Pichavaram Mangrove (Cuddalore - Tamil Nadu)

Let's check your IQ. Which is the WORLD's largest mangrove forest - Sundarbans in West Bengal, India. Second largest? - Pichavaram in Tamil Nadu. 

Recently to attend a friend's wedding, I went to Chidambaram and just 16km from there is this is gorgeous mangrove. 

I left the hotel at about 7:30 and reached took a bus to Pichavaram. The hotel receptionist had told me that it would take an hour by bus to reach Pichavaram and for an hour long travel by bus, that would be a long distance and would cost a lot too!!! I handed over a Rs.100 note to the conductor and he was like 'No change?'. Well, the ticket cost turned out to be just Rs.18 and the trip was just half an hour. The bus went right into the TTDC (Tamilnadu Tourism Dev. Corp.) complex. 

The boating section had 2 branches - Row boat and Motor boat. The buzzing of the motor gives me a headache, so we opted for a row boat. Here's the breakup of the rowing costs, based of people & time.

Unlike Muthupet, here Pichavaram is much shallow than there and didn't have much occurance of island like formations. There were huge chunks of land, mostly that bordered the waterbody. This waterbody is 2800 acres vast expanse. The boatsman who came for us was a mind-blowing person. Let me tell you how - there are 5 varieties of trees here in this mangrove. And guess what, he gave me the botanical scientific name of all those varieties!!!

So here they are. The main 2 varieties are Rhizphora and Avicennia. 

The Rhizophora varities are locally called Surappunnai and they filter the salt content in the water before intaking the water. This Rhizophora varieties reproduce by Viviparous reproduction. That is, the new roots grow from below the branches and they detach themselves from the parent only after they get pretty strong. The types of Rhizophora here are Rhizophora Apiculata (Kuttai Surappunnai), Rhizophora Mucronata (Nettai Surappunnai) and Rhizophora Lamarckii (Kalappina Surappunnai).

The Avicennia varities are locally called Kandal and they take in the salt water and gives out the salt through their leaves. Here reproduction happens by Aerial roots or Pneumatophores. The roots emerge from the soil and grow outwards to the air to absorb oxygen. The types of Avicennia here are Avicennia Marina (Venn kandal) and Avicennia Officinalis (Karungandal).

These plants together have made the place so exquisite with their viviparous roots and aerial roots. These roots are so very strong and they are infact used to steer the boat at times instead of using the paddles. 

The best places were the little sublets of water that went into the lands. These sublets were hidden from sun with all the branches and roots forming a cage like topography. Within these cage like structures, nestled inside are several several birds. I heard so so many creeches and a variety of other sounds. But thanks to the caged housing these birds couldn't be spotted. 

Picking molluscs from the river bed is a thriving business there apart from fishing & farming. The depth of this place varied from just 2 feet deep to 7 feet deep. From the shallow areas, these are picked by hand. 

And what more, this is the very location where the legendary MGR Tamil movie Idhayakani was shot and also this is the very location where Kamalhassan is dropped into the water in the first part of the movie Dasavathaaram. 
So, here take a tip or two. Opt for the row boat, its better to go into the smaller sublets of water. Take cash, Pichavaram has no ATM. And leave back only footprints and take back only pics & memories. And yeah, plastic is banned here. And most important, maintain silence inside the mangrove. Just like, how you wouldn't want anyone to play noise with blaring speakers in front of your house and how painful would it be for you, your slightest sound would be the same pain for the birds nested in here!!! Shhhh.......


TO REACH THERE:
To Chidambaram:
From Chennai: 220 km via ECR, Pondicherry, Cuddalore
From Trichy: 157 km on NH227 via Jayamkondan, Palayamkottai
From Pondicherry: 70 km via Cuddalore


From Chidambaram to Pichavaram: 15 km towards Killai village
Yes, the mangrove is actually located in Killai village and Pichavaram village is a bit far from this mangrove.
Buses are available every half an hour from Chidambaram. Its called the 'Sutrula Maiyyam' bus.


TO STAY:
Eco Hotel Saradharam Pichavaram is available at Pichavaram.
Ph: +91 4144 249399/249400
But this is a slightly higher end hotel.
However hotels, dorms, lodges at all price points are available at Chidambaram town.