10th March 2010
With fresh cold air and rising sun, the muthupet mangrove forest has showed again its enchantic view that lured my mind to walk with my DSLR... some clicks are here...
A spider web in Koraiyar creek
These two mangroves are established on the sediment that was accumulated by the oysters. Floating seeds caught in the oyster bed to form the trees. I can remember that there was no such mangrove thickets in the year 2000 except some small seedlings, when I frequently visited here for my research. Vigorous growth of these (about 10 year old mangroves) are showing a good sign of extension of the forest, at the same time it also shows that the rate of sedimentation is increased in this lagoon due to erosion in catchments. Fishers told that they did not need shoes to walk in the creeks and lagoon 10 years before. Now, every fisher is wearing a shoe to protect him from the oysters which has been proliferating in the last decades.
These two fishermen have no boat to reach the this creek. They have to travel up to 5 kilometers to reach this creek area from their village. So, they depend on boat owned fishers who drop them in the creeks.
A old fisher is collecting the fishes during low tide
Good Enough Catch to feed a fisher family
This fisher is holding two catfishes that are available only in monsoon and post monsoon season. (see below)
An Egret. See the backward, the mangroves are slowly stressed to leave from the creek by the spiny,bushy plant of Prosophis juliflora.
Amazing view
We found a big honey comb of 2 foot in Thiilai maram (E.agallocha) . The bees seems to be unusual in size. This swarm can kill a person.
A fishermen in Muthupet Lagoon. This old fisher is not standing, but floating on the water. He use buoyancy of the car tube and the big aluminium pot to prevent from sinking.
Returning home...
Still waiting for a boat!
