Alligators spotted near Kuruvadweep

First of all, this is not new news. I remember my eldest brother Biju, saying that he saw one of the creatures while he went on a one day picnic to Kuruvadweep along with his friends from NSS Engineering College, Palakkad. That was around 13-15 years ago. Now, alligators are seen in lot in the two rivers that form Kabani, which splits and join together to form Kuruvadweep. But till now, these creatures have not attacked any human beings or cows.

According to Baby chettan, who is working as a pump operator nearby this place, these reptiles are seen from around 10 am to 4pm or 5 pm, lying on the rocks in the river. They may like a daily 6 hours' sun bath, I guess.

The reptile was not clearly visible from the Payyampally side of the river. So I walked along the two bridges that is constructed across Mananthavady River, and Panamaram River and reached the other side of the river. Baby chettan helped to spot a good location where I can take a good snap of the reptile. The river is more than 100 meters wide, and was flowing full, with muddy water after the monsoon. The alligator was lying in the middle of the river so I had to use the full 12x zoom of my camera, as well as the 1.5x tele-convertor lens to get a good shot of the reptile.

I climbed up the tree shown below, to a height of 15 feet and took these snaps. Since these reptiles are now in large numbers, it is high time some government authorities should protect them so that they won’t be killed, as well as protect the people from these mammoth reptiles.

The moment we made some sound, the alligator retreated into the water and disappeared. So thinking of taking a close up shot by reaching some more near with the help of a small boat was not in the picture.