Enchanting is the first word that comes to my mind when I think about the mangrove forest of Pitchavaram.
Our trip to Puducherry would have been incomplete without a visit to this intricate labyrinth of flora and fauna thriving in the saline waters of the Bay of Bengal, the second-largest mangrove forest in the world. Pitchavaram on the east coast of India covers a whopping 1400 hectares of forest area and has over 400 water channels that can be covered on boat.
The mangroves of Pitchavaram are present in the Killai Backwaters formed by the estuaries of the Vellar and Coleroon river systems. An estuary is the river's wide mouth at the point where it joins the sea.
We start early from Puducherry since it takes over 2 hours to reach Pitchavaram and we want to avoid the afternoon sun and are pleasantly surprised to see hardly any crowds at the boat house. We hire a rowing boat and head towards the mangrove forest.
Our boatman, a young guy with a penchant for chatting, keeps us enthused with his in-depth knowledge of the region's topography and the beliefs of the local community of Vedars who still do not use fishing nets to catch fish. Instead, the Vedars wade in the water and catch fish with their bare hands and feet.
He tells us with a glint of pride that the 'Rhijophora' trees, (it's Rhizophora I later learnt), also called True Mangroves, have aerial roots that have adapted to the saline water, the exact term would be hygroscopic, that is they readily absorb moisture from their surroundings and cling to each other for support creating this incredible scenery all around...
We spend an hour floating around on our boat in this surreal landscape, listening to interesting anecdotes from our zealous companion. Our conversations are interrupted only by the constant chirping and twittering of birds flying in and out of mangrove trees.
According to popular folklore, Lord Shiva had come to visit Pitchavaram and decided to stay in his celestial dancing pose of Nataraja in the Thillai Nataraja Temple about 14 km from Pitchavaram.
Locals believe that the mangrove forest is the abode of the Dancing Nataraja, and it is this belief that has deterred people from completely ravaging these mangroves for their selfish ends.
Some handy pointers for a trip to Pitchavaram
The Pitchavaram Mangrove Forest lies in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu at a distance of about 70 km from Puducherry.
It takes about 2 hours to reach Pitchavaram from Puducherry by road.
The forest is spread over an area of 45 square kilometres and there are over 400 channels of water where boating can be done.
The facility at Pitchavaram is open on all days from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Boating facilities at Pitchavaram are fairly organised and run by authorised boat operators. Safety protocols like life jackets are available. It's not mandatory to wear safety jackets but it's best to wear them during your time on the boat for your safety.
Boat charges are INR 450 which is very reasonable and it takes you up to a certain point in the mangrove forest. We wanted to go a bit further into the forest, so we paid our boatman INR 400 extra for an additional boat ride of 20 minutes. A lot of tourists do this and it was certainly worth the extra time and money.
The best time to go to the mangrove forest is either early morning or late afternoon. It can get very hot and humid during the day when the sun is high.
The water level in the mangrove forest is just 3 feet at most. If you are keen on exploring the mangroves thoroughly, you should go in the late afternoon when the water level is high for the boat to enter the smaller channels.
The facility at Pitchavaram has very basic amenities. No proper restaurants or eateries exist, so one should carry light snacks. Even coconut water is not freely available. There was just a shack selling some soft drinks.
Opt ONLY for the row boat. Motorboats are noisy and can ruin the experience. Besides, they are not allowed to enter the channels inside the mangroves.
I've tried to capture the raw beauty and ethereal silence of the mangrove forest....
The Boat House at Pitchavaram....
Getting to the mangrove forest by row boat...
Inside the mangroves...
Mangroves are like nature's interfaces, a resilient barrier between the saline world of oceans and the land surrounding them, they protect the coastal ecosystems by minimising erosion and retaining minerals in the soil.
But now this paradise is threatened by excessive tourism, state apathy and the shrimp industry that is creating havoc for the mangroves that are home to several species of migratory birds like storks, egrets and herons that flock to this fertile region in the winter months in addition to the diverse aquatic life like fish, crabs and prawns that thrive in this region.
I sincerely hope that this fragile ecosystem, like many other ecosystems around the world, does not get slaughtered at the altar of human avarice.
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