Nagla Block

All Pictures Courtesy Saurabh Sawant

In the midst of our burgeoning, cosmopolitan, chameleon like city like lies another city, an island within an island, Sanjay Gandhi National Park is one of a kind national park, unique in the fact that it is surrounded on all sides by an extremely populated city like Mumbai, which threatens any day to break its boundaries and spill over into this one last bastion for the voiceless. 

Today we saw the indifference in the heart of man for this park whose worth is beyond money and beauty beyond words. Saurabh Sawant  and I visited the Nagla Block on 15th, for an early morning trail. Reaching by 8:00 a.m. we began birding in the pale gold of early morning sunshine.  At the very start Nagla is quite dry, teak & dalbergia trees dominate the scene, teak's dry leathery leaves cover the forest floor in a carpet of brown and yellow. As you start walking in the flora changes, green peeks out from amongst the browns and the yellows. Also to add colour to the drab one can see a splattering of red in the form of “Kusum” trees. In their newfound glory these trees are a sight for sore eyes. Their bright red leaves against the blue sky will make any artist run for his money or his brushes.

The trail was alive with bird calls and just upon entering we had wonderful views of Common Iora, Chestnut-shouldered Petronia, Sunbirds etc. A few meters of walking inside we heard the most melodious of calls of a White-rumped Shama. A pair of these beautiful birds regaled us with their nimble flying and their fresh plumage. The male kept showing off his rufescent belly and his snow white rump with just a few downy feathers peeking out from under his tail. A Banded Bay Cuckoo calling from deep within signalled the onset of summer. 

                                Fire along the trail (Pic courtesy Saurabh Sawant)

Having enjoyed the Shama to our hearts content we walked further inside when we heard a snap of dry twigs being burnt on the right side of the trail. We thought it was perhaps a fire line, a controlled fire lit by the forest department to control the spread of a wildfire or forest fire. But there were no forest officials in sight and it dawned on us that this was a forest fire, spreading fast consuming the forest floor. Smoke and ash, the scene was disturbing and we felt utterly helpless with its magnitude. Finally we gathered our wits and first and foremost called up the forest department control room and notified them about the fire. We decided that it was up to us to do something to arrest the spreading fire. Gathering a couple of twigs we started to beat the fire and also removed dried leaves from the fires path so it would have less fuel to burn. Creating a fire line, working our way upwards for more than an hour, we managed to stop the fire from spreading further to the west. At the top of the steep slope we realised that the fire had already spread down the slope on the south side, the smoke billowing upwards showed us the extent of the fire.

We could only watch as the fire kept spreading further down on the south side, showing us that the elements of nature are beyond our control. Perhaps the fire had been raging since the earlier night; around half a kilometre patch of the forest in the east side was completely burnt, the blackened forest floor smoking with hidden embers. Maybe it was a carelessly flicked stub of cigarette or the embers of a bonfire or perhaps just nature’s way of regeneration, we may never know but to watch the fire eat up the forest floor was troubling. The  few people we saw collecting firewood walked by nonchalantly, this being a scene they might see every year and so it makes no impression on them for they know that the forest will regenerate, life goes on. By the time the season changes all traces of today will be washed off and life will endure, as it should. But will we?  

                                View from Vasai bridge (Pic courtesy Saurabh Sawant)

Note: We notified the forest department around 8:30 a.m. about the fire but by 11:30 a.m. when we moved out the park the forest department officials had still not managed to reach the scene. Probably when we left they approached it from the south at the base of the hill. If you ever come across a forest fire or any illegal activity taking place in the park please help the forest department respond on time by calling the Borivali control room on 02228866449

Karnala Bird Sanctuary

Mumbai Biodiversity Group had arranged a trail to Karnala on 4^th march, a Sunday. The 12 sq. km. Sanctuary just off the Mumbai-Goa Highway is home to 150 resident and 37 migratory birds. Karnala in the rains and in the summer are two different experiences, in rains it is filled with the noise of water, the gurgling of streams, and the footsteps of trekkers, in summer with birdsong and the rustling of leaves. It is famous for the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher that nests here in monsoon, its nesting sites are now all dried up, the stream beds just a collection of pebbles of all sizes and shapes, smoothed by countless monsoon rains.

 Karnala is still in the grasp of a crisp and cool winter and the early morning air was invigorating. The recent sighting of Ashy Minivet drew birders and photographers from miles around like bees to honey.  We had a glimpse of the Ashy Minivet and much much more.

As we reached by 7:00 a.m., we could take full advantage of the early morning bird activity. The forest in the morning was like a grand old painting painted by one of the old masters but hidden under a layer of dust and as the sun rose higher in the sky, it started adding colour to the drab and the dull. Nothing could hide from its golden rays and every leaf, every bird shone as if freshly painted. The Black- hooded Oriole was the brightest yellow I’ve ever seen, no wonder it’s called as “Haldya” in the local language. The sunbirds true to their name were active as soon as the first rays came up, in pairs they flew around the forest, searching for the flowers of the Red Silk Cotton, Palash and Mango for nectar.

Every bird has put on a new coat of feathers, the better to attract a mate in this mating season. Many of the birds have already set up homes; we saw a Flowerpecker’s beautifully camouflaged purse like nest and also a Common Woodshrike on its cup shaped nest.

An Asian Paradise-flycatcher with his ribbon like tail flew among the branches with acrobatic finesse; he held our attention for a long time as he put on a display fit for Cirque du soleil. The Black-naped Blue Monarch with a little black cap on his head and his azure wings gave us a fantastic sighting, as did a Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, while a pair of Red Spurfowl ran for cover. Along the Mortakka trail we walked in search of more feathered beauties and were rewarded with a lone Pompadour Pigeon, through a Swarowski spotting scope we could see its bright blue eyes, in complete contrast with its yellow green body and maroon wings. Just like our last visit to Tungareshwar, here we could see lots of Ashy Drongos flocking together, in preparation of their journey northward.

Near mid-day the birdsong had not subsided but the sun had made us forget the cool of the morning, we sat and had a delicious breakfast of Pulao, bread-omlette and shira, as Crested Serpent Eagles circled above our head piercing the air with their loud calls. After our very satisfying and much needed break we walked towards the tar road leading out and suddenly saw a small bird fly into the dry grasses near our feet, we searched in vain, as the wily bird kept quiet and before we knew it had flown out a little distance away and into more dry grass. Saurabh, Ameya, Rujuta, Pradnyawant and I led a small search party while Dr. Vaibhav and his friend Mr. Pravin Kawale watched from above. We dug in the grass to flush out the little guy but he was wily, he was stubborn, but we were not willing to give up and continued our efforts. Finally as we were about to give up, he rose out of the grass, sat on a stalk for a split second and then flew off, but not a good enough look for an ID. During the course of this search we came also across a Bltyh’s Reed and a Sulphur-bellied Warbler.

As it continued to get hotter we decided to head out home and near the cages we had a good sighting of the Blue-capped Rock Thrush. And thus we ended the day and headed back to Mumbai having a day well spent.

Note:  As a recent initiative the forest department has started charging Rs. 200 as deposit against every plastic bottle that you carry inside, which you can get back once you exit the sanctuary. They have also put up a board with names of people who have broken park rules and the fines they have incurred, littering can attract a fine of up to Rs. 1200, feeding monkeys has a fine of Rs. 5000 and drinking inside the sanctuary Rs. 1200. I hope that this practice continues strictly, the results of which can be seen in the sanctuary in the form of much cleaner surroundings.  

Here’s a complete list of the birds seen

1)      Cattle Egret

2)      Oriental Honey-buzzard

3)      Shikra

4)      White-eyed Buzzard

5)      Crested Serpent Eagle

6)      Red Spurfowl

7)      Pompadour Green Pigeon

8)      Plum-headed Parakeet

9)      Rose-ringed Parakeet

10)   Jungle Owlet (Heard)

11)   Green Bee-eater

12)   Brown-headed Barbet

13)   Coppersmith Barbet

14)   Rufous Woodpecker

15)   White-naped Woodpecker (Heard)

16)   Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

17)   Common Iora

18)   Golden-fronted Leafbird

19)   Black-naped Oriole

20)   Black-hooded Oriole

21)   Black Drongo

22)   Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

23)   Ashy Drongo

24)   Common Woodshrike

25)   Common Myna

26)   Rufous Treepie

27)   House Crow

28)   Large-billed Crow

29)   Large Cuckooshrike

30)   Small Minivet

31)   Ashy Minivet

32)   Red-vented Bulbul

33)   Red-whiskered Bulbul

34)   Puff-throated Babbler

35)   Yellow-eyed Babbler

36)   Red-throated Flycatcher

37)   Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher

38)   Asian Paradise-flycatcher

39)   Black-naped Blue Monarch

40)   Ashy Prinia

41)   Blyth’s Reed Warbler

42)   Common Tailorbird

43)   Sulphur-bellied Warbler

44)   Greenish Warbler

45)   Green Warbler (P. nitidus)

46)   Magpie Robin

47)   White-rumped  Shama (Heard)

48)   Indian Robin

49)   Blue-capped Rock Thrush

50)   Small Sunbird

51)   Purple Sunbird

52)   Crimson Sunbird

53)   Thick-billed Flowerpecker

54)   Pale-billed Flowerpecker

55)   White-rumped Munia

56)   Chestnut-shouldered Petronia

Tungareshwar WLS

I know I've had a long hiatus, but I am back and how. A lovely early morning trail to Tungareshar WLS in the perfect sort of weather. We started birding around 8:00 a.m., the sun playing peek-a-boo from behind silvery grey clouds and in the early morning it was cool in the shadows. Black hooded oriole greeted us just at the gate of the sanctuary and with many promising bird calls inviting us to explore further we started our day. Black drongos and Racket tailed drongos were the talk of the town, they flit among the tree branches with tails made of black lace while a small Minivet and its mate gave us unstinted views.The forest is  in the midst of this great transformation, the greenery of rainy days is long gone, almost all the trees have as if prepared for the coming season in the way of fashionistas, "Oh green was so last season". Now they have put on reds, browns, orange and yellows, all the warm tones to welcome the coming summer. The Palash was up in flames and not to be outdone was the Indian Coral tree though they both would have to bow to the Kusum, her bright red leaves brightened up the drab landscape in bold splashes of color.

Most of the deciduous trees are now shedding, every old leaf fell to the forest floor with the grace of a bird flying, drawing our attention every single time. The Teak tree leaves are turned to lace and all the forest paths crackled under our feet as we walked. Though the trees were in full bloom and Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Ioras, and Leafbirds were seen taking full advantage of the summer bounty, there were no butterflies except for the spot tailed swordtail and a couple of striped tigers. Along a turn we gazed into the tangle of dried branches to see a dove, dark and spotted, with no way of telling for sure whether it was one the spotted or laughing until it flew straight at us and its emerald wings glimmered in the sun.

 The main way leading towards the summit was covered with a layer of fine silky dust that billowed in the wake of motorbikes and noisy rickshaws that broke the silence and like a patron at an opera I would have liked to shush them. Though it does seem as if the birds have accepted this intrusion with disdain, they flew they sang along the paths with abandon, or is it because it is the season of love? Magpie Robins were singing their hearts out and the sunbirds flew everywhere in pairs like newlyweds showing off their love. Greenish warblers are still calling but soon their song will fade as they prepare for their journey northward. A Sulphur bellied warbler vanished in the undergrowth while ahead a tickells blue flycatcher and a black naped monarch paired up probably to catch flies. Speaking of flies today a lot of tiny houseflies troubled us all day long, their twitchy movements and buzzing continued all the way, perhaps attracted to the leftover food and garbage strewn from the recent Mahashivratri.

The larger raptors were absent, but a Shikra and a sighting of a juvenile Shikra both of which gave us long views on the way up more than made up for their absence. Thus we ended the day on a high note and returned with birdsong in our hearts and eyes full of the colours of summer.

Note 1: This is probably one of the best times to visit Tungareshwar, the summer is yet to come to full force, the weather is cloudy and the mornings are still a bit cool. The trees have shed leaves and the landscape is more open, you can sight birds easily and the winter migrants are yet to leave. Below is a complete list of birds sighted today

Note 2: Also seen were flocks of Ashy drongo in huge numbers. Perhaps theyy are preparing to migrate, i did not find any reference on the net reagrding this behaviour, except for a small note on this site http://vietnambirdnews.blogspot.in/2011_02_01_archive.html, does anyone have references for same?

1)      Cattle egret

2)      Black Kite

3)      Oriental honey buzzard

4)      Shikra

5)      Crested serpent eagle (call)

6)      Emerald dove

7)      Rose ringed parakeet

8)      Plum headed parakeet

9)      Greater coucal

10)   Jungle owlet

11)   Asian palm swift

12)   White throated kingfisher

13)   Brown headed barbet

14)   Hoopoe

15)   Common iora

16)   Golden fronted leafbird

17)   Blue winged leafbird

18)   Black Hooded Oriole

19)   Black naped oriole

20)   Indian oriole

21)   Black drongo

22)   Ashy drongo

23)   Bronzed drongo

24)   Racket tailed drongo

25)   Common woodshrike

26)   Common myna

27)   Rufous treepie

28)   House crow

29)   Large billed crow

30)   Small minivet

31)   Large cuckooshrike (call)

32)   Red-vented bulbul

33)   Red-whiskered bulbul

34)   Puff throated babbler (call)

35)   Red throated flycatcher

36)   Tickell’s blue flycatcher

37)   Asian paradise flycatcher  (Female)

38)   Black naped blue monarch

39)   Grey-breasted Prinia

40)   Blyth’s reed warbler (call)

41)   Sulphur bellied warbler

42)   Common tailorbird

43)   Green warbler (P. nitidus)

44)   Greenish warbler

45)   Small sunbird

46)   Crimson sunbird

47)   Purple sunbird

48)   Thick billed flowerpecker

49)   Pale billed flowerpecker

50)   Chestnut shouldered Petronia

51)   Crested serpent eagle (call)

As i walked on the streets of Guwahati, with hordes of mayflies milling around, their transparent wings akin to a veil which i parted to be transported back to Lama Camp. Situated at 2000 mtrs, a motley gathering of tents and few permanent structures, it was to be our home for four days. The journey began on 4th april for those who travelled by train, the cacophany of shrill children aside the outside scenery cooled my eyes. From Guwahati to Nameri the journey was a change of season, from summer we entered monsoon in a couple of hours.

Having tasted wildlife in Nameri in the form of 100 sps. of birds, Indian large civet, Indian giant squirrell, our appetite was only whetted for more things to come. Lama and sessni offered us rufous necked hornbill, long billed wren babbler, beautiful nuthatch, rufous backed sibia, pale blue flycatcher, blue fronted robin, brown bullfinch even though wards trogon and bugun liochichla eluded us.

Lama camp teemed with jewels on wings, sapphire, ultramarine, verditer flycatcher we saw eveyday while white browed shortwing, small niltava and indian robin flashed their blues and disappeared. The minla's we saw all, red, blue and chestnut, the yuhina's were straited, white naped, whiskered, stripe throated and black chinned and the black faced, grey hooded, golden spectacled, grey cheeked, chestnut crowned and white spectacled flycatcher warblers added yellow to our day.

Sessni was a true rain forest, with tall trees and huge overflowing canopies and the rains always unannounced. We walked 14 kms one day, a walk which gave us glimpses of some very rare and endangered birds while also exposing us to the threats that this place faces in the form of a deliberately lit forest fire which the guys put out with a huge efoort.

My favourite trail was a walk from Eaglenest pass towards lama camp a distance of 10 kms. The path hugged the mountains, winding up and down, the air was crisp and all around us magnolia's, pines and other high altitude trees. Looking at the opposite mountain we saw signs of elephants while around us was an un-natural quite. Adding to the mystery was fog which enveloped us in thich layers and evaporated just as it came. This quiet was sometimes broken by loud bird-calls, the birds unwary of us sang lustily while we searched for them and then suddenly as the fog lifted in lithe little ribbon we would see the bird just as they would see us and vanish into the mountainside leaving echoes of whirring wings.

The trip is now like that echo, an echo of memories that flash in my mind. A thousand images and sounds, a view of tibets mountains in the far distance lit afire by the rising sun, the dark night in sessni without a pinprick of light, the clatter of a thousand hails on the corrugated roof, threatening to bring the house down, a shallow river crossed in a tiny boat and then a sea of pebbles polished to a rounded smoothness showing off jewel like colours, the huge white blooms of a magnolia and ruby red rhododendron, a thousand more images i cannot describe.

Dreams

Dreams are a weird phenomenon. When i close my eyes i only shut out this world to enter a lofe of dreams. When i was younger any major upheavel put me to deep sleep clearing away the cobwebs in my mind., the occasional monsters did visit in nightmares but on the whole sleep was solace.
When I dream it is so real, as if I’ve entered another world. Sometimes when i fall asleep reading a book, the charachters come to life spouting garbled, unintellegible dialogue from the book. I’ve dreamt of places which I am sure exist somewhere in the real world. I’ve dreamt of long lost friends and of faceless people who I’ve never met bringing feelings of intense joy which turned to sadness when I wake up for not knowing who they were or not completing the dream. I’ve jumped from a cliff into bright blue waters, almost flying on the way down and dived gracefully, a thing I wouldn’t do in reality. I’ve flown on wings of air, swam in waters and remained dry. I’ve dreamt of fearful things and woken up with residual feelings which dogged me the whole day. I’ve traveled in trains which hurtled down a half broken track into oblivion while I woke up startled, the scream in my head turned into a mere sigh. I have fought battles in vast empty fields, my blade glinting in the sunlight; I’ve discussed amicably issues of strife with loved ones not able to do the same with eyes open. I’ve read weird tomes and sometimes wrote poetry on non-existent paper, the words clearing like mist when I returned to consciousness. I’ve held friends tight in a bear hug, trying to hold onto them before they go so far that I don’t even dream of them. I marvel at this world of dreams and wonder whether others dream the same. Sometimes the sweetest nights are the ones in which I am not plunged into this world of dreams, when I am so tired that I sleep the instant I lie down in bed or when secure in the arms of a loved one the dreams melt away, leaving me with a mind clear of empty fears.

Bheemashankar

Bheemashankar (24-26 Jan)

The giant squirrel looked at us with as much interest as we did at her. Her body poised on a slender branch like a model, she held on to it with a certain grace and air of an animal that has spent its whole life on trees and knows that nothing can shake its hold. Our first sight of this beautiful creature was what all we had been waiting for. Taking advantage of an extended weekend me, gaurav, anand, ruchi, jasmine and our little photographers 11 year old Ishan and Mishal visited Bheemashankar.

The Giant Squirrel had eluded us the first 2 days only letting us know of its presence with its loud chak-chak-chak call. But now watching this beautiful animal her russet fur glinting in the morning sun and her golden eyes looking straight into ours, took away all the disappointment we felt earlier.

Bheemashankar is popular among Shankar devotees and wildlife enthusiast alike. SPROUTS decided to celebrate republic day in style and we all joined in for the ride. We stayed at the Blue Mormon Eco-resort, situated on a plateau from where we could see on all four directions and look at the mountains peaks eye to eye. Even more breath taking were the gaudy shows of sunrise and sunsets, firing up the sky in brilliant colour’s of orange, pink, purple which turned to inky black in a matter of minutes.

Though disappointed with the bird life and repetitive species, we were happy with sightings of sulphur bellied warbler, brown cheeked fulvetta (10-15 in a mixed hunting flock), black bulbuls, crested lark, oriental turtle dove, grey jungle fowl, changeable hawk eagle, shikra and calls of Eurasian thicknee. We also saw white bellied mouse, Indian Palm Civet, Jungle cat and a male sambar deer. The serpent gods also seemed to be shining on us as we caught a Beddome’s cat snake in the unlikeliest of places, the roof of one of the shops lining the gates and a wolf snake crossing the road exposed momentarily due to our car lights and then lost into the dark.

The fate of this beautiful place lies in the hands of the thousands of devotees who throng this place on religious days. There is high level of noise pollution, high volume of vehicles and lots of trash and plastic all of which threaten to turn this plateau into a trash mound. In some places huge grounds have been cleared to make parking lots, the resultant loss of tree cover forces the squirrels to take to the ground to cross roads leading to road kill.

We need to create awareness among the devotees and residents of bheemashankar and open their eyes to the wealth of flora and fauna that this spiritual place offers.

Songhar and Velas

11/01/2009

Songhar-

Sacred groove or devrai as it is called is a forest situated around a temple which the villages do not cut preserving it. Songhar is a sleepy hamlet, very neat with pretty red-tiled houses situated on a higher incline which our bus struggled to climb. The streets were clean and paved with cow dung, cakes which also powered the furnace producing acrid smoke burning my already raw throat. We started walking towards the devrai at around 10:30 the sun already sending forth his full wrath. The outer periphery was quite barren, dry grass dominated the scene with contrasting black rocky patches. As we neared the forest the scene changed dramatically, green became the dominant colour, climbers of hoya covered everything like a curtain. Transporting us into an almost prehistoric era when the first plants evolved was Gnetum ula, a gymnosperm climber; said to be the connecting link between gymnosperms and angiosperms, its male cones looked like ice-cream cones stacked neatly one on top of other. The mountain peak in the distance was almost at eye level and gave a breath taking view of the surrounding.

A lot of birds called out around us but discreetly, due to the dense foliage we didn’t sight many except for a beautiful crimson backed sunbird who regaled us with his high energy. Most of the plants we saw were new to us, strange flora dominated the scene. Dr. Latoo pointed out a small plant, Cyathocline purpurea, with leaves exactly like a fern but showing off beautiful purple flowers, its only seen at high altitude. At one place we all stopped to admire the 15 feet high buttresses of Tetramalis nudiflora, almost everyone took cheesy tourist snaps standing in front of the tree. By this time we had reached the temple, in older days this would have been a simple shrine with just a stone statue and no other adornments, today it had a house like structure built around it, brickwork showing on the walls, though charming not original.

A short break and a long walk later we reached a particularly dense part of the forest, the trees grew tall and close to each other, their braches twined forever, making me wish I was as close to my loved ones. The landscape was very undulating, now we had to climb up and then again descend into small valleys, we reached the ancient water storage tank encompassing a perennial stream which oozed water even at the height of summer. At another similar tank but made especially for cattle were a few cows drinking water while skittering fogs muddied its bottom. We admired the ingenuity of the tank and moved away scaring a well camouflaged owl from its perch though caught by Anand’s expert green eyes.

Another long winding walk and we reached the middle of the forest; this was a small valley with Tetramalis nudiflora dotting the place. These trees grow very tall and majestic and along with their huge buttresses give a very mature old look though they look a little bald as a nice thick crown of leaves is missing. Looking at the branches we saw a nest so huge it might have held a roc’s egg, though it turned out more wonderfully to be of White Rumped Vultures. These beautiful birds are highly endangered due to the indiscriminate use of diclofenec as medicine for cattle which these birds end up ingesting when they perform their natural duties as scavengers. The vultures sat pretty in their lofty abodes taking no notice of us as we stood under the trees and admired them, we were also very lucky to see a juvenile vulture inside one of the nests.

We returned to our bus, hearts and stomachs full. On the way out me, anand, gaurav and aparna saw a Paradise flycatcher, its snow white ribbons trailing in the wind, a Black Naped Monarch and pompadour pigeons who whistled hauntingly. A white eyed buzzard was also seen perched on a tree, which we id’d through pictures clicked by Pranad. We had to reach velas by 6-6:30 and so we bid goodbye to songhar.

Velas

Velas was our pit-stop and accordingly we had hired a house for our overnight stay. The girl’s room was warm and had a big welcoming bed with heaps of bed sheets and blankets. The house was managed by 3-4 women, very charming, sweet and eager to help. They prepared a hot and wholesome meal for all of us. With stomachs full we headed to the beach for a date with the turtles. Unluckily even though the setting was so romantic with a huge moon in the sky and the music of the waves, we were stood up. Anand had brought tents and except for the faculty and me recovering from flu decided to stay on the beach and wake up by 3:30-4 to look for the turtles when the tide was low. I went back and had a couple hours of sleep while the others were disappointed again by the turtle no show. We moved out by 6:30 a.m. and headed to Harnai for breakfast with the dolphins.

In the bus I sat near a window and peered out through the tinted glass, and saw a scene which took my breath away. The moon hung in the sky like a white orb glowing faintly, one wouldn’t expect it to light a room leave alone the whole ocean and yet the water shimmered bright, almost like molten silver. I’ve seen water glow fiercely when flying in a plane, the sun hits the smallest of water bodies and turns it into gold. But this was somehow very magical, the moonlight even though subtle hits at your heart stirring hidden emotions to the surface. I have always had a fascination for the ocean which through the years was replaced by love for the wilderness, but when I saw the ocean through the moon glasses it felt like a revival of a first love.

Harnai

We reached by 9-9:30 our stomachs growling with not only hunger but also a mixture of anticipation and a bad bus ride. A quick breakfast of poha and we headed for the beach, hiring a boat for our next sojourn. The boat owner cautioned against high expectations and waves as we were late for our date and we all feared a repeat of the turtle episode. The boat had a powerful outboard motor and it almost skipped over the waves bringing a knot to my stomach. Big white gulls dotted the water floating effortlessly over the now smooth surface. Suddenly an arc of smooth grey body broke the surface and disappeared a split second later, we were surrounded by a pod of dolphins. Two to three of them surfaced in perfect synchronization making it seem like one dolphin with two fins. This was my second encounter with these beautiful mammals of the sea and all of us were enchanted with their playfulness and graceful countenance. But watching their acrobatics was akin to putting my head on a merry go round, I craned my neck in every direction no sooner anyone said dolphins on this side so close to the boat, coupled with lack of sleep, the incessant drone of the motor and the sun pouring its heat plus the waves turned my stomach into a quivering mass of jelly which threatened to come out, so I closed my eyes and almost drifted off to sleep, the dolphins were long gone by then but I missed the gulls which circled over our boat and were id’d by gaurav, aparna, pp and vari in loud voices making me feel very left out of the action.

A little distance away was the murud harnai fort our next stop, in normal circumstances this would have been a joy ride, but in my current state I was yearning to set foot on solid ground and at the same time dreading the boat ride back to the mainland. At one point I was desperate enough to jump in the water and start swimming.

We landed on the tiniest beach littered with plastic; the entrance to the fort was just a few feet away. The whole island is a fort and was constructed by Shivaji in year. It must have been a gigantic effort to construct and maintain this beautiful monument, in ruins today; I could almost picture Shivaji with his mavlas on the ramparts keeping a lookout on the sea. Today the whole place has been taken over by ber trees and weeds and plagued by people blind to its heritage.

We hurriedly left from there and spent the next couple of hours on the main beach scrounging for shells etc. We found many interesting and new organisms, including rock whelk (murex) its beautiful shell covered with spines, many empty crab shells, a few sea-weeds all of which we are yet to id. Dr. Latoo demonstrated how to make an alga herbarium right on the beach. By now we were very tired, hungry and thirsty and headed to a local eatery.

On our way back to Mumbai we stopped at Mr. Savarkars factory for tea and spent almost and hour at a nearby river ending our day spectacularly with a glimpse of Malabar pied hornbills and pied kingfishers. We returned to Mumbai tired, tanned and with our heads filled with memories of surf, sea and sand.