Pichavaram பிச்சாவரம்

                   Pichavaram is world second Largest Mangrove forest in world. First largest is Sundarbans located in west bengal. Pichavaram also called as Alyathikaadu அலயதிகாடு. Plants grown here are called Surapunai சுரபுனை .Its under control of Forest Department (Killai R.F). 

Here i Shared some photos which i enjoyed.

 Pichavaram is the only Mangrove Forest in India Opened as tourist attraction since 1984. It spreads around  1413.92 hectare.

Plant roots  here grow upward for breathing. some plant roots grow top to bottom like banyan tree.

Animals such as beaver, fox and birds such as peacocks, hawk, kingfisher, stork are seen here.  

Lots of fishes, crabs and prawn are found here.

The depth of this backwater is  0.5M to 3M.

Some Benefits of  Mangrove Forest

1. It Protect Sea shore villages from Hurricane, Storm and Tsunami.

2. It controls carbon dioxide level and reduces the temperature.

3. Decaying trash, leaf compost are food for large marine species.

4. It give a large space for many  species for living and reproduction.

5. Mangrove forest act as a wall between sea and land.

How To Reach 

Pichavaram is 15km from Chidambaram and 65km from Pondycherry.

Railway station:- Chidambaram station ( Chennai -Trichy Main Route via Tanjore)

Airport :- Trichy (Tiruchirapalli) 170 km. 

Time to Visit

November to January is the best timing . lots of birds can be seen this time.

avoid this place during summer. After Monsoon is the right time.

Accommodation

No hotels for stay in Pichavaram . F
or hotels you have to travel 15km to Chidambaram.

Only one Restaurant in Pichavaram which is under control of TTDC. Here Quality of food is Average

Take enough Drinking Water, Food and Snacks since there is limited and low Quality food available there.

 

Attraction:-

Main attraction is Boating in back water, Bird watch and Photography.

Row Boat and Motor Boat service are available which maintained by Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation TTDC.

Also if you Give extra money to Boatman, he will  take you to adventures and deep in forest.

Don't forget to take enough water while going in boat.

Better to where Caps to protect from De-hydration.

Best Advice is to choose Row Boats. You can enjoy the nature and take photos than going in Motor Boat.

 

Good parking Facility are available. Entry fee of  Rs30 will be collected in the entrance.

Also 4 hrs long boating also there, in that they will take you deep interior to the forest . In that 1hr rest time in a beach ,which will look like an island. Best time for this ride is early morning by 8am.

also this service may not available during weekend and holiday. So choose your travel on weekdays.

A Telescope tower is there where you can see the whole view of the forest and beach near by. For this they charge Rs 5 as entry fee.

  A view from Telescope tower

For Bird watching, evening  is good time, before that you cant see anything.

For one day adventures trip this is the right place.

Shopping:-

                   Lot of Dried fish , Dried Prawns and Back water fishes are available in roadside,which are cheap and Fresh sold by Local Fisher mans.