Pichavaram Mangroves 2nd Largest in India

Everyone goes to Puducherry (old name Pondicherry) from Chennai. 

But very few go another 70 kms south to Pichavaram. Pichavaram? Never heard of it?

Pichavaram (also spelt as Pitchavaram) is a tiny fishing village in Tamil Nadu located between the Vellar estuary in the north and Coleroon estuary in the south. It is famous for the Mangrove Forest which is the second largest in India after Sundarbans. 

India is home to seven percent of world's mangroves spread over the Indian peninsula. See the maps below courtesy respective websites. 

How to Reach Pichavaram

Pichavaram is accessible by road from Puducherry. See the maps below. Nearest rail head is Chidambaram.

Importance of Mangroves

Mangroves prevent soil erosion, provide breeding ground for fish and other marine animals and absorb the impact of sudden surge in the water levels like cyclones and tsunami. Mangroves are important for our survival. Pichavaram mangroves are a designated Ramsar Site vide serial number 2482. See the visuals below for the importance of the mangroves.

How to Visit the Mangroves

Row boats and motor boats along with life jackets are available for visitors. For professional videography, extra fees is to be paid. However, cell phone cameras are allowed free of charge. The forest department charges a token fee of Rs 10/- per visitor.

Our Visit

We visited the mangroves at Pichavaram on 18th May 2024. Sharing below few pictures and videos of the mangroves and its surroundings taken from a moving motor boat at high noon.

The reader may get a feel of the boat ride through the mangroves in the YouTube video shot by Ghumakkad. Please bear with the engine noise as the video has not been re-processed.

You may click on the 3-min YouTube video below shot by Ghumakkad. It takes you through the narrow waterways of Pichavaram mangroves.

A short one-min YouTube video below shows you how the canopy of the boat is folded and re-erected while moving!

A short video below shows how narrow the waterways are through the mangroves. Once again, the engine noise may please ne ignored.

Pichavaram is primarily a fishing harbour. 

Sea Food at Pichavaram

Pichavaram is a haven for sea food lovers like our son Ankush. There are numerous restaurants along the road leading to the boat house. Few pictures.

Enroute to Pichavaram

We crossed Cuddalore on the way to Pichavaram. During the Tsunami, the coastal town was devastated and more than 800 people lost their lives. The old clock tower withstood the tsunami. See the picture below.

The drive from Puducherry to Pichavaram goes through many villages and railway crossings. It was fun reliving the childhood excitement of counting the rail wagons while waiting at a level crossing. See a video and few pictures.

Mangroves - Other Stories

You may browse the following stories for pictures of other mangroves in India visited by Ghumakkad:

Mangroves at Havelock Island in Andamans - The story shows how few grandparents splashed around the Havelock Island in Andamans against the backdrop of healthy mangroves. See the tall mangroves in the background in the picture below.

Walking Mangroves at Kalapathar Beach Andamans - Kalapathar beach is where you rediscover yourself. Browse the picture story which includes the 'walking mangroves' of Kalapathar in Havelock island Andamans.

Mangroves and Corals - This story shows the co-existence of mangroves and corals around the world. See the picture below where Punam Taneja a botany teacher, explains the importance of Mangroves in maintaining the ecological balance.

Hope you enjoyed the story on Mangroves which are so important for sustaining the ecological balance on our planet. Do share your feedback even if a few words!

Special thanks to our son Ankush for organising the trip and being the local foodie guide.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 24th June 2024

Postscript:

24th June: From Commodore TMJ Champion. "You have brought back a flood of memories of my time at Annamalai University where I did my BE. Pichavaram is a few km from my university and I been there last in 1968."

24th June: From Capt NR Ravi. "Thanks Harsh. Lakshmi and I spent our honeymoon there in 1986. Beautiful place. We spent a lot of time studying the tide based creatures we had read about in Discovery."

#mangroves #pichavaram #corals #ecology #tsunami #suddensurge #marinelife #boatride #walkingmangroves #ramsarsite #eastcoastofindia #seafood #fishingvillage #cuddalore #tamilnadu #forestdepartment #tourism #estuaries #sealevel

Our Land Our Future - World Environment Day 2024

Another World Environment Day is here.

This year's theme is 'Our Land Our Future'. The theme set by UNEP changes every year.

Ghumakkad was recently at Gandikota gorge, known as the Grand Canyon of India. The place in Andhra Pradesh attracts many visitors. But the visitors litter the rocks and the crevices as the picture shows. For such irresponsible tourists, themes like 'Our land our future' do not appeal.

No amount of sloganeering will work. The feeling and the urge to preserve our environment has to come from within. Otherwise, the slogan will have to be amended to read 'Our land, doomed future'. The glory of Gandikota as shown below, may only remain in the books and pictures in times to come.

Ghumakkad has been writing regularly to help preserve the environment. Some of our stories are listed below. Just click the link to browse.

Beat the Plastic Pollution - World Environment Day 2023

Only One Earth - World Env Day 2022

Reimagine, Recreate Restore - How to restore the environment? World Env Day 2021

Mutualism by Nature - how few species are dependent upon one another

Shrinking Urban Lakes- Impending Disaster

What Can We Do? - Practical things to do by individuals

As we said above, 'Together We Can!' Let us do our bit to save the environment. Every drop counts in this effort. The above links provide practical ways what each of us can do to save the environment.

Readers may like to browse the above message in a video format. Click on the short 40-seconds video below:

Sharing below a PQ- picturesque quote- based on a picture of Thunder Lilies in our garden shot by Ghumakkad. It says 'Smile and the world will be yours'.

Thanks for browsing.

Happy World Environment Day 2024!

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 5th June 2024

#worldenvironmentday #environment #earth #pollution #deforestation #lakes #trees #plants #birds #animals #responsiblehumanbeings #humangreed #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #jaagore #climatechange #unep #everydropcounts #gandikota #grandcanyonofindia

Ghumakkad Turns Twelve!

Hurray 12th Birthday! Not mine, though I wish it was! Ghumakkad, your blog, completes 12 years.

Rooted in Nature, Ghumakkad would like to express our gratitude to you for continued readership and feedback. The picture below shot in Pichavaram Mangroves in Tamil Nadu last week, shows the mangroves up close. Like the roots of the mangroves, Ghumakkad's blog is rooted to each one of you who give us energy and encouragement. 

Last 12 months saw a phenomenal jump in the page views from 291,000 to 450,000! Wonder if we can expect similar growth this year! It is the magic created by the readers!

Last year we had shared a snapshot of our content and its variety. We are re-posting it to save our effort. We have added a list of posts most viewed in last 12 months. Read on.

The Journey

Ghumakkad started as a travel blog. Our inaugural story was a set of eight posts on picturesque Bhutan. Initially the blog was by invitation . Naturally it had very limited page views in the first three years. Once opened to public, more readers enjoyed browsing it. See the graph below which shows the current page views at 450,000 with more than 4660 comments. This is the 612nd Post of our blog.

As we mentioned, last 12 months had more than 160,000 page views. See the graph below.

The Content

Our blog has a variety of content with pictures. Some of the themes are listed below with links to connected stories:

• Travelogues like A Train journey in USA, Scuba diving at 65, Hiking up the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan, Toddler on a Hike

• Wildlife including The Big Five of Africa, Tigers of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Rescuing a Black Winged Stilt

• Environment including Trees (White Jamun?, Neem Trees Under Attack), plants (Friendship With Plants), insects and flowers (Brahma Kamal)

• Online Contest called Kaun Banega Ghumakkad which has completed 80 editions so far!
• Lesser-known India series Hindola Toran, Devarakonda Fort and more

• Entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship stories like Dreams to Reality, Young Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, Startup Fever Grips VVISM

• Teaching and learning (Ghumakkad is a teacher!) including real-life case studies and Innovations in A Convocation

• Obituaries of leaders like Dr Abdul Kalam and martyrs like Capt Ravi Shankar

• Motivational posts specially during Covid

• Guest stories including those written by the children (Coyote Gulch Hiking in Stream), Covid survivors (I Got A New Life) and Animal Lovers like Rohini

• Picturesque Quotes having one of our pictures with a famous quote like Claude Monet on Nature and another one by a KBG winner.

• Adventure and Endurance like An Ironman in the Family, Women Hiking in Water

The Readership

Thanks to the wider reach of internet, our blog is read globally. Readers from India account for only 45%, balance coming from across the globe. See the colour coded world map below.

Most Viewed Posts (All time)

Capt Ravi Shankar's life story has been read more than 7690 times. We salute his supreme sacrifice

.

Another story on 'Brahma Kamal The Queen of Night' has been read by more than 6810 readers. It shows the readers' interest in environment and Nature related posts.

Most viewed posts during the last 12 months are shown below. Once again, our readers showed their preference for Nature-related posts.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. We place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor

Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

Onwards to the 13th Anniversary of Ghumakkad next year!

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 23rd May 2024/ Chennai

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #12thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students #adventure #lesserknownindia #PQs #picturesquequotes #learningtogether #mangroves