We packed, left Nature's Nest and headed for the mouth of the Zuari river, from where we were to go on a ferry ride.
It was a hazy morning, and a Brahminy Kite circled lazily overhead before going to rest on one of the buildings. For some reason it reminded me of the Bosphorus views from Uskudar. Maybe the network of ferries, and the river economy, maybe the terrace cafes.
We loitered around for a bit, before we set off in our little ferry, with Mr Kamath as our guide.
Zuari, a tidal river - this I didn't know
I daydreamed as I watched the fishermen in the distance, enveloped in my own silence as desultory snippets of conversation swirled around me.
A goods train crossed the river and snapped me out of my reverie, and yes we needed to answer nature's call before we got on that boat!
We veered off the river into a mangrove-lined canal. Mr Kamath said this was the Cumbarjuem canal (had never heard of it), and it connected the Zuari with the Mandovi further north. How amazing! I came back and checked it out on the map, and sure enough there was this meandering canal between Mandovi in the north and Zuari in the south.
Mandovi is freshwater and Zuari is tidal, so I wonder how it all works. We saw a couple of lock-like things along the way. Strangely (but happily), we didn't see much commercial traffic on the river, and as a result saw a LOT of birds!
Kingfishers everywhere, brahminy kites too, parakeets in the trees, cormorants and darters in the water, and greenshanks, curlews and sandpipers of all types at the water's edge.
A terek sandpiper too - all the way from Russia! Large egrets stood stock still as we passed, as did the pond herons and a lone green heron.
But this raptor was what caught our eye!
First up, was this magnificent Osprey, sitting on one of the poles, looking magnificent indeed. This photo of the fish eating large raptor is taken by Mr Ramanan
So many kinfisher varieties! This stork-billed gave everyone a lot of poses. Photo by Mr Ramanan
Photo by Mr Ramanan. Peregrine falcon! The fastest member of the animal kingdom! But there it sat so innocuously, high up, under the bridge. Sadly, I did not witness its fantastic and legendary swoop - supposedly goes into a dive @380 kms/hr!! Check out some youtube videos on these birds.
Further down the river, and there were a series of poles each with a tern perched on them, bobbing madly in the tide!
Then we headed back to shore, hungry for more than the puffs we could muster for breakfast!
On to Maina lake.
We drove through the city and little byelanes to come across this picturesque urban lake, filled with ducks!
I gazed at the water lilies, as the whistling teals flew by announcing our presence!
On the other side of the road was this vast expanse of paddy. A delightful green and I watched the farmers at work in the distnace.
It was very warm by now, midday, and we all headed for lunch, which was pretty disappointing, and then off to the airport making our long way home.
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