Wetland, Wonderland

Place: The Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary (and the Point Calimere Bird Sanctuary) (a.k.a. Kodikkarai Wildlife Sanctuary) 

Location: Vedaranyam, Nagapattinam Distt, Tamil Nadu, India 

How to get there: By road 

Nearest major rail station: Nagapattinam (55 km) 

Nearest airport: Trichy (160 km) 

Entrance costs: Approx Rs. 50 per person (ex. tips)

How do I recreate in words the magic of being in a new place? That…feeling, of mingled excitement, anticipation and adventure; the all-too-natural, mild undercurrent, of fear of the unknown; the sense of simple triumph, at having stepped out my door and come this far – at having discovered, for myself, this place! It was just past 9 am and the temperature was still mild. The sky was grey but the morning fog had lifted. It was quiet. My dad stopped the car and I fumbled around in my bag for my camera while my parents simply drank in the silence. Our Santro was parked on a narrow mud road, right in the middle of a vast, shallow, water-filled wetland. We were in the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, near Vedaranyam in southern Tamil Nadu, and were here at the best time of the year – just after the monsoon rains in December. The sanctuary lies at the apex of the Cauvery river delta. Spanning around 24 sq-km it is a mix of wetlands and dry evergreen forest and is home to the endangered blackbuck deer and a large number of endemic and wintering birds. Two bee-eaters flitted around in the bushes, much to my frustration as I tried in vain to get a shot of their lovely rust and green plumage. On an island just by the road, a boar munched grass contentedly, looking at us with mild curiosity. 

Contented Boar

We had a problem, however. A few metres ahead of us the road itself vanished under water only to reappear a few hundred meters later somewhere on our right. This sanctuary, within two minutes of our entering it, had exceeded every expectation and we could barely look away, let alone drive back. On the other hand, we had driven more than 800 km in the car, and had an equal distance left to cover on our road trip of South India. We couldn’t risk stalling the car, especially not in a forest sanctuary miles away from any major town. My dad and I got down and walked over to where the road vanished under water, wondering if our trusty tall-boy terrier would make it! The water was ankle deep on either side of the road, but there was a fairly strong current where it flowed over across the road and we had no way of knowing how deep it got a few metres on. It was the mother of all dilemmas. 

Mother of all dilemmas

It had been a bit of an adventure getting here and returning was not an option. We had made an unusually early start, having left Karaikal 70 km to the north at 4.30 am, intending to get here just after dawn. Having signed in at the Kodikkarai forest check-post just after the town of Vedaranyam, we thought it would be easy going after that. However, as our luck would have it, signposting for the sanctuary became scarce. Where there were signs, they were paper posters that had been pretty much annihilated and were not of much use.

We spotted a sign for the Pt. Calimere Bird Sanctuary, and took a right-turn onto a treacherous looking, monsoon-battered road. After a few adventures on that road, and with the help of a hitch-hiker who was working with a chemicals company (Chemplast) we emerged onto a vast jetty on the coast, right next to a Chemplast desalination plant. “This is the bird sanctuary Sir, this is it,” said the hitchhiker leaving us slightly disappointed. There were birds there – hundreds of ducks and a few storks, but the fog still persisted and it was high tide, so the charm was lost. The forest official would later tell us that this was the actual bird sanctuary, but it was quite different from what we expected. The official also told us that a large flock of flamingos had landed at the bird sanctuary a week or two before we came, but that they had moved on – wild-life luck!

Somehow not in the mood for a walk down the jetty to its tip a few hundred metres away, we left soon enough, and headed back down the main road. Once again, after going back and forth for about an hour, we found that the road to the sanctuary – or at least, one of the roads – was to the left off the main road, just after a barely existent picture of a blackbuck, on a post. We literally jumped for joy when we spotted the distinctive yellow and green signage on a building in the distance, that said ‘Tamil Nadu Forest Department’. 

Welcome sighting of the Forest Department Office

Now, two minutes into the sanctuary, with the gates locked behind us, we dithered, kept walking back and forth between the car and the vanished road, as if hoping that somehow the waters would part for us! Finally, we decided to do the only thing we could – go back to the gates and ask the forest official for help. We almost felt weak with relief when he looked at our car and said “Oh, that car will definitely go in Sir, in fact, we’ve just sent in two other similar cars. Please wait a bit, the guide’s gone to town, he’ll accompany you and tell you where the road is, and it isn’t difficult once you go in.” And so we went back in, and for the next hour or so had one of the most ethereal journeys we’ve ever been on. The car plunged into water, splashed out again. 

The Santro's wake

Spoonbills, storks, egrets, thrushes and sandpipers cavorted, fed and flew around by the road. In the distance solitary male blackbuck grazed serenely while the females sat in herds, looking on. The guide told us this was the only place in South India where we could see feral horses, and sure enough, we spotted a herd grazing contentedly giving us curious looks as we drove past. Whenever we stopped the first thing we noticed was the sense of solitude. It was just the four of us, the car and the half-submerged mud road while all around us the flora and fauna of the wetland carried on with their lives. In the distance there was a splash as a male blackbuck leapt into a shallow lake and gently ran across it, shaking itself dry as it came out the other side. A brahminy kite majestic in its brown and white plumage sat royally on a dry tree stump watching wetland-life and us go by. At one point, when my dad brought the car to a halt, I spent a good five minutes staring and clicking away at a gorgeously painted stork and a flock of feeding spoonbills, while my mom tried capturing a female blackbuck that looked a lot like Bambi’s mother (though Bambi’s mother was a spotted deer)!

Gorgeous(ly) Painted Stork

The 7 kilometre stretch of road went on right up to the coast, where the sanctuary juts out into the sea. We got out of the car and walked on to a kilometre-long beach that didn’t have another soul on it. A few metres into the water stood the ruins of a lighthouse, built by the Chozha kings who ruled Tamil Nadu around AD 1000. Our guide – who turned out to be something of an expert on the flora, fauna and history of the park, told us that the lighthouse was actually broken in half by the tsunami of 2004 and had stood pretty much intact until then. I waded up to the lighthouse to look at and touch the 1000 year old brick and mortar joints, and couldn’t help but wonder about the men who built this lighthouse, the soldiers who would have manned its lights, the ships from Lanka and around the world that would have looked to it for safety, and behind the shores it stood on, the people of a prosperous and thriving kingdom. 

1000 year old Chozha lighthouse

He also told us that the forest had had salt-water mangroves that took the brunt of the attack during the tsunami, but now show signs of coming back. We climbed up a relatively newer watch-tower and took in the ocean on one side, stretching out towards Sri Lanka, and the blanket of green that was Vedaranyam on the other. Immediately to the west, half a kilometre or so into the sea, we spotted two densely vegetated islands that we learnt are habited by fishermen, who often walk over to the mainland during low tide! Being interested in all things coastal, I found out that this sanctuary, despite being so close to the sea is largely a fresh-water wetland, fed entirely by monsoon precipitation. On being asked how the sea water was kept out, the guide pointed to a series of sand dunes about a metre or so in height, with grass and creepers growing on top. Simple, and apparently effective, though I wasn’t sure if they would last a cyclone. 

Dubious Dunes

We could have stayed on that watch tower for a long while, but headed back to the car when the guide started getting impatient, and drove back to the sanctuary gate, stopping on the way for more photographs and halts. It had been an adventure getting here, it had been an adventure inside, and though the trip was almost over, we knew already that this would be one trip we would not forget. As all good things should, this journey had come to an end and we headed back to Vedaranyam, a happy trio.

The town Vedaranyam, like many towns in India, gets its name from the temple here – dedicated to Vedaranyeswarar, an incarnation of Lord Siva. Vedaranyam also has a place in more recent history as the spot freedom fighter C. Rajagopalachari (affectionately known as Rajaji) chose in 1930 to stage a repeat of Mahatma Gandhi's world-famous Dandi salt march. South India being somewhat isolated from the goings-on in Gujarat, Rajaji took this mission on as a means to reinforce in the south Gandhi's twin messages of independence from British rule and civil disobedience.

Though we didn't stop at these spots, we did make a brief halt at the Ramar Padam (Rama's feet) shrine atop a hill, the highest point in the area, at a dizzy 40 m above sea level. Legend has it that Sri Rama, the king of ancient Ayodhya in northern India, came to coastal Tamil Nadu looking for a place to cross over to Sri Lanka, to rescue his kidnapped wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. He came first to Kodikkarai in Vedaranyam, and the hill he climbed is now home to a quaint shrine holding two lovely stone sculptures of his feet. While at the shrine, we overheard the story of his visit and stay here. Rama came first to Vedaranyam, looking for a crossing to Sri Lanka. However, he believed in fair play and that created a problem. Though Kodikkarai was close enough to Lanka (60 km across the Palk Strait) crossing from here would mean landing in Lanka to the north of Ravana’s palace, a palace that faced south. And even in a war where one side was so obviously in the right, attacking your opponent from behind was an absolute no-no. Thus, Rama had to abandon his plan of crossing from here, and instead journeyed further south to the island of Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi which would not only be the fair thing to do, but would also make better sense strategically. But that is a story for another day.

General Information: 

• General (very vague) directions: We followed the East Coast Road from Karaikal – an absolute treat to drive along, until just beyond the port town of Nagapattinam where we branched off to the east, to follow the state district road to Vedaranyam and Point Calimere. 
• Always ask for directions. Signposting is haphazard and unless you know the names of places on the way, you can get lost quite easily. If ‘Pt. Calimere’ doesn’t ring a bell with people, try ‘Kodikkarai’. 
• There are frequent public bus services from Nagapattinam (if going from Karaikal you may have to change buses at Nagapattinam) to Vedaranyam town, however the forest sanctuary doesn’t provide vehicles so you need to bring your own, or hire a taxi (that might have to be done in Nagapattinam or Karaikal) to visit the sanctuary. 
• If you’ve got your own vehicle, Karaikal is a better base than Nagapattinam, with better hotels though its 20 km further north. We stayed at the Holidays Farms and Resorts, Akkaraivattam, Karaikal, (http://www.holidaysfarms.com/) and were very happy with the rooms and the service. 
• The forest official at the Pt. Calimere sanctuary told us that the place often goes completely dry in summer and they have to bring in water by tanker to fill in the ponds – so make sure you go after the rains!