Pichavaram

While the Sundarbans in West Bengal/Bangladesh covers a massive, sprawling territory of thousands of square kilometers, Pichavaram is the second largest contiguous mangrove ecosystem in the world. It features a highly unique landscape where a long, narrow sandbar permanently separates the calm, shallow brackish water channels from the rough open waves of the Bay of Bengal.

The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) operates both, but the Rowboat is highly recommended. ​Motorboats are large and fast, but because of their size and deep draft, they can only travel along the wide, open main water channels. ​Rowboats are small and steered by local fishermen. They can easily glide into the incredibly narrow, silent "root tunnels" where the low mangrove branches completely arch over your head like a green roof, providing the true, magical Pichavaram experience.

Because the forest floors are permanently flooded with salty water and sticky, oxygen-depleted mud, the mangrove trees cannot breathe like regular plants. ​To survive, they have evolved pneumatophores (pencil-like breathing roots) that grow vertically upwards out of the mud and water into the open air to absorb oxygen during low tide. You will also see massive networks of "stilt roots" branching out from the trunks into the water to provide physical stability against moving tides.

Yes, it is an absolute paradise for birders, especially between November and February. Pichavaram attracts over 170 species of migratory birds flying along the Central Asian Flyway. You can easily spot bright kingfishers, egrets, herons, reef-herons, pelicans, cormorants, and spoonbills feeding on the rich population of fish, prawns, and crabs thriving in the shallow root zones.