Adventure is just bad planning - Excursion to Amboli

1^st and 2^nd September 2010

Sawantwadi and Amboli

The title of this post is a quote by Norwegian Explorer Roald Amundsen which I feel best describes our time in Amboli, a small hill station in Sindhudurgh District of Maharashtra. We had long planed out Zoology Short Excursion to this place and had booked tickets to Sawantwadi which is a town 30km from Amboli and is connected to Mumbai via the Konkan Railway. After having to cancel our tickets due to the landslides in Amboli and getting the trip postponed, we were disappointed when a second landslide occurred. But this time we decided not to let that thwart us and went ahead with our journey with no plans about what to do once we reach there. On reaching Sawantwadi in the evening we checked into a Lodge near the ST Bus Depot, which was also being used by the local pimps and their Prostitutes as we later discovered.(thanks to Jacob's keen ears) The next day we left for Malvan as the road to Amboli was still blocked. After coming back from malvan having enjoyed the Tarkarli beach and scrumptious Malvani Food, we got to know that the road to Amboli had been cleared and so the next day we arrived at Amboli.

Amboli was damp and everything from the Hotel Floor to the bed sheets gave you a sticky feeling when you touched them, in fact Amboli gives you a constant feeling of being wet no matter how hard you try to stay dry, but the worst of monsoon rains seemed to have subsided. We left for a trail into the forest as soon as we had some breakfast. The calls of Malabar Whistling Thrush attracted us towards a road sided by dense vegetation and going into the forest. We spotted a Green vine snake just as we entered the forest, further ahead we spotted nothing else other than

the countless leeches crawling up our feet and most people were too frustrated to continue and left back after an hour or so while me along with few others were lucky to encounter a Barking Deer Muntiacus muntjak just a few minutes later. In the evening we came across more of the little things that you would see in a forest which included a Banded ground Gecko (Geckoella), Camel Crickets (Rhaphidophoridae), Sheild Tailed Snake (Uropeltis sp) and a Tarantula (Theraphosidae). I wasn’t disappointed by the relatively few morning and evening sightings as I was looking forward to a eventful Night Trail.

But after having a delightful Malvani Dinner Parkar Sir went straight to have a good night sleep while none of the girls and only two of the boys showed up for the Night Trail. So we started at around 11.00pm with Shantikumar and Johann accompanying me. I remember the look on Johann face when he saw me moving towards the same leech infested Forest trail that we took in the morning but we decided to go for it and we saw a Malabar pit viper on that trail and all those leech bites were worth that find. After going back to the market to have some tea we took the Highway going east to Belgaon and searched along the road.

The forest was resonating with the calls of Bush frogs(Raorchestes sp) and several other species; I was busy photographing things that Johann and shanti were skillfully finding. A beautiful Tusshar Silk Moth attracted my attention, while shanti searched for the Bush frogs and Johann proved that he’s the boss when it comes to spotting spiders as after spotting one spider after another he came across a large and handsomely colored Sparrasid Spider probably belonging to the Genus Heteropoda. Little else was seen after that and therefore we took a diversion 2 kms east of the Amboli to the Hiranyakeshi temple some 4km away with a hope of finding more things, but sadly there was very little forest left along the road and we did not see anything interesting. To make things worst it started raining and we were drenched from head to toe by the time we reached the temple at around 4.30am in the morning. My friends made use of the cobbled stone parapet of a house to catch some sleep while I slept on its veranda, we woke up at 6.00am to discover that our hands and feet had turned white and were numb due to the cold.

This usually happens in cold and wet weather but in our case it was severe as we had not eaten anything after having dinner and had walked 10kms or more in the night. When it’s cold your body needs to spend energy to heat itself up, but we has none left in us thus forcing the body to use a secondary method which involves the restriction of blood flow into extremities such as fingers and toes as well as the skin. However we managed to get ourselves back on our feet and were able to trek 6kms back to the hotel. On our way back we came across Black Bulbuls, Paradisefly Catchers, White Rumped Shama and Malabar Whistling Thrushes inhabiting the trees, Red Wattled Lapwings in the fields while Spot Billed Ducks, Lesser Whistling Ducks and Open Bills were seen inhabiting the flooded the banks of the Hiranyakeshi River.

Looking back at Amboli and Malvan Excursion I conclude that it was the finest trip I have ever been to with people who had absolutely no Interest in Zoology or at least in the non-textual part of it but it’s good to see that through such ventures these students of zoology are taking interest in Binoculars along with microscopes and are learning things in the Field and not just in the laboratories but on the other hand it’s a matter of great concern that 49 Mining leases had been granted in Sindhudurg District alone before the Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh ordered a review of Mining leases but if the leases are cleared acres of pristine forests like Amboli are at risk of being lost forever.

- Aditya Malgaonkar

Zoology Excursion to Amboli Ghats and Malvan

Date and Locations :-
30th & 31st August
Aboard Mandovi Express
Sawantwadi & Malvan

We were in all nineteen Zoology students of

Wilson College of Mumbai eager to begin with our highly awaited Zoology Short Excursion to explore the Biodiversity of Amboli Ghats and the Fishing Industry at Malvan. while me, Shanti bhandari, Jacob Aghamkar and Johanna Daniels had some bit of outdoor experience, others were quite enthusiastic to gain their experience of the world. We were headed towards Sawantwadi aboard the Mandovi Express on 30th of August, the train departed from Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) at 7.00am and barely two hours later somewhere ahead of Panvel we were enjoying the views of green hills, grassy plains and flowing streams. But something didn’t seem right; the water in the streams was all muddy indicating soil erosion. And soil erosion had in fact taken place because the landscape was covered with only monsoonal grasses and shrubs, there were no thick forests to stop the flow of water and help it seep into the ground on the other hand entire hills were carved out to satisfy the demand for construction materials exposing the naked soil to heavy rains. As we moved further south into Konkan I pointed out to my friends that the streams are running with clear white water because the valleys are still well wooded and hills still untouched by miners. This relatively unspoiled landscape of southern konkan enchanted during our journey and our excursion it seemed had started before even reaching Sawantwadi.

After arriving at Sawantwadi at around 7.30pm we took three 6-seater rickshaws from the Sawantwadi Road Railway Station to Ajinkya Lodge near the ST Stand. The Next morning we caught a St Bus to Malvan from Sawantwadi via Kasal. It’s the longest route to Malwan possible and It took us 2 ½ Hours to reach Malvan, however the route was amazingly scenic especially the hills of Kasal at the famous Kasal ‘taka’ where a pristine stream flows. This is where I went camping for the very first time in my life some 12 years back, it brought back all those ever enjoyable memories of catching fish in the stream and enjoying the aroma of Mast Malvani Chicken being cooked by my aunt while we were still half submerged in the cold water. Those nostalgic memories made sure I kept smiling even as I felt asleep in the bus much to the amusement of others. I woke up when we reached Malvan and had hard time convincing my friends that it was the water in the streams and the mist covered hills that kept me smiling and not the new girl in class.

Malvan is a major Fishing port on the Western coast and after arriving there we went to the Malvan Jetty to have a look at the Fishing Industry i.e the Type of fish caught, the types of Nets, boats, other equipment and Methods used, but unfortunately the sea had continued to stay choppy even after ‘Narali Pornima’ and therefore the Customs Department still had not permitted off-shore fishing, however we saw one group of fishermen involved in readying Rampani Nets(Shore Seine) by attaching floaters and sinkers to it, while another group of men were busy ferrying Trawl nets aboard fiber glass Canoes to their main trawlers as they were hopefull that the sea will calm down soon.

‘Rampani’ is a type of net or rather a unique method used for shoreline fishing. A single net can be four thousand to five thousand feet long and is laid into the water in a semicircular manner around the fish shoals, adjoining the shore with the help of a canoe, the net is then pulled up towards the shore by ropes attached to both its ends. Pulling the net to the shore requires super human strength and the entire fishing village may have to get their hands dirty and spend hours to do this job. In the past Wilson College Zoology students have had the opportunity to participate in this game of Tug of War, we however had no such luck. This way of fishing is now rapidly becoming unpopular because overfishing, pollution due to oil leaks and sewage have led to the decline of shoreline fish stocks leading local fishermen to risk their lives by moving farther away from the shore with their traditional canoes which are inappropriate for off-shore fishing.

But Off-Shore fishing is the future it seems and those with larger Satpati Boats have mechanized them for exploring new fishing grounds. Satpati Boats are Medium sized fishing vessels around 12 to 14 meter long and 3 meters broad these are named after the Satpati Village in Maharashtra were they are manufactured in good numbers. Out of all the indigenous fishing vessels Satpatis are the most suitable for motorization and off-shore fishing due to their robust hull design. These ‘Trawlers’ as they are now called use trawl nets and Purse Seines for fishing. The use of trawl nets is highly indiscriminate especially the micro-nets which result in almost 30-40% by-catch i.e fish and other sea creatures which are useless of human consumption and are turned into manure and poultry feed.

After observing the fishing activities we went to the fish market where the hustle and bustle was much less than the usual and only small numbers of fisherwomen were seen marketing the fish. These women belonging to the Koli community which has been traditionally involved in fishing, with the women involved in selling of fish, adult males in fishing while youngsters and elderly in maintenance of nets, boats and other fishing equipment. No one is a competitor in the fishing community and every one helps each other in tasks which require manpower like pulling up large boats onto the shore to protect them from rough weather or for repairs.

Malvan is known for a lot more things than fishing and fish food , the Splendid Sindudurg Fort is

one such attraction, it was in history an important asset of Shivaji’s Navy though not many people know that he actually had a Navy. Shivaji raised a strong navy to counter forigen Naval powers like the Portugese and the Siddhis and for this reason he is today recognized as The Father of the Indian Navy, Chatrapati Shivaji however owes much of his maritime glory to an Admiral named Kanoji Angre who played an important role in the conquest of the Konkan coast. It was a nostalgic movement to gaze at the grand Sindudurg Fort which bears testimony to the valour and courage of the Maratha Navy, because our first zoology excursion went to Dapoli where we happned to visit Harne Village where Kanoji was born and the Suvarnadurg Fort of which he was the Governor.

After Exploring the Malvan Coast for some more time we left for Tarkarli, a beach 4 kilometers from Malvan, which was a few years ago a virgin shore with white sand and was one of my favorite spots to visit during summer vacations. We didn’t find it in that pristine state but the Sighting of a Pair of White-Bellied Sea Eagles gave us hope that this place still retains some of its wilderness in spite of ruthless commercialization. We also collected shells of dead mollusks and a spider conch was among the various sea shells found and further ahead we found intertidal pool of sea water where fingerlings of Target Perch were seen in abundance.

It was midafternoon by the time we waked up to the end of tarkarli beach and the thought of tasting

the delicious Malvani Fish Curry and munching down on ‘Bangda fry ‘(mackerel fry) had just crossed my mind when Parkar Sir called me up and said its time for lunch !

And so we went back to Malvan and satisfied our culinary fantasies after which we returned to Sawantwadi via St bus and after reaching there at the hotel while other went shopping Me, Johann and Jacob went straight to a nearby hill. we didn't see anything really interesting there although the vegetation was luxuriant and many plants looked unfamiliar but I found out that these were the two guys along with Shanti Bhandari who were as much interested in exploring the wild as me and so made up some really adventurous plans for out next day at Amboli. ……………… to be continued.

Next week I would write about our adventures in Amboli.

Credits - Want to thank Parkar sir for involving students and considering our opinion while planing the trip, Jacob and Shebby for putting togeather an awesome shell collection, Jacob for the first Photo in this Blog and those anonymous people who uploaded the pictures of Arial view of Sindudurg Fort& Sketch of Rampani Net.