Pichavaram

A view of the forest from the viewing tower

Pichavaram Mangrove Forest

Pichavaram (Tamil: பிச்சாவரம்) is located near Chidambaram in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, in South India. The nearest railway station is Chidambaram from where it is accessible by road. The Pichavaram Mangrove Forest near Chidambaram, South India, by the Bay of Bengal is the world's second largest mangrove forest.^[1]

Pichavaram mangrove forest is located between two prominent estuaries, the Vellar estuary in the north and Coleroon estuary in the south. The Vellar - Coleroon estuarine complex forms the Killai backwater and Pichavaram mangroves.The backwaters, interconnected by the Vellar and Coleroon river systems, offer abundant scope for water sports such as rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The Pichavaram forest not only offers waterscape and backwater cruises, but also another very rare sight - the mangrove forest trees are permanently rooted in a few feet of water. There are more than 400 water routes available for boating.

Mangrove Forest

Pichavaram Mangrove forest

December green in Pichavaram

Pichavaram (MadBoon) has a well-developed mangrove forest. Pichavaram consists of a number of islands interspersing a vast expanse of water covered with green trees. The area is about 1100 Hectare and is separated from the sea by a sand bar.

The Pichavaram mangrove^[2] biotope, consisting of rare species like Avicennia and Rhizophora presents a special attraction, with its peculiar topography and environmental condition. It supports the existence of many rare varieties of economically important shell and finfishes.

The Pichavaram mangroves attract an appreciable bird population of residents, local migrants and true migrants. Amongst others, one can view birds like snipes, cormorants, egrets, storks, herons, spoonbills and pelicans. At the mangroves, so far, 177 species of birds belonging to 15 orders and 41 families have been recorded. The season for birds is from September to April every year. Peak population of birds could be seen from November to January. This is due to high productive nature (in terms of prey organisms) of the ecosystem and coincidence of the time of arrival of true migrants from foreign countries and local migrants from their breeding grounds across India. The availability of different habitat types such as channels, creeks, gullies, mud flats and sand flats and adjacent sea shore offers ideal habitat for difference species of birds and animals.

Dawn Festival

In the above background, the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation and the District Administration of Cuddalore District have proposed to conduct an Eco Tourism festival namely " Dawn Fest " (Vidiyal Vizha) at Pichavaram.

Views of mangrove

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  View from a motor boat

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  Roof top view of Pichavaram

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  View from Watch Tower

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  Inside the forest

Fish and birds

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  Little egret on the fly

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  Fish jumping out of the water

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  Little egret (Egretta garzetta) on mangrove

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  Eastern great egrets (Ardea modesta) in Pichavaram waters with mangroves in the background

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pichavaram.

• Cuddalore District - Pichavaram Dawn fest

Cuddalore district District Headquarters Cuddalore Country India State Tamil Nadu Region Tondai Nadu Taluks Chidambaram Cuddalore Kattumannarkoil Panruti Tittakudi Kurinjipadi Vriddachalam Blocks Annagramam Bhuvanagiri Cuddalore Kammapuram Kattumannarkoil Keerapalayam Komaratchi Kurinjipadi Mangalur Nallur Panruti Parangipettai Vriddhachalam Municipalities Chidambaram Cuddalore Nellikuppam Panruti Virudhachalam Rivers Kollidam Ponnaiyar Vellar Lakes Perumal Eri Veeranam Lake Wellington Lake History Sangam period Kalabhras Pallavas Medieval Cholas Later Cholas Later Pandyas Delhi Sultanate Madurai Sultanate Vijayanagar Empire Nayaks of Gingee Nawab of the Carnatic Company Raj British Raj Siege of Cuddalore Battle of Cuddalore Places of interest Chidambaram Temple Silver Beach Fort St David Neyveli Lignite Corporation Pataleeswarar Temple Pichavaram Satyagnana Sabha Thillai Kali Temple Thiruvadigai Temple Thiruvanthipuram Temple Vriddhagiriswarar Temple Universities Annamalai University