Andaman Day 4: Dhaninullah morning in verse

Continued from here. 

Feb 13th 2024

Long-tailed parakeets looked red-faced and angry

The Pigeons plump meditating serenely 

The sunrise just gorgeous

Mexican sunflowers enormous

So began our morning, early and sleepy.

530 am and the sun was already creating its special effects.

Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda)- we dont find them in the Indian subcontinent.  

The Green Imperial Pigeons and the Andaman Green-Pigeon sharing perches on a Winged Boot Tree - Pterocymbium tinctorium.   and is that a Minivet as well?

Rangat Dhani Nullah did we go

What we would see I did not know

Along the coast, 

I made the most

And will narrate this blow by blow.

In Sundarbans we walked at Dobanki

Tigers around, so no hanky panki

Garjan, Khalsi, Avicennia

Peyara Bain, trees of Kankra

Mudskippers, kingfishers!  Oh so grandee!

Wandered in Wandoor, in the grey mud squelching

But here on dry boards, happily airily mangroving

I did malinger

The roots were a zinger

We birders - the Ruddy KF were seeking, searching.

Click here for Sundarbans Dobanki Walk pictures

Click here for Dhaninullah mangrove pictures

At the other end of the walk was the beach 

Which I did eventually somehow reach

And what a surprise - a hatchery!

Leatherbacks, greens, Ridleys  in batcheries

The FD workers quietly dedicated to each.

The ruddy kingfisher (Halcyon coromanda) 

After breakfast, Ruddy showed up!

And magically, all the bazookas lined up, 

Rusty beauty, oh so quiet

Sturdy bill,  bright red riot

And did I enjoy that? yup yup, yup!

The mangroves teemed with life

The squelchy mud filled with action and strife

Fiddler, shore and marsh crab galore

Mudskippers and frogs - camouflage they wore

A little spider in the web of his much larger wife. 

A whole family of Chestnut headed bee eaters

Such a cheerful, flamboyant bunch of treaters 

Swooping, chattering, twittering 

Swinging, singing, familial bonding

Mine was the privilege to meet these hims and hers. 

Black-Naped tern at the jetty,  What a beauty!

And then we went off to the Rangat fishing jetty

Where soon we were all very hot and sweaty

The terns were many

But crocs, Phew, no not any!

Just doggies crunching fish a plenty!

Mishti - the Bengali hotel

Anandi - south Indian meals.  it was a good choice.  Mrs Anandi ran the place, her mother helped with serving and baby care, her husband ran the grocery store across the aisle.  The restaurant was in the aisle.  The sambar was sambar, there was fish curry, Desigan got us buttermilk too

Cooled off, back to Eden’s Garden’s splendour

Lunch?  Some of us refused the Bengali pretender!

We took to our heels

Went to Anandi Meals

And emerged feeling definitely contenter!

Afternoon at Sabari reserve follows here!

Andamans Day 2 - Kalatang - birds and butterflies

11th Feb 2024

Continued from here.

Up at 4am for a 5am departure to Shoal Bay. I had assumed we were going to the bay/beach.  Turns out I was mistaken and we were headed for Kalatng RV which is in the Shoal Bay Area, via a ferry ride from Chatham Jetty to Bamboo Flat jetty.

The ferry ride across the Port Blair bay saves a lot of time, when compared to taking an all-land route. The plan was to take the 530 am (first ferry) to the other side.  

Chatham jetty is actually on the little island of Chatham, which is reached by a short 100m bridge from Haddo in Port Blair.  The jetty was abuzz with activity.

The island houses the Saw Mill. The British set it up in 1883 to systematically denude the Andamans - it was a different time and ethos.  The Mill continues to work.  There is a Forest Museum within it full of wood artefacts - a kind of cruel reminder of  deforestation I would think.  We did not visit.

We drove onto the ferry.  The fisherwomen were already there, all waiting in an orderly fashion to take their fish to market.  Men on bikes, heading to work, traders with wares to sell, and a bunch of tourists like us. I loved the island vibe - everything was so calm and relaxed, but everything seemed to run on time - except the service at Shreesh!

Chatham island receded, and as I looked back I saw the hilly nature of the island, the tip of a volcanic upheaval.  

Twenty minutes later, we were at the Bamboo Flat jetty, and ready to move on to Kalatang.  Mount Harriet  National Park was somewhere on our right.  I was very fascinated by the ferry on/off as you can see in the video below.

    

Drives through the Andamans are always scenic - water bodies here and there, turn a bend and all of a sudden, the sea may be in front of you, and of course the forest trees.  But increasing pressures of human habitation and agriculture are here as well.

Wimberlygunj is on the way - and our drivers stopped at Fathima stores for much needed morning chai.

Such delight on Ravi's face on spying Pazhampozhi at Fatima stores!! The group fell upon them as if there was no tomorrow, and everyone was immediately awake, cheerful, alert and garrulous.  Bring the birds on!

The mist was still hanging in the air.

A few large bungalows lined the road, before we reached the mangroves of Wright Myo Creek.

Tall Stilt Mangroves grew besides the road, probably the end of the creek.  Low tide left a lot of mud and silt, and sadly, plastic too.

Click here to see the drive besides the Wright Myo creek mangroves.  We drove slowly looking for the ruddy kingfisher, but all was quiet, not a single bird call did I hear in this stretch.  

We arrived at our destination - a bus stop, a culvert over some water run off, a mud track going to the right past a dump yard, and a graveyard!  As we alighted, we could hear bird calls from all sides.  

The mud track along which we birded.

The forest path was lined with these shrubs, which I identified upon return as Malabar Melastome, commonly called Indian rhododendrons though no relation of the actual Rhodos.  You can see the 3 main veins, the red stems and the beautiful pink/violet flowers. 

The shrubs were probably planted/brought in by the British - flowersofindia.net notes that 

"In Southeast Asia and elsewhere it is a widespread weed of industrial forest plantation crops (such as rubber and mahogany), orchards, and rice fields."

As we walked, every few steps Jabili would point to something - Long Tailed Parakeets, Minivets, Glossy Starlings and Black-naped Orioles - high up in the canopy.  The birds were all catching the morning sun.  

Somewhere up there was a Violet Cukooo too.  It was backlit and looked like a black cuckoo to me.  With a name like that I expected a nice brightly coloured bird that matched those flowers above!  So, this was most unsatisfactory.

The Green Imperial Pigeons were well behaved.  They sat still and long enough for me to get a good look, though the dull day did not do justice to their colours, as also those of the Asian Emerald Doves.  They were too high and too far away and we did not bother taking pictures - the others did.  

It was nice to see an older English birdwatching couple too, on the road.  

 

The doctor "twins" Ravi and Gasper chose this beautiful spot to just sit and watch the birds in the Ficus tree opposite - there were Ornate sunbirds, White Eyes, Andaman bulbuls, Andaman Flowerpeckers, Red Whiskered bulbuls, mynas and doves flitting through the tree.  They would not sit still and it was a great game trying to spy what I knew was definitely there but still could not be seen.

Jabili heard a Mangrove Whistler too, but I did not, sadly.  

Chestnut-headed bee eaters hawked and swooped over the gravestones, and kingfishers sat on the wire watching.

White Bellied Sea Eagles soared above - we were not far from the bay, after all.

We halted for breakfast at around 815, using the bus stop as our picnic spot.  No bus came, no passengers alighted, and it was all very peaceful.  breakfast was heavy - 4 idlies and sambar!

More wandering after breakfast - the doctors and Sekar decided to have a short snooze in the car (the idlies were asking for a post prandial siesta), while I chased butterflies.  

The dump yard - of which I refused to take a picture - was a favourite for the Andaman Crake I believe.  Jabili waited patiently for it, as did some others.  I think it made a fleeting and hurried scoot across the road - and I did not see it.  Desigan gave a vivid and animated description of its scoot across in the blink of an eye.  He managed a picture, if I'm not mistaken.

The Andaman Glassy Tigers flitted about in the undergrowth, and this one sat still for a minute.

Parantica aglea ssp. melanoleuca

The endemic Andaman Clippers were also quite common, and  delightful to watch.  They were polite and gracious enough to allow me to photograph them.

There were a lot of Common Ceruleans around - this one sat on a Hyptis (bush mint) plant

I thought this was a Common Leopard, but on return I learnt it was Phalanta alcippe, the Small Leopard.  The markings at the edge are different. 

A grey Pansy rested in the shrubbery.

We took the 1130 ferry back to Port Blair, via Chatham island.  But there was still one more treat.  Jabili asked us to watch the mango trees on the shore at the Chatham jetty.  This was the tree where the Pied Imperial Pigeon hung around. 

As we approached the shore, I scanned the tree with my binoculars, whilst Umesh, Desigan and Srinivas looked through their cameras.  We spotted a head here, a rump there, some movement from one branch to the other.  As we neared the shore, I finally did manage a glimpse of the whole bird.  How magnificent it was!  A lifer for me - this large white and black pigeon.  What a regal beauty I thought!  I learnt that it mainly seen in small islands and in coastal areas.  How fascinating - why would a tree-dwelling pigeon choose to/need to live close to the coast?  I came back and checked the call - and this was deep and magnificent too!

Photo by Desigan of the Pied Imperial pigeon in the mango tree.

We returned to high tide, and I marvelled at the brilliance of Phoenix Bay, shimmering blue and silver.

Back to Shreesh, and the comical struggle for some fresh lime soda refreshments.

Umesh requested a newbie waiter for 8 Fresh Lime sodas, and the chap looked distinctly unhappy.  First he said "No English", then when Umesh lapsed into Hindi, he desperately said "No Hindi" and then even there "no soda, soda finished" at Umesh.  Umesh was quite indignant at this, and seeing his ire, the said waiter disappeared!

Shreesh has a strange system where the dining room has a pantry attached, but the kitchen was one level down... so food came up from below.  So while we waited for our dal roti sabzi, we investigated the pantry, but found no signs of any human nor of the fresh-lime drinks...After a while, the "senior" waiter sauntered in.  Umesh repeated the order to him and said we had ordered but it had not showed up and neither had lunch. This waiter looked pityingly at us, and asked "whom did you order from?"  And then said airily, "Oh he doesn't know anything, I will get you."  it was all very Fawlty Towers and Manuelesque.

The fresh lime eventually did come - but after we finished our lunch!   An oh yes, the rice would come before the rotis, making Umesh even more grumpy - since he wanted the rotis and not the rice...we all merrily chowed whatever came first!

eBird Checklist - 11 Feb 2024 - Kalatang - 40 species

 

Garacharma wetlands awaited us, in the evening.

ANET and the Wandoor mangroves

15th April 2017

Continued from here.

Our first visit to the Andaman Islands, thanks to MNS.  After a brief stop at Sippighat in search of Andaman Teals, we arrived on a cloudy sultry morning at ANET - the Andaman & Nicobar Environment Team - Base Camp in Wandoor.

Wandoor is in the southern part of the main south Andaman island.  The station was conceived and set up by Rom Whitaker and Satish Bhaskar and Alok Mullick in the late eighties, and there's a blog that gives details of their vision, the place as it is now, and the Do's and Don'ts that make for interesting reading.  Click here for that link.

Base Director Manish Chandi met us here, and took us through an introduction to the ecology and anthropology of the islands, as well as the work that goes on in ANET.

I was thoroughly fascinated (and filled with chagrin) with Manish's description of the islands, the people, and the attempts of the "outside world" to "deal" with them.  Of the original thirteen indigenous tribes, only four remain in the Andaman islands thanks to these efforts.  I learnt about the Shompen of Nicobar, the Karen families from Myanmar, the post tsunami development and rehabilitation which may not all be as helpful as it seems, and a lot more.

At this point, the clouds opened, and the rain poured down quite literally in buckets, and it was wonderful to sit in the verandah and enjoy the sight, after hot and dry Madras.  I cannot put in words the singing in my heart at that moment.  Rain!  I can quite happily sit and watch it for hours.

The cabins were on stilts, and for our cabin, you went up the stairs, walked around the cabin on an elevated verandah, and then entered this room for four, which was our quarters for the three unique days at ANET.  Arjun took the floor mattress, GP and me the double bed and Sekar on the single.  

The others were in similar digs spread around the central kitchen and dining areas.  Each cabin is named after one of the scientists, and I now have forgotten the name of our scientist/cabin.

The four of us had the use of a toilet and bath, just around the corner, in a manner of speaking.

A RWH pond (the Andaman treepies, drongos and hill mynas hung round the pond too), is the source of freshwater at ANET, and someone would magically fill the large drum in the bathroom, with water every day, and we managed quite beautifully, splitting bath timings into a morning and evening shift!  Of course the stay was made even more unforgettable as we were treated to a Spanish baritone performance every morning!

Andaman Cat Snake (Boiga andamanensis) curled up by the closed thatched window

A torch was essential to walk around at night, but none of us came upon a snake, as i think there were so many of us, and we made such an excited racket that they probably wisely kept away.  Bhanu, who went in August, found a pair of Andaman Cat snakes on the beams in her room!

Bhanu was delighted to see them and in her own words, quickly took out her camera to takes these pictures.

They have vertical pupils which gives them their name, and they are endemic to the Andamans.

..and this bigger  one was on the beams above was the male.

Monto, one of the oldest field staff at ANET expertly caught and removed them from her room.

We birded around the campus, Sivakumar slipped and cracked a rib in the process, Kedar misplaced many a thing, Keerthana and Elumalai kept a watch for the resident scops owl, we saw what we thought was an invasive bullfrog, we actually survived (quite happily) without our phones, and with minimal electricity.  We also learnt the chilling, grisly story of the woman who was killed by a saltwater croc off the coasts of Havelock, which is the reason the Andaman police shoo people off the shoreline as soon as the sun sets.

Our meals were south Indian, fresh and delicious, and we all gathered at mealtimes to exchange stories and post-dinner, to listen to the wonderful, passionate young researchers of ANET.  They were from all over the country and I really enjoyed their company and their spirit.  Dialogues and discussions with these young researchers were an eye opener in several ways. For one, their positive energy, passion and enthusiasm was wonderfully infectious and energising for jaded, urban and middle-aged me.  And there was so much of good interventions and scientific studies that were going on.

The kitchen

The pathway around the campus

There are many other things that Bhanu spotted at ANET.

Fringed Red Eye (Matapa cresta) 

Asiatic Blood Tail (Lathrecista asiatica) dragonfly 

The Andaman Green Bronzeback ( Dendrelaphis andamanensis)

Andaman Clipper (Parthenos sylvia roepstorfii) 

The Andaman Viscount (Tanaecia cibaritis) an endemic.

Bracket fungi

A Stinkhorn mushroom! They smell vile I believe.

White Tiger (Danaus melanippus) 

                                                                    

             

The evening walk through the mangroves

That evening, Manish took us through the mangroves to the north Wandoor beach as a light steady drizzle accompanied us.   He walked barefeet in the gooey, wet mud and warned us of sandflies that we shouldn't itch but ignore!  (Tip:  Sandlflies seem to also not like Odomos - I used it, and didn't get bitten!)

On my return I read that the ANI archipelago has 38 mangrove species!  "38 mangrove species belonging to 12 families and 19 genera, which includes 4 hybrids and 34 species. In other words, about 50% of the global mangrove species" are present in Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Mangroves stabilise and protect the coastal ecosystems, and are therefore especially important for island systems like the ANI.  They provide hard wood, as well as serve as nurseries for several species of fish and snail.  In some way they are important for the health of the reefs as well.

The tsunami tidal waves had come in here and destroyed large portions of the mangrove, which were now in the process of recovery.  The mangroves had protected the interior spaces.

The littoral zone had Andaman Bulletwood (sea mahua) and large Pandanus (kewra).  I didn't know that Pandanus could grow this tall!

The elliptical leaves of Bruguiera?

These leaves are eaten by crabs

Knee roots (Bruguiera species) and pencil roots (Avicenna)

The aerial roots of Rhizophora (mucronata or mange?)

 I thought thats an Avicennia in the foreground, but Manish has corrected it as Cerbera Odallam - this is not a mangrove but grows well in swampy and marshy areas, and is fairly poisonous from what I read.

Crabs feasting on the Pandanus fruit, making for a very carnivorous composition!

The fruits were all over the place, and Manish explained that they were an important local source of  nutrition and food.  Post tsunami, there was replanting of Pandanus underway on the Nicobar islands.

...as were the well fed crabs that pretended to be snails!

The pools of water had mudskippers, tadpoles and other assorted wrigglies.

Lookout the propagation seed to the left

Unidentified flower

If Im not mistaken, a Bruguiera tree.

And then we were on the beach...

It is a sheltered cove on the western coast of south Andamans, and it was low tide with almost no waves

Walking further west, we came upon a sandy beach.  The light was fading fast.

A "Pano" shot of the beach

There were several fallen trees, and there was a wabi sabi beauty and stillness around them.

                                                                                                                               










































































































We returned back to the camp via the village road, and having worked up a good appetite, we fell upon the dinner like a pack of wild dogs!  (I'm sure the ANET staff had not come across such hearty appetites!)

The next morning we were scheduled to go off for the day to Rutland Island, and it was to be an early start, from the Pongi Balu Jetty.

ANET seemed like an idyll, a refuge; Wonder if I could move there...I could be the cook I suppose, or the local mother hen for children's groups.... as the fan whirred ineffectively over the mosquito net that night, and an owl hooted in the distance, these were my wishful thoughts before sleep overcame me.

Through the course of our stay there, besides being completely humbled, awestruck and amazed at the natural beauty of the region, there was so much of learning on animal behaviours and vulnerabilities and the impacts of intervention and human development.

We learnt about how geckos slept at night in order to increase their chances of survival from predation; how there are seagrass meadows where dugongs graze, and their numbers are in peril; coral reef can be resilient, resistant or susceptible and how do we learn to "manage" and maintain the resilient ones that bounce back after catastrophes;  the tsunami impacts were all too plain to see - from geological changes in the lay of the land (quite literally), to destruction of communities and their rebuilding.

ANET is also developing curriculum to help the islanders understand their own ecology and environment via the Treasured Islands series, and working with fishing communities, studying their practices and looking at ways to control over fishing.

May Manish Chandi and his tribe grow, people with a positive outlook, looking to make a difference wherever they are. The only path to sustainable development seems to be to reduce, recycle and reuse.  And it has to start with me.