Like most dog-owners in India, we dread Diwali. Kiba is really scared of firecrackers, more than any of our dogs over the years. It's painful to see what he goes through.
And Kimaya has started getting a bit nervous too. Maybe she's influenced by him? We don't know.
Unfortunately our usual getaway place, Nagaon, is actually much noisier than even Mumbai at this time. Hordes of urban barbarians rush there, throng the beach and turn it into a war zone.
So about a month ago, Kiran started searching online for relatively quiet, pet-friendly places to escape to. (I say 'relatively quiet' because it's difficult, or near impossible, to find absolutely quiet places in this country during this festival).
When a friend told us about a dog-friendly resort in a place called Jawhar, we jumped at it.
So last week, on the loudest day of Diwali, off we went with the K Gang; their luggage (heavy); and our luggage (light).
Jawhar is in the Sahyadri mountains, about 150 km north of Mumbai. It's a pleasant spot with lots of scenic views and walks. We stayed three days and nights and enjoyed every minute!
Yes, we could hear crackers in the nearby town, but they weren't very close to where we were staying, so Kiba wasn't very stressed.
There were lots of distractions for him too: the resort owner's three pet dogs, and four guest dogs! And some free-roamers! But we managed to maintain the peace despite Kiba's efforts to disrupt it.
Over to the photos now!
Photos: Kiran Khalap, Rajashree Khalap
Jawhar
Palghar district
Maharashtra
Please do not use images or content from this site without permission and acknowledgment
And Kimaya has started getting a bit nervous too. Maybe she's influenced by him? We don't know.
Unfortunately our usual getaway place, Nagaon, is actually much noisier than even Mumbai at this time. Hordes of urban barbarians rush there, throng the beach and turn it into a war zone.
So about a month ago, Kiran started searching online for relatively quiet, pet-friendly places to escape to. (I say 'relatively quiet' because it's difficult, or near impossible, to find absolutely quiet places in this country during this festival).
When a friend told us about a dog-friendly resort in a place called Jawhar, we jumped at it.
So last week, on the loudest day of Diwali, off we went with the K Gang; their luggage (heavy); and our luggage (light).
Jawhar is in the Sahyadri mountains, about 150 km north of Mumbai. It's a pleasant spot with lots of scenic views and walks. We stayed three days and nights and enjoyed every minute!
Yes, we could hear crackers in the nearby town, but they weren't very close to where we were staying, so Kiba wasn't very stressed.
There were lots of distractions for him too: the resort owner's three pet dogs, and four guest dogs! And some free-roamers! But we managed to maintain the peace despite Kiba's efforts to disrupt it.
Over to the photos now!
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| On our way! |
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| Exploring a hill top. See that red soil? A lot of it ended up in our car. A LOT. |
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| Khadkhad waterfall - a fun walk. The man in the pink shirt is Vishwanath, who works at the resort. |
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| Vishwanath posing with the K Gang |
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| Palace of the local royal family; now mostly used as a movie set |
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| We took one of the K Gang's quilts with us, to make them feel more at home |
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| Off to Dabhosa waterfall. See the mud? |
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| At Dabhosa waterfall |
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| Getting up before dawn to look at a spectacular sunrise. The stupid things humans do... |
Photos: Kiran Khalap, Rajashree Khalap
Jawhar
Palghar district
Maharashtra
Please do not use images or content from this site without permission and acknowledgment
1 comment:
Hahaha I'm Brazilian, but I'm pretty sure that your dogs are funny. And certainly lovable. I have a profound respect by Mother Nature and all her creatures, specially dogs. I'll never hurt or mistreat a dog, specially after one of my beloved dogs, a black pug, died last year, due to vet negligence :( I hate animal cruelty, it makes me sad. Maybe bad karma follow those persons who killed my dog. No, it's not revenge, it's just the natural course of our actions, I believe. I also believe that dogs can accompany good persons to Heaven, so, I'll never hurt one of them. I see dogs as comrades, life partners. I can't see a dog as a threat, unless if the animal is rabid or extremely aggressive, but, luckily, I never saw none animal on those circumstances. Here on Brazil we have two indigenous breeds: the Brazilian Street Dog (BSD) and Pastor da Mantiqueira (PM), who's a mountainous dog breed used for herding, hunting, and most rarely, as pets. BSDs are a mix of all breeds and looks like INdogs, but are usually shorthaired dogs, with pricked ears, a curled tail and can comes on a variety of colors and sizes, they're basically "surprise packs". They're not ugly animals, but most of them are mistreated and mangy, if not completely sick, and they usually have serious traumas and can show fearful or aggressive comportment toward humans, but if you take care of them, they can be very beautiful and loyal creatures. The purebred BSD is usually a devaluated animal, and the PM is an emerging dog breed from Brazil, although little know outside Brazil and even here. Purebred PMs are usually longhaired, have pricked ears, a curled tail, a big variety of colors, and usually looks like something between the Balinese Kintamani and the German Shepherd. They're gorgeous animals, strong and alert as BSDs. Who can differentiate those two breeds are their appearance and usual localizations: BSDs are found mostly in urban/semi urban areas, although PMs are found mostly in farms or rural settlements. Those two unique Brazilian dog breeds still unrecognized by none kennel club, and BSD is highly threatened due to daily accidents with cars, motorbikes and bikes, dog bites, diseases like rabies and distemper, and many other reasons, like mistreats and starvation. It's sad, I know, but the worst is that most of them are let to die on the streets, and we have NGOs to help them, but, unfortunately, we can't save all of them. It's very sad. The PM situation is less worst, and it can be considered an emerging dog breed, what means that it can take part on dog shows, although unofficial, and, maybe, it can be recognized as a distinct breed from Brazil, but, at the moment, we can't say the same of BSD, because don't have none official group of preservation of the breed neither kennels specialized on BSDs, as they're saw as "vira-latas" (stray dogs, mongrels, in Portuguese). It's sad, but it's their reality.
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