Babbukudru (Byluhonne Nadutopu) -Kundapura

 

With summer season on the way, I couldn't help but think about all the wonderful opportunities to have and enjoy the crisp, fall air under trees ablaze with color without even leaving the city. Our Udupi YHA made wonderful short trip to this hidden gem, No one had never visited it before and decided a perfect day to explore it!

We have been so fortunate with the sunshiny days! We found this great place near Kundapur city close to the Arabic sea shore; it was worth the walk though this place was heaven! Babbukudru (In Kannada Kudru means island but how Kannad got joined to the name of the village is very interesting) is a remote an area of 25 acres in Byluhonne Nadutopu comes under Karnataka forest Department and one of the lowest human activities place occasionally locals visit here for their fishing activities rest of that it’s very isolated by humans. This place is supposed to only be accessible by small wooden boats.

 

The Pancha Gangavali River created a Sandy Island where the water continues to erode Arabian Sea. The trail begins exciting journey through the small boat and after landing the river bed it was much sandier and welcomed wide sandy beach. There were more open spaces and more evidence of flooding. With trees trunks themselves were bearing natural markings of flood stages. It would appear that much of the island may be under water during high flood seasons.

We noted that we saw only deciduous trees, not sure if there were any evergreens hiding in the woods because we couldn’t enter the shrubby jungle we guessed that it must be dangerous. I was surprised to find big stands of dune grass on some sections of the sandy shoreline. It's a great place to explore the beach and look across the river to Sea shore.

I found it fascinating how each side of the island has its own distinctive character. When we reached another side of the island it was low tide time and after an hour wandering there I got wonder because the whole area covered by water and whole serine went change rapidly. The species of crabs which I observed is a very colorful and it doesn't look scary at all. For me, it looks adorable. It is found along the river bed and swamp.

A typical pattern often seen on the sand at low tide are these pretty designs made out of countless tiny sand balls. It’s almost a miracle; it’s Babbukdru’s isolation that Small crabs feed on particles in the sand, processing sand into small balls, amazingly beautiful crab creations! The whole river bed was covered in these intricate designs and makes it sort of a little oasis. They are made when crabs pass sand through their mouths for food and leaving behind these sand balls.

 

These are made by the tiny Sand Bubbler crab that sifts through sand grains for edible bits another crab typical of sandy shores that create sand balls are the Soldier crabs. When the tide comes in, they seal up the burrow to hide from predators that forage at high tide. Leaving little claw marks on the sand, they sift through the debris left on the high water line, and scuttle around on sandy and other ecosystems on the lower shore.

The fiddler crabs also make little sand balls and they are much easier to spot. Chasing crabs in the sands was a great funny experience and its ability to disappear from sight almost instantly. Babbukudru sandy shore can be home to hundreds of these delightful animals. It's hot and dry out on the sandy shore at low tide. So many animals are hidden in the sand. If we look, we can see signs of them even at low tide. It's fun figuring out what animals live in the sand!

 

It’s almost as surprising that Babbukudru Island, a hidden jewel ringed by its two different outlook at high tide – Low tide times. After crossing the river we visited Kodi-Bengre’s estuary. It’s the most beautiful view in Kodi Bengre one should never miss the opportunity to see it. Here we had a nice view where the river Varahi joins Arabian Sea. We spent sometime on Sea Shore and later headed to Kundapur Light House. Finally we finished a great day in our own way with getting variety of colorful experiences in short time.