we shared our pictures.
Where is home/land?

So I am opening this thread. Please post pictures of places we come from, places we visited - those that are evergreen in our heart.

Two weeks before I visited Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, Tamilnadu (India). It is the 2nd largest mangrove forest in the world. Here are some pictures of it. It was like travelling on land. There was cross waterways, round turns, water streets & they looked live avenues. Parts of them were sunny. The boatman told us there are no fruits in mangrove forest.

1. It is the world's second largest mangrove forest.
2. There are more than 400 water routes available for boating.
3. Mangrove Forest prevent tsunami.
4. Pichavaram mangrove forest is located between two prominent estuaries, the Vellar estuary and Kollidam estuary. The Vellar-Kollidam estuarine complex forms the Killai backwater and Pichavaram mangroves.
5. The backwaters are interconnected by the Vellar and Kollidam river systems and offer abundant scope for water sports such as rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The
6. Pichavaram forest not only offers waterscape and backwater cruises, but also another very rare sight - the mangrove forest trees are permanently rooted in a few feet of water.

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This is the tip of the boat we travelled in
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Spoiler

Mangrove Roots
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Crab
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Thanks so much for sharing these interesting photos! Love the crab!

 

Thanks for sharing. Your pictures were fun to see. I wish I knew how to post pictures. Like the bear that came in my yard about 5 feet from me last week. I was outside. OMG! They are having trouble I think finding food since the storm.

 

You took photo of the bear ? Was it brown or black or white (I mean polar bear) ? You were luck to see it, you know! & more luckier that it left you intact ! What did you do when you saw it ? & what did it do when it saw you ?

Just upload your pictures to any website which allows you to do or to facebook. From there copy the picture & paste it here.

Tomorrow I am going to Zoological Park with my friend & her son. I promised her son that I will take him to it last year. But due to the cyclone storm Vardah , trees fell & the zoo was closed. After that there was drought & the trip was cancelled. My friend's son said I betrayed as I did not take him to zoo as promised. So I have redeem my name. Tomorrow it is to be. I heard there is a special enclosure for butterflies which is new. So I will come with more pictures.

 

I your pictures 12ss12!!! And I can't wait to see the ones from the zoo!
lottidah you need to post that picture of the bear here! wow how did you react when you saw it?
It is easy to post pictures follow 12ss12's advice

 

It was a black bear. I was on my patio and out of the corner of my eye I saw something dark. I turned and did a double take. OMG! That's a bear about 5 ft. from me. Then I thought which door is unlocked as I hurried to get in the house. He was walking right by me and it didn't even phase him. He headed for my neighbors bird feeder and then came back for a drink in my pond. I banged on my door so he wouldn't go in my pond so he turned and took a drink in my small bog pond. That was better. I was afraid he would rip the liner in my pond or eat my fish. I don't live near any woods. I'll work on trying to post it.

 

Its like reading a story out of a book, lottidah ! Exciting too.

I visited Arignar Anna Zoological Park or in short Vandalur Zoo. Vandalur is the name of the place where the zoo is located.

First went for the Lion Safari. The first lion we saw was sleeping on the ground with one of its leg raised into the air nearer to our vehicle. It just opened its eyes a little bit and closed it once again. That's the only sign recognition it gave us. Didn't even think us worthy of exploring or at least an exciting guest. This one is the second lion we saw.

Spoiler

Indian Grey Wolf



Indian Elephant

The rest pictures I will post in my next post.

 

Wow! the picture of the wolf is fantastic. Beautiful. I love elephants. Still trying to download a picture.

 

Next set of pictures of Vandalur Zoo


Egret

Spoiler

Black Storks & Painted Stork




Bengal Vulture

 

Enjoying the photos!

 

Wow I just this thread!
I think it's time to post some pictures too.
One month has passed since I started the university. I like it here, first it was difficult to adjust to my new environment but now I have got used in living in a city and I like the opportunities I can find here.
My first day trip with the university was in the Temple of Poseidon in Sounio. We went there to do a formal welcoming event for the erasmus students studying in the same university as me.

Spoiler

Where Sounio is.

Where the temple is located.

The temple of Poseidon and the view from there.

 

Arielh, nice to see you able to post again! I am happy you are adjusting to University life
in the city! Thank you for sharing those amazing temple pictures with us!

 

I saw the pictures too. Its breathtaking. I have never been out of India and may be someday, if I make a tour of Europe, I will sure make Greece one of my visiting spot. Great Land !

More pictures. The Toucan was very friendly. When we clapped our hands or snapped our fingers, it came hopping to us. It did not stay in one place. It kept on hopping & I had difficult time getting snap of it. I liked it.

Spoiler: Click to see the Pictures

Toucan



Turtle

 

12ss12, you have lots of interesting pics. I find posting pics on this forum a pain in the donkey. I've had two accts which I lost track of so I'm not going to bother opening a new one. But I love looking at pics so please continue. We have car safaris here. One was badly damaged by the fires in the Napa Valley, but the animals are OK. There is a zoo here but in the almost 2 decades I've lived here I've never been. I do love zoos tho. I've een to three including the SanFrancisco zoo. I've also been to the aquarium there and Monterrey, CA. Really interesting. In the Bayous of the SE USA we have some cypress trees that grow in water much like your pics. I've never seen them IRL.

Ariel, your pics have disappeared. Good luck with university. I'm sure it's a big adjustment. But use it as a time to explore and learn more about the world. It can be a very exciting time.

I took an interesting pic of Mt Shasta, CA this summer. It was covered in snow despite the heat near sea level. I also took a pic of the total eclipse, my first, but it just looked like a pic of the moon on my silly phone camera.

EDIT:
I live in the city, no bears. I saw a wild turkey walk down my street one day. lol
But the TV stations here do reports for the Lake Tahoe area too. Every year a bear breaks into someones house and make a mess of things. Last winter one turned on the burners for the gas range. Knocked some plastic bottles onto the burners. Too scary for me...

 

One of the places which I visited during this summer (May) vacation. Its a mango orchard on a foothill. It was a wonderful place. Got me mesmerised.





Another historical place which I visited - Kapilar Rock inside River Thenpennai. The river is dry as dams are built in near by states. During rainy season you get water in the river.

About Poet Kapilar :
Kapilar or Kabilar (Tamil: கபிலர்) (c. 50–125 CE) was a Tamil poet of Sangam period. Kapilar was born in Thiruvadhavur in the Pandyan Kingdom in 50 CE. He was initially a poet in Pandya Court. But left it at early age to travel. He heard about the generosity and virtue of Vēl Pāri (Paari), a powerful Vēlir King who ruled over Parambu nādu and paid him a visit. He became a friend and confidant of Pāri and stayed with him until the latter's death. Kapilar was a contemporary of Karikala Chola, Irunkōvēl and Vēl Pāri . He was the close friend, confidant and alleged favorite of Vēl Pāri, one of the Vēlir kings He is the author of Inna Narpatu, a didactic work of the Sangam literature. Verse 5 of the Tiruvalluva Maalai is also attributed to him.


History of the rock. ( The history of the rock dates back to 1893 years back, if I calculate it rightly)
Kabilar Kundru is the place where Poet Kapilar fasted unto death after the demise of his beloved king Paari ( one of the 7 philanthropist - Kadai Ezhu Vallal). Pari was killed in the battle against Moovendar kings (Chera, Chozha & Pandya) by their treachery.

After the death of Paari, Poet Kapilar tried to get married the 2 daughter of Paari, Angavai & Sangavai to other kings. But the other kings fear the wrath of Moovendar Kings and refuse. So Kapilar entrusts the daughters of Paari to Poet(ess) Avvaiyar and fasts himself to death (known as vadakkiruthal) on a rock situated inside the Thenpennai River. Avvaiyar later gets the daughters married to the KIng of Tirukovilur, Malayamaan Kaari. Angavai and Sangavai were also very good in literature and poetry and inherited the philanthropy of King Paari. After the death of their father they became homeless wanderers and during that period without even knowing who Avvaiyar was, they gave the only blanket they got to her to keep her warm and found a place in her heart.





These are 2 temples nearly 1500 years old which you can see from the Kapilar Rock. The temple in the second picture below has inscription about the Kapilar Rock & other details.





A part of the Inscriptions that you can see in the temple made by Raja Raja Chola I when he built the temple.

 

Wow! 12 your pictures are always so interesting.

 

12ss12 I love this thread! We all should post pictures of our home countries

I decided to post pictures from Crete Κρήτη! Two of my friends are studying in the university there and I went to visit them.
Crete is the largest Greek island, there are 3 big cities in it and so many villages.

We stayed in Rethymno and visited the other cities. My favorite one was Chania, so beautiful but Rethymno is very beautiful too and it is better to live there if you are a university student. Iraklio was my least favorite but it is the biggest city. We also visited Knossos. Knossos was the centre of Minoan civilisation(2600–1100 BC). It had large palace buildings, extensive workshop installations and luxurious rock-cut cave and tholos tombs.

Crete is located in the South.
Chania Χανιά

Spoiler: Chania

Ρέθυμνο Rethymno

Spoiler: Rethymno

Ηράκλειο Iraklio

Spoiler: Iraklio

Κνωσσός Knossos

Spoiler: Knossos

how it is speculated to be thousands of years ago

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Wonderful picture Arielh ! I especially like the first & last one.
During the month of May, We have summer festivals in various hill stations. Our Summer is peak in the month of May. I visited one of the summer festival in Elagiri Hills. ITs more of a local festival. It was very fun. We went for boating. There was dog show. Folk dances & cultural shows. Stalls. The entire area was filled with road side shops of exotic fruits, flowers, honeycombs, jackfruit, grains, earings, bangles etc., beads, toys, fancy items etc., Some of the pictures I am unable to post as shopkeepers are in the pictures & hence cannot post them.

This is a roadside shop of earings.




Monkeys on the way uphill




Boating



Monkey




Champak Flower (Magnolia champaca)

 

Wonderful! Love them. I've got to figure out how to post mine.

 

Wonderful pictures!!!!!!! Don't know why I haven't found this thread before.

Here is a picture of the park that I sometimes walk in. This is how the native landscape lots like in the city of Phoenix, AZ. These days you can only find protected small areas that look like this. Phoenix is located in the Valley of the Sun which is very very large and urbanised - heavily developed. I like walking here so I can feel like I am a part of nature.