Nature Stroll in Nanmangalam

Appa (Dad) approved a sudden trip to Nanmangalam Forest as he came down to Velachery. We started from my grandparent’s house at 6.50 am, which is on Velachery – Tambaram Road. Appa switched on Google maps to find out the direction and distance. It showed 11kms from Velachery Vijayanagar bus stand.  It was my first trip with my telephoto lens (55-250mm) and Tripod.

We took Velachery – Tambaram Main Road and crossed the marshy and swampy lands of Pallikaranai. There were the horrible scavengers, the crow. Like the lion “The King of jungle” , Crow happens to be the “King of swamps”.

Appa applied the brake all of a sudden and asked me to take pictures of a pond on the left. Amma (mom) and I went near the pond and got surprised seeing big, beautiful and milky white ducks. I didn’t listen to appa’s words about clicking the lilies of the pond… instead captured duck kingdom.  

There was an old banyan tree with lot of prop roots. When a man passed near it I captured the massive height and width of the banyan comparing to the thin and short man. 

Amma pulled me from the area because a dog came near to us. But I stood steadily and took a snap of the dog, which was pleasing.

We headed towards Nanmangalam but confused in finding the entrance. Atlast after enquiring a pilgrim in a Nagathamman Temple (near to the green gate), we entered the forest extension centre’s gate.  When we entered I sighted a black and white butterfly on a small blade of grass. 

We were about to start the walk into the forest. But watchee asked us to get the permission from the ranger. My appa and amma coordinated with the officials over phone and got the permission. I used this time to capture some pictures nearby. I captured some pictures like draining the water from cooked rice, flowers and a beautiful butterfly sucking nectar from flowers. A cute little girl with her grandma posed for a photo. She wanted to write on the slate. Meantime we got permission and saw a man “fit” approaching us. His name is Mr.Sathyasheelan. He joined with us for the trip (It is compulsory to go with a watchee).

The day before was a rainy day. A bulb lighted in my mind and captured water droplets. 

We started our trip to the deep forest. I clicked a small ant hill. 

 I saw yellow spotted black beetle. It was running her and there.

Then a snail welcomes us by coming out of the shell.

The path we walked was a one foot road which went like a snake, turning and turning.

We saw a small black fruit with dropping water. 

Slowly the path became a trekking path. Actually we went for photography but it turned up to a trekking trip. This place is good for family trekking. 

Many artificial small ponds were dug out by the forest department to store water.

My amma asked me to snap some trees there. I did it.

We came across many small water bodies and streams.

 On either side of the forest two hills were seen.

We stamped on rhizomes of grass which were ugly. I thought that it would be polished like grass leaf but it was not.

Luckily we spotted a bird on the top of a big tree. I won’t forget the bird because it made me run to capture it in my lens.

We located a brown and yellow coloured flower of a grass which was like a small bush.

The path made me a tough trekker.

There were plants which had leaves in green and copper red colour.

Suddenly I saw up and made my camera to fit my eyes and took two birds which were like the Dementors which came in Harry Potter movie.

 Then I took aside and captured the fighter plane of India from Air force Station (Jai Hind)

 The different types of algae impressed me.

We spotted a rare fruit which belongs to Cacti family. Amma told that it was edible

Atlast we reached the first surprise – a beautiful pond surrounded by rocks.

Appa started to snag me to take a photo of him with the background of the pond. I did it for his sake.

Next after a small walk we reached the second pond which had the real natural look. 

A crow was chasing another crow.

Then we reached the third pond where we threw some stones to capture rising up of water. This was the end of the forest territory.

A massive snake was lying on the rock restlessly turning and resting 

On return back, in the first pond we started a kingfisher sitting on a rock and waiting to catch its prey.

Name plate made of leaves of agave.

We located a millipede on the way.

Then we returned back.

How to Reach:

Take Velachery – Tambaram Road

Get down at Vengai Vasal

Reach the gate of Forest Extension Centre – Nearest landmark – Road side Nagathamman temple

Timings:

6.00 am to 5.00 pm

Prior permission is needed from the Forest Department.

A person will accompany our stroll.

Back Pack:

Water Bottle, Cap, Umbrella, dry snacks, binocular and camera. Better avoid plastics to make it a litter free zone.

Trekking shoes

Facts about Nanmangalam Forest:

It is a beautiful forest inside the city limit. A nature lover would surely like it. This place has to be preserved as it may be a landmark for Chennai Greenery. Forest Department is going to promote this area into an eco friendly tourist spot. It is people’s (ours) responsibility to cooperate with the forest officials to preserve this area.