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Orange Wayfarer | Madhurima Chakraborty

@orangewayfarer

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📍 NYC to 🌍 She/her
✈️33 countries | adventure & culture
✨ Travel & balancing 9 to 5
💌 [email protected]
@madhurimapaints (watercolour)

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Uganda travel guide- first impression of Uganda.

Been to Africa multiple times in the last one decade, with Uganda easily climbing the top shelf of experience, only losing the first spot to Serengeti! IMHO.

But nothing, absolutely nothing prepares you for the first glimpse of the gorilla 🦍. It is my dream to go back and spend a full day with the primates at one point of time.

I am starting with the Uganda travel series! Let me know if you have any specific questions about this Safari experience! taken in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by @orangewayfarer

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8 months ago

These are my favourite things to do in Times Square NYC

This is strictly for tourists who want to live the hype about this place!

💝 Watch the sun set and the billboards reflect the glare
💝ride a rickshaw for 20 bucks
💝watch the broadway show
💝 you can visit Madam Tussaud museum if you wanna get clicked with the wax statues
💝 get a shot with King Kong, get your face painted
💝 eat at The Carlos Bakery (the canoli is good but the Italian Rum Cake is the real deal I have discovered)
💝 watch a broadway show… worth every penny
💝get a cookie from Schmackary
💝walk towards midtown and rest at Bryant park
💝 visit the free NYC public library reading hall (this is not exactly at Times Square but a must do if you are in NYC)

#timessquare #nyc #newyorker #newyorklife #newyorktimes taken in Manhattan, New York by @orangewayfarer

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2 years ago

Marriage is one thing. Wedding is another.
But I wanted all the glitters and gold and ended up with one event that will last my memory for a lifetime. Genuinely that was more than enough🖤 #bengalgram #bengalibride #bengaliwedding #sareenotsorry #weddingday #indianbride #indianwedding #kolkatagram taken in Kolkata - The City of Joy by @orangewayfarer

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4 years ago

It’s time 😃🩵 #durgapuja taken in Jersey City, New Jersey by @orangewayfarer

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3 days ago

Visiting Kibale NP in Uganda, the Chimp Kingdom I was legit transported back to the Netflix series set. There were Chimps living, Naah, reigning like thy own the place since the beginning of the time.

Chimp tracking is easier. With a relatively plain terrain, and easy jungle walk. But you may feel the scare, the thrill, especially when they plan to stage a show! They did when we visited.

The whole jungle came alive when the group we were visiting decided to migrate to another part of the jungle. Our group exceeded the 1 hour meet time well above the permit as the spectacle happened.

It costed us USD 350. Post this we visited the Bigodi swamp where a venomous snake walked right over my guide’s boot, and she jumped towards me (not a single lie there). Oh the memories we make on the road! #kibale #bigodiswamp #chimpanzee taken in Kibale National Park, Uganda by @orangewayfarer

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5 days ago

We started for the second part of primate tracking. From Bwindi to Kibale NP, stopping at Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Ishasha sector is famous bcs you may see lion. At this point the region is facing huge displacement of human. Partly because civil unrest in Congo (we saw a few UN Refugee Center bordering the national park). The drought in South Sudan is compelling many people to migrate.

As a tourist I can just learn, and educate myself, and tell the story of places that often do not make space in mainstream media. This sector was beautiful beyond words could ever describe. But there was a tinkle of pain in all those breath taking beauty now that I think about it.

#uganda #ishashasector #queenelizabethpark #qenp taken in Ishasha Sector, Queen Elizabeth National Park by @orangewayfarer

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7 days ago

The Mountain Gorilla experience of Bwindi National Park is one of a kind and I would definitely go back there again, for the love of an ancient rainforest and the safe keep of the last great living apes of the world.

Dian Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist was my bible as we walked into the thick ‘impenetrable’ rainforest and I have never felt anything love stronger, deeper at the core of my heart for this massive and extremely vulnerable species of wildlife.

You have Condo DRC that claims the neighbouring Zaire region. You have the Batwa hunter gatherers. An entire community who had to live out of the jungle, who knew no other way of life but the jungle. An ancient rainforest that is vulnerable to the threat of climate change. And a dwindling population of Mountain gorillas who could not be raised in captivity, and is a prized catch by the poachers.

Bwindi is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is my fortune that I could step in there. It is my wish to return to Bwindi and document more of this magnificent species.

Beautiful yes. But what I saw was more than beauty. I saw something very humane about the Gorillas and the existential threat they are facing , and the people of the mountains. Imagine in a world of 9 billion people we have only a few thousand of the great apes surviving.

What have we done?

Can you visit the mountain gorillas in December? Yes if you visit Bwindi during the short rainy season of December, you can still make the hike. Sometimes the rangers carry tourists on a palanquin and show them the gorillas. Is it authentic? I have thoughts on that. But as long as the tourist money goes to safeguard th apes and UNESCO is able to provide gunmen to protect, I won’t complain.

Yes, the Mountain Gorillas of Uganda is the BEST travel experience of my life so far. taken in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by @orangewayfarer

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10 days ago

11 days of Primate tracking safari in Uganda 🇺🇬-Part 1

Tried documenting the feel and vibe of the place that Bwindi impenetrable forest is. What a privilege to visit such places. One trip that has ruined all other for me. I felt like I was such a small insignificant person in front of this huge massive world full of wonders!

I enjoy making carousel posts. This is a different kind of storytelling I am trying. Let’s see how far we can go.

In the next chapter, I shall post about the Gorilla Tracking experience. Which was indeed the highlight of my entire travel blogging life. We spent a good chunk of money for this trip. This is one expense I would never regret.

#bwindi #uganda #africaroadtrip
Uganda travel in December
Mahogany spring resort Bwindi taken in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by @orangewayfarer

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11 days ago

Sunday night is all about Monday blues! BTW the BGM is Not imposed!

New York City Subway rides. Dogs in NYC Subway. taken in New York, New York by @orangewayfarer

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14 days ago

We have a new home 🥹

It has been a month that we have moved to our own home. This is the most random purchase we have made in our life, and we could not have been happier about it!

The past one month has been a whirlwind of emotions. We have stayed up at night looking for crack on the glass when a nor’easter reigned over the city. We became plumber for few days fixing the sink. We set up bidet the first thing in the house. We figured how to get rid of the fish smell while cooking my favourite Katla. All this while we set up the new bookcase, mixing and matching the frames and masks we have bought from distant corners of the wall, over a decade or so. Work has been brutal, but that’s the story of everyone’s life. We managed to find a few hours each day, and do a little everyday. And it has come up beautifully.

I can’t believe I was mortified about buying this house when S made the offer abruptly. Wth I think more about buying a saree but JC house market is 🥵 and you gotta move when you see it and know it. My brother told me, “Nani, you will have a house with a jacuzzi, can you even believe!” His words reminded me of the doctor’s quarter in Howrah where grew up and spent a large part of our life! Those were the typical govt housing India had made in 80s with a kitchen as large (or may be larger) than an average NYC bedroom😃. Well I am adulting so hard that right now my Jacuzzi is holding the laundry basket and I could trade it with an extra pantry shelf. Then again, bhai says you could spend the winter weekends chilling there and I could see some value in it🥹

No but seriously, I am super happy. Overwhelmed yes, but happy too. This is not our first house, but the first one we are making into a home. It feels different. Every nail on the walls hit my heart directly. Every hair on the floor irks me. Every sunset is a new theatre. Every moment here is special. I wish I would know the words to describe the joy.

4 years back we came here knowing nothing about where life would take us, and here we are! Grateful beyond words 💙 my friends told me don’t post anything on ‘Gram, bcs Nazar is real. Well, I guess a month is a good time to judge? 🤭 taken in Jersey City, New Jersey by @orangewayfarer

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17 days ago

When we lived in BLR I made sure we would go back to Kolkata for every Durgapuja. Every year barring the year of covid, we were there, celebrating and experiencing the city in mirth. Then life moved me to the US and I remember feeling pathetic during the second Durgapuja. There were friends and all, yes but I did not feel at home. I recall crying and eating sushi, while S caressing my head and telling we would go back next year onwards. Then the next year happened. we visited Kolkata. My last Durgapuja in the city I had loved more than anyplace, until NYC. I don’t know, I don’t feel the rush to be back anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I would be more than happy to be back home. I was just back home during the war and how heart ached when I left. But do I actively plan to go back? The way I used to? No not anymore. Neither do I make that list of must eat places, nor I plan for the sarees/jewellery. I don’t know why. I tried to look the other way to numb down the pain that lingered after I left, so that memories don’t flood in as much. I don’t even post/consume India travel content as much, because it hurts. It was not supposed to. My emergency fund is just enough to get back to Kolkata. As if life is sorted once I land at Netaji Subhash Bose airport. But this massive geographical distance did make a void. Being the classic escapist I am, I tried not to resolve but ignore. Now all I am left with is a hole, that is empty. I do not know, if me saying I don’t feel like going back comes out of me trying not to acknowledge the sense of missing? Not that I would look forward to the JC Durgapuja anyway. I mean we do have fun and hang with friends. It’s all great. But it’s not Kolkata Durgapuja. Do I want to be back in the city? No not even that. I just went. What do I want? I don’t know! Make me make sense? May be I will travel for a bit. May be I will bury my face in the snow in Vermont. May be I am not okay with this sudden onslaught of cold in NY. And it’s not even winter. Fcuk. May be I do want to be back in Kolkata. May be one day when I have saved enough and worked enough and seen the world as I wanted to, I would go back? I don’t know! taken in Kolkata - The City of Joy by @orangewayfarer

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19 days ago

Took myself out on a date in NYC. Been to MOMA before but mostly noticed the African exhibits. This is the first time I visited as someone who is practicing art and was positively mindblown. Surrounded by breathtaking pieces of art. Last I felt like this while visiting the Art museum in Delhi. Been a while but I remember the awe. Also lowkey regret not being inside Louvre. Someday. taken in MoMA The Museum of Modern Art by @orangewayfarer

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21 days ago