|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Kevin Gilmartin's
Gone to INDIA pages
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GOA, JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2001.
The entrance to the Riverside Guesthouse at Baga, North Goa.
The approach to it involves a dusty 500m track from the main road. Despite this, it's in constant use by cars, scooters and motorbikes heading for the extremely hideous concrete bridge to the left hand side of the photograph. The span of this bridge is in the form of a box tunnel which seems to amplify the noise of the traffic using it. A torch is essential for walking to & from the hotel at night. Kevin's room was the one at the upper left hand side. The Hotel is clean, rooms good, inclusive breakfasts very poor, food otherwise fairly ordinary, nice gardens, raised swimming pool, staff good, management indifferent.
View upstream from the balcony of Grahame's room.
Kevin's view was similar. Note the hotel gardens on the right. It all looks quiet and peaceful, but you have to imagine the noise from the traffic, motorbikes and scooters in particular, from the bridge behind the photographer. Across the river in the shade is the Mayonna Creekside Bar Restaurant (live western music on Sun evening) and in the middle you can see the upmarket German patisserie - good for a non Indian breakfast. (small beers only served). Note also the boat. It was from here that we hired a boat for the crocodile trip. See below.
Typical village street scene
, taken from the bus on the way into Panaji, the capital of Goa. Note the small Hindu temple at the left hand side of the picture.
Grahame with a lush green paddy field behind,
during our taxi tour of the Goan hinterland. The all day taxi trip cost us only about R1200. It was a pity we were not able to move the position of the sun for this photograph.
Kevin at the Dudhsagar falls.
This was again during our taxi trip. The falls, the highest in Goa, are within a national park and are only accessible by a 45 min trip in a 4 wheeled drive vehicle. This of course costs extra and there is also an entrance fee to the park and an expected R100 tip each for the driver and the guide. Access on foot without a guide is not permitted. The bridge above carries a rail line. During the summer monsoon the falls will be a much more spectacular sight. We swam in the pool at the bottom of the falls. It was very refreshing.
Grahame at the Wednesday market in Anjuna.
It's about a 45 minute walk north from Baga, by a rocky coastal path. Alternatively you can use one of the many boats which ply between Anjuna and Baga/Calangute all day on market day. Its purely a market for the tourists (as opposited to the one on the principal regional town of Mapusa), but should not be missed. On non-market days, Anjuna is a quiet sleepy place with a better beach than Baga or Calangute, but suffers from the litter left behind from market day. Good for an early morning walk for breakfast at one of the beach shacks.
Kevin with Pauline & Gerry Fish
from Lytham, the friends we met at the Riverside, on our return by sea from our crocodile trip. The return was quite choppy. The all day trip cost us about R600 each, plus the meal and beer for the 2 crew when we stopped for lunch on the return.
A basking crocodile
, on the banks of one of the creeks up the Zuvari River. You don't get much time to see them. As soon as you approach up close they are away under the water. They are difficult to spot as well. It was always the second crew member who was the first to spot them, which explained why he was there. This particular croc was said to be one of the largest you are likely to see here. Note the wall behind, separating the bank from agricultural land on the other side
An isolated north Goan beach
with a single beach shack. You can have a beach like this, up north and down south, all to yourself. This, and the next photograph, were taken by Grahame after Kevin had gone home, during a taxi trip up north.
The view south from Terekhol Fort.
This was Grahame's final and one of his favourite photographs, taken during his taxi trip up north. Terekhol is northernmost coastal point of Goa, before the State of Maharashtra.
Back to Home page
Back to previous page
© Kevin Gilmartin & Grahame Martin 2001. Page last updated 5 November 2001.