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Pathiramanal

Island in Kerala, India

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Pathiramanal is a small island in Muhamma panchayat of Alappuzha district located in Vembanad Lake. The name Pathiramanal means 'midnight sand'. It is home to many rare varieties of migratory birds from different parts of the world.

01Geography

The Pathiramanal Island is 28.505 ha. It is about 1.5 km from Muhamma boat jetty and about 13 km from Alapuzha. From the jetty close by Baker Bungalow the distance to the island is about 5 km and from Kumarakom 4 km towards northwest.

  • Maximum length: 550m (SW to NE)
  • Maximum width: 450m (SE to NW)
  • Perimeter: 1800 m
  • Estimated Area: 19.6 ha
  • Distance to the nearest main land: 810m
Visitors walking through Pathiramanal Island
Visitors walking through Pathiramanal Island
An information board at Pathiramanal island
An information board at Pathiramanal island

02History

The island (also known as Anantha Padmanabhan Thoppu) was purchased by Chevalier ACM Anthraper, from M/s Bheemji Devji Trust of Cochin and was under the private ownership of Thaimattathil Family until the late seventies. When Land Reforms Acts were enforced in the State in 1979, the island came under government ownership. The island was returned to the government as a surplus land that crossed the land ceiling. It was later transferred to the Tourism Department and the idea of leasing it out to private enterprises was under consideration. The island at present is uninhabited. Till the late 1970s, 14 worker families resided in the island, who were later rehabilitated on the mainland in the Muhamma panchayath.

A walkway at Pathiramanal
A walkway at Pathiramanal

03Birdwatching

The island is home to around 91 local species of birds and 50 migratory birds. One can see pintail ducks, common teal, night heron, cormorant, darter, Indian shag, purple heron, gulls, terns, large egrets, intermediate egret, cattle egret, Indian pond heron, little egret, pheasant-tailed and bronze-winged jacanas, stork-billed kingfisher, watercock, whistling duck, cotton pygmy-goose, little cormorant and whiskered tern. Some people have even reported seeing the monarch flycatcher.

Little cormorant perched at Pathiramanal
Little cormorant perched at Pathiramanal
Watch videos about PathiramanalExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Pathiramanal, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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