An Unexpected Visit to the Kadalundi Beach and Bird Sanctuary in Kerala
Kerala is home to some of the most exotic travel tour destinations in India and people from different parts of the world rush to Kerala during the peak tourism season. Being a native of Kerala, I really regret of not having explored all the major travel destinations in Kerala that are near my vicinity and whenever I plan a tour, I prefer to make it outside of Kerala. This is quite an irony and the issue is that still I am not fully aware about the potential of Kerala as a major tourism hub.
Last month I had an experience through which I was able to gain insights into the tourism potentiality of Kerala, as I had an unexpected visit to Kozhikode (Calicut) in Kerala. I traveled from Kochi to Calicut via Thrissur, Kunnamkulam, Edappal, Kadalundi and Beypore and all along the way, I was able to see some amazing beauty of the nature which I was never aware about the presence of such places in Kerala. The route was mainly based through the coastal routes and the geogprahic nature was quite unique when compared with the other major travel destinations of Kerala.
On our way, one of our friend kept talking about a place named Kadalundi and told that there was unique beach and also a bird sanctuary. Hearing this we decided to make a visit as it was just on our way. Once we reached Kadalundi, we searched for the bird sanctuary and easily located it. We reached the Kadalundi Bird Sanctuary by noon and unfortunately our visit timing was indeed wrong and we heard from the locals that the birds were visible only during the early morning and evening sessions. We felt really disappointed and was not sure whether to return or not.
But finally we decided to make a visit to the bird sanctuary irrespective of the presence of the birds. We had to walk along the side of the famous Kadalundi railway bridge to reach the sanctuary and majority of the bird sanctuary was surrounded by the ocean water as the sanctuary was lying just close to the junction where a river meets the sea. It was an amazing sight an while walking along the railway line we could see train passing by making a huge vibration on the bridge.
When we reached the bird sanctuary, we could see some sign boards put on by the Kerala Forest Department and we just went through the boards and continued our journey by foot. Once we reached the sanctuary we were quite sure that there were no birds that were active in the bird sanctuary during that time and any how we just stumbled through the bush covered sanctuary and after some time we got out of the sanctuary feeling dejected.
We continued our journey to Calicut and after our job was completed at Calicut we returned back the next day. On our return we decided to visit the Kadalundi beach which was not a typical sandy beach, but an amazing unique beach where you could spend the evening watching the sunset. We reached the Kadalundi beach at the right time in the evening and it was just near and almost opposite to the bird sanctuary that we had visited the last day.
We got out of our car and walked by foot to the Kadalundi beach and on our way we could see the local guys selling fresh Mussels (Kallumekkaya in Malayalam), which are rarely seen in other parts of Kerala. There was also an old lady by the side of the road who was frying the Mussels and charged Rs 5 for a single Mussel. We decided to taste it and to say honestly, the hot and crispy Kallumekkaya was really amazing to eat. We continued our walk and finally reached the tip point of the beach where we could see a lot of people gathered to spend their evening and watch the sunset.
We also enjoyed the beauty of the beach and also the sunset and it was really an amazing experience and really felt like spending few days over there. But unfortunately we had to go back and once the sunset at the Kadalundi beach was over, we got back on our car and sped towards Kochi. I had also brought some friend Kallumekkaya, so that we could have it during our journey, but I realised was it was good only when it was hot. It tasted awkward when the heat was gone and finally I had to throw it out before our car reached Kochi.
Personally speaking Kadalundi was not a dynamic travel spot, when compared with other major travel places in Kerala such as travel destinations in Munnar hills, the vibrant backwater spots in Aleppey, the hills of Ponmudi, the waterfalls at Athirappalli etc. But it was quite a place worth visiting and it is also an economical travel destination when compared with other places. It is not a place where you need to plan ahead of visiting, rather it is a place worth visiting when you are going along that route as I did. But next time if you are travelling through Kadalundi, I would prefer you to visit the Kadalundi Beach and also the Bird Sanctuary and make sure that you visit this place during the morning or evening sessions for a better experience.
