Desert of Tamilnadu – Theri Kaadu

Desert of Tamilnadu – Theri Kaadu

Vinod and myself always tell everyone proudly that India has everything from Rainforests to Deserts to Snow-capped mountains. When it comes to Tamilnadu we usually talk about evergreen forests, deciduous forests, beaches but we also have a small red desert. Aren’t our ecosystems so unique!! This red desert is a common picnic spot among South East Tamilnadu people which includes my mother. My mother and her brothers all had their happy times in this red desert.

Theri kaadu is located around 15kms from Tiruchendur. It is spread across 12,000 acres. In 2018 rainfall was good in these areas, so we decided to roam around Tiruchendur for birding. My mom always told about velvet poochi, which comes after rain in this Theri Kaadu. Our friend Ravikumar also told about Fan throated lizards in this area. Suddenly there was so much to look for us in this region. So we started our action packed day to Therikaadu.

My mom was telling about the red sand dunes and how they climb up and how they slide back down when they were kids. So when the red sand came to our view, I was eagerly looking for the dunes. But to my disappointment I saw only flattened red ground which looked like a local cricket ground. I was told that Theri kaadu vegetation is only Palm trees,Cashew trees and few shrubs. But the red sand region I saw was covered with different trees planted by Forest Department. We were confused why the forest department wanted to change this unique terrain. Anyway, as we are not experts of this terrain we just turned our focus to the birds around us. Owlet pairs were peeking from a hole in a dead palm tree.

Black Rumped Flameback Woodpecker was hopping on another palm tree. Little Green Bee-eaters were flying to catch the insects. Blue-faced Malkoha was silently moving around a shrub. Grey francolins were running around on the ground. Blue Tiger and Plain Tiger Butterflies were sucking nectar from a plant. I didn’t expect these many wildlife activities in this area.

Arunchunai Kaatha Ayyanaar temple

People from South East Tamilnadu come to Therikaadu region for temples. There are so many temples around this area. Every corner of Therikaadu has some Ayyanaar temple. Once the Sun went up, we decided to go to Arunchunai Kaatha Ayyanar temple. The temple is in a beautiful location surrounded by ponds and very old,tall trees. With the past rain, the ponds were full with water and lilies were in bloom. Neer Marudhu and Naval Fruit trees were very tall and the branches all overlapped and covered the temple. There was a small trail behind the temple and we walked to see the White-breasted water hens running through the bushes, Pond herons waiting for their meal, Brahminy kites flying, Common Iora singing song while jumping inside a tree. Suddenly something was biting my leg. To my astonishment my legs were covered with red ants. I quickly dusted them off and ran back to temple. In wild areas most of the time you have to worry about the little creatures like ticks,leeches,ants instead of snakes, tigers,elephants.

After seeing all these beautiful scenes we were back to temple. A kid very happily gave laddu to us. When I asked him whats the special occasion, he told his family had bought a new Car. I wished him and went inside the temple to see the beautiful Ayyanar. Indian Culture is generally very colorful, especially the South Indian culture.So why leave the Gods without color! These Ayyanar temples have not much restrictions like other Hindu temples. So the tourists were taking selfie with Ayyanar. Few kids even sat with Ayyanar on the horse.

I inquired in temple about Therikaadu and came to know that there are rend sand dunes in different section. So we started off to Therikaadu near Therikudiyiruppu village.

After crossing few other temples we reached another ayyanar temple and behind the temple I saw the red sand dune. Finally arrived at the red desert, we started walking on that red coarse sand.

The bright red sand dunes :

This soil is rich in ilmenite, haematite, and garnet. The haematite originating from garnet gives the soil the red color. We had been to many terrains in India, but I didn’t see this terrain anywhere else. The peacocks running around on this red dune was mindblowing. As long as I can see, I saw only red sand. The beautiful palm and cashew trees added to its beauty. The contrast of green and red in the wild is really eyecatchy.

Kestrel was sitting on a palm tree. The dead trees added beauty to this little Sahara. Rosy starling flock was dancing around joyfully. As it was the migratory season, we saw quite a number of birds. Seeing the peacocks in Tiruchendur posing around in every corner, Vinod was dreaming about taking a photo shoot of Peacocks in the red sand. But the peacocks here were running so fast behind the bushes, we just saw their leg patterns on the red soil.

When we couldn’t get a shot of the big colorful feathered one, we turned our focus to the colored little one, the fan throated lizard. We were searching for the lizard on the open sand dune, but we find one finally inside a bush.

Quite a colorful creature this little one! One can go to Therikaadu and just see the sand dunes and say whats there in this place! One can go to Therikaadu, see the unique ecosystem and the life around it and understand why Tamilnadu is really enchanting!! Its always the way we see the world. Hoping this unique ecosystem will always be protected and won’t be turned as building plots, we started our journey back.

The beautiful Common Iora song !