A day trip to Pichavaram,Second largest Mangrove Forest in the world

---

'Sir,birds are fine but beware of snakes and they are poisonous too'

This was the first statement from my boat man Madhi and we were hovering around the dense channels of Pichavarm Mangrove Forest.

Couple of years ago, during a java discussion, I was comparing West Bengal with
Tamilnadu. Starting from The Himalayas, Darjeeling when our discussion reached Sunderban,

my peer Sriram said,

'Dude,Sunderban may be the best but we have Pichavaram'

I asked with raising eyebrows, 'Where the hell is that?'

'Just 20kms from Chidambaram Town and don't you know it is the 2nd largest Mangrove forest after Sunderban'

I said,'Man, you must be joking or getting high and dry after two cappuccinos'

Sriram said,'Na,You can refer to any book or site, my information is correct, i've been there'.

It was way back in Spetember,2009 and since then somewhere deep down the core, Pichavaram was
creating a shell. Finally, in March,2012,the shell transformed to a tour.

I started from Pondicherry early in the morning at 6am.The small Pondicherry guest was good but they had too many airborne inhuman squadrons in my room.Yes,I am talking about the mosquitoes. So with long stretched and frequent 'yawns',I asked the conductor at the Pondicherry Bus stand,'Chidambaram?'. With a smile he nodded. This is what I like best about Tamilnadu, wherever you travel, you have buses in quick intervals. The bus was almost vacant. Like every 'first boy' does in school and what I never did in my entire educational life,I took the first seat,next to the driver.There were hardly 10 people in the bus.The young lad was at his best.We crossed Cuddalore (24kms from Pondicherry) in no less than an hour.The Pondicherry-Karaikal Port road is amazing and too good for a ride. After a few hop ons and ins,we reached Chidambaram bus stand.It was exactly 9am.Distance between to Pondicherry to Chidambaram is around 78 kms.I was 'starving' for a smoke.I had one then gradually walked inside the terminus. Chidambaram is a divisional town like our Burdawan or Siliguri.I asked one fellow about the buses to Pichavaram.He guided me to the end of the terminus and said that I should look for Bus no '3B'.After 20 minutes I saw a '3B' came inside the stand and before I could grab a seat all the college students had their bags 'marked' in them.I managed a corner and was thinking about my next plans. Suddenly, one lad asked me,

'Anna,where are you from?'

'Chennai',I said

'Do you work for CSC?', the guy asked

'yes', I replied

'So my elder brother does and I will work there one day' and offered his seat.

I was surprised with this 'suburb hospitality' that atleast someone heard about my company name here with such respect even my CEO doesn't have for sure. Later,I found that he could figure it out from the backpack I was carrying. It has a CSC logo printed.With those giggling young college students which I was really enjoying their company,I reached Pichavaram at 10:30 am. The bus drove back through the same Pondicherry Road for about 6 kms and then took a right turn towards Killai village and drove further down to Pichavaram.

I never understand that why I always show up being the 'only and lonely' person to
every spot. It was small boathouse with a watchtower on the left and ticket counter on the right.I also found one TTDC guest house and restaurant attached. However, I walked to the ticket counter and surprisingly saw the same person whom I asked about the bus to Pichavaram in Chidambaram bus stand.

'So you took the right bus',he smiled

'My presence answers your question’, I replied with a big 'Bengali' smile.

He was describing the fares for the boat rides,rules and regulations.I paid for 2 seater row boat for two hours.One young lad,hardly in mid twenties named 'Madhi' greeted me with a traditional Tamilian smile.When I was asked about my native and after listening the name 'Bengal',he went on for about a 10 minutes brain jammer with 'what Sunderban has and this place doesn't have'.This is what I like about The Tamilians that they never show what they have. Things apart,I was surprised with his knowledge about the 'Flora and Fauna' of Sunderban and this place. I thanked that 'Ticket Counter guy',I knew he had his best man with me and it was gift of travelling in the same bus from Chidambaram.

'Sir, this two km stretch we need to cover in two hours.I will take you to the 'Dasavatharam'(Famous movie of Kamalhasan'😉 shooting spot and return.Madhi said with a wicked smile.

I knew the drill,I took two hundreds out of my pocket and said,
'I have seen Dasavatharam,and I am not interested. Take me deep inside you can'

He grabbed one of them and said,

'Sir,I am taking you to a very scenic and dense canal,but it is risky if the boat gets stuck in mud,we both have to push it.I will make it to a 5 kms ride,but do you have water to drink? as I may need because I will be rowing the boat much faster.If you like then pass on the second note else I don't need'.

I had two bottles of water with me and took them out,kept infront of him,'go ahead'.

He switched route immediately and took me deep inside the forest. Initially it was all enjoyable but after 20 minutes when the forest started getting dense, I was getting my heartbeat rising.It was all green and covered with dense thick mangrove roots. I watched atleast ten different types of birds what I had hardly seen before. At some places the mangrove trees covered and created a thick shed above that you barely could see the sunlight. I was trying to get hold of a root like Tarzan and then Madhi warned me about the snakes which eventually turned me into a 'good boy'.Madhi was rowing the boat with all his blood pumped. Atleast thrice the boat got stuck in the mud but he went to knee down shallows and tugged it out. He also caught a couple of huge crabs. I have never seen such huge crabs in my life. One crab weighed 500-700 gms atleast.He took the boat far deeper and then my voice started acting erratic. Yes, I had my veins out,I was scared to go further.Madhi kept on telling me that there were no animals so stay relaxed,but I was scared what if the boat gets stuck completely and some snake curls down from the roots.I went on taking snaps for hours and finally he took me out to the main stretch. It was amazing.I knew that I had to come back again for one reason, My sweetheart. She would have been the happiest person in this galaxy. After spending an hour or so in a few more canals which were not that deep and dense, Madhi rowed me back to the same from where we had started. This guy knew his job,I was more than happy so offered him another two hundreds but he took one and requested to post his photos I took. I loved this guy.

After which,I took the bus from Pichavaram to Chidambaram and immediately from Chidambaram to Chennai which took about six and half hours to reach home.

A sanpshot of Pichavaram :

How to go : Rail/Bus : Nearest station is Chidambaram and from there need to take buses/taxis to Pichavaram which is just 15 kms. Bus fare is just 7/- and Taxi from Chidambaram to Pichavaram and back would cost around 700/-

Where to Stay ; Pichavaram has a TTDc bungalow with not much no: of rooms else Chidambaram has plenty of accommodation options that fits within your pocket size.

What to see : Mangrove Forest and plenty of birds.

The boat ride starts from 9 am to 6pm.

Charges : 2 seater rowboat - 220/- for 2 kms/2 hours
4 seater motor boat - 400/- 5kms/2 hours (but motor boats will not go dense inside the forest)
8 seater motorboat - 800/-/2 hours

Please carry your own food as options are limited. Unless you are a freak like me,better to hire a taxi from Chidambaram otherwise buses ply in every one hour from Chidambaram to Pichvaram.

People speak broken English so language could be a problem. Try to reach there as early as possible as riding a boat at 12 noon may not be comfortable. Keep sufficient drinking water with you while riding.Try avoiding weekends as local folks might like to make a trip to this place and you may see a lot of people waiting for boats as they have a limited number of row men.

Once again,thanks for reading this,hope you liked.

Best,
Sumit

---

Comments

[shayan chakraborty]

great job sumit.. the dedication and the knowledge you have shared is mind blowing.india could have such beautiful areas of both flora and fauna can be known only from you..so keep up the good work and hope to see you in another offbeat adventurous trip...wish you best of luck :)

[Kumar]

Vote of Thanks
Good trip to you and everyone. This type of information is very needfful to everyone, Thank you..

[manikantan]

excellent write up!
hi, we are planning to visit pichavaram, gangaikonda cholapuram and chidambaram natarajar temple on 27th aug for our 5th year anniversary. i was confused how good will be the boat ride & how safe will it be.. but after reading your write up, i am sure i will be getting a nice guy to row & who can go into deep forest ;)

[Pratima Sharma]

Thanks for writing about your experience. I like your blog. It is very understandable post with wonderful images. You can also check best darjeeling Hotels list with an best amenities.

[Pratima Sharma]

Nice post.
Thanks for writing about your experience. I like your blog. It is very understandable post with wonderful images. You can also check best darjeeling Hotels list with an best amenities.

[Manav Sheth]

It's the best sight

[Manav Sheth]

It's the best sight