A short trek through the tropical forests of Havelock Island leads one to the mangrove settlement of Elephant Beach. This is where one has to watch their step as the entire place is literally swarming with sea shells.
After walking through the mangrove slush, one finally arrives at the golden sands of the super secluded Elephant Beach. But, the movement of the sea shells continues even in the golden sands here.
The sea shells come in all shapes, colours and sizes. I have seen various live sea shells during my marine adventures, but, this was my first experience of sighting a conch shell, a very rare sight indeed.
It is very heartening to note that such near perfect ecosystems still survive and thus allowing some rare species to establish themselves here. Hope this ecosystem stays this way for many more years to come.
Travel blog of an Indian traveler living his dream of experiencing the world and inspiring others to live their travel dream. Focus areas are travel and visa tips, destination guides, experiential travel stories and traveling as a vegetarian.
Cool! Those are hermit crabs, yeah?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if these are Hermit Crabs, Surnish. Hermit Crabs tend to retract very quickly into their respective shells when they sense movements, plus they are slightly faster.
ReplyDeleteI guess these are sea snails, though I am no expert.
Very interesting creatures! They have quite larger shells to carry..must be tough walking with those heavy gear.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Even, I am getting more and more confused about them being hermit crabs instead of sea snails. But, the entire place was swarming with sea snails. May be I am wrong. I checked the web and methinks too that these are hermit crabs.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed fabulous to see alive and kicking!
Great!!! i too think these are hermit crabs, and both, me and my son are fascinated by them! you should see the number of shells we bring back from beaches! but it is indeed great to see them with the crabs alive inside!
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