Nature walk in Aloor Lake – Kanniyakumari Nature Foundation

Aloor lake is a small lake situated in Chunkankadai road near Nagercoil. The route to Aloor lake is very scenic with paddy fields and a lovely small railway station. “Suzhal arivom” group arranged a nature walk in this lake. Around 6.30 am more than 25 people including the local panchayat head attended the walk. It was a pleasant breezy Sunday. The old temple , large peepul tree added beauty to the natural surroundings of the lake.

Old architectures always have a classical feel when entwined with nature. This is one such old temple in Aloor lake and interestingly chess like games were also inscribed on the stones.

Almost all the lakes/ponds in Kanniyakumari district were man-made. This one is not an exception, so this place is ideal for humans to bathe, wash clothes, lotus picking rather than an ideal habitat. The lake vegetation is majorly filled with Lotus and then Lilies, crested floating heart, hydrilla and few cat tails. The lake is bordered by Calotropis gigantea, American mint, Lantana camara, Tridax Daisy, Wattakaka volubilis, Phyllanthus reticulatus etc.

Wattakaka volubilis was shown to the people and the medicinal uses of this plant was explained. The leaves of this sneezewort/green milkweed are used as ointments on infected areas.

The local villagers were not happy about the spread of lotus in the lake as it hinders the swimming activity. Experts in the group explained about the importance of water bodies and bird habitat. There are more than 2000 waterbodies in Kanniyakumari, but almost none of those are bird friendly.

The backdrop of Western ghats mountain range added more serenity to the Aloor lake. Whistling ducks, Grey herons were flying above the lake but none landed there. Except for bronze-winged jacana and pond heron, no bird was spotted in the lake. Asian palm swift, Little Green Bee-eater, White-breasted Kingfisher, Brahminy kite were spotted on the surrounding coconut trees.

The group went to the nearby Government school and after a brief introduction, topics about the waterbodies, environmental degradation, and climate change were discussed.

Discussion about the current environmental degradation and how to handle the climate change happened on the Aloor school ground.

In Kanniyakumari there is less awareness about the environment as it all looks green. So there were discussions about regular visits to forest, camping for kids, bird watching for all age group people, taking kids for nature walks in forest and so on. Kanniyakumari Nature Foundation will be conducting these kind of nature activities in Kanniyakumari in the near future.