Mangrove Forest

We thought Dr. Sunny was saying we were going to a mango forest, but we ended up at a mangrove forest. Just as cool. We climbed a treehouse while Sunny swatted mosquitoes on our legs. There, we could see trees and wildlife for acres, as well as markings of people professing their love to each other on the treehouse walls (Rajeet ❤ Pooja, RJ + SL forever, etc.). The mangrove forests provide places for fish to mate, which allows for biodiversity. Apparently Kerala is known for it's biodiversity hotspots.

Just around the corner, there was an unbelievable amount of flying foxes, just danglin' there on trees and eating mosquitoes.

And that is a ceramic dolphin in the picture.

What I've noticed about southern India is although the cities are unbelievably busy and overwhelming, each city leaves a vast amount of nature preserves. Just behind the tea shop or xerox place, there are forests that go on beyond the imagination and sometimes go untouched. Here at Pondicherry University, the beach beyond the village is the quiet place beyond the hustle and bustle. At the mangrove forest, the wall at the entrance was decorated with quotes like, "Let mother nature take her course. She understands her own affairs better than us." and "Biodiversity is greater than the sum of its parts."

Trash still swarms the beaches, lakes, and pretty much everywhere. This paradox is interesting, but I can only make assumptions about the dynamic between Indian people and preserving the environment, and all of them are contradictory.