Conde Nast Traveller: On the Islands of Adam’s Bridge, Millions of Birds Find a Home

Snaps by Adityavikram More

DESTINATIONS

On the islands of Ram Setu, millions of birds find a home

The Dancing Islands between India and Sri Lanka are a transient home for 15 million migratory birds

BY AREFA TEHSIN

3 April 2024

On the last stretch of our drive to Mannar Island on the northwest tip of Sri Lanka, GoogleMaps, in a muddle of good intentions, suggested the shortest way through Wilpattu National Park. This slushy dirt trail is not taken even by safari goers. The light was fading, and waterholes popped like thought bubbles as our jeep blundered ahead. Thankfully, no jumbo came strolling our way till we exited the jungle two hours later.

Finally, we were in Mannar, the point in Sri Lanka from where India is visible. Across 30 kilometres of the Palk Strait, a series of 16 islands connect Talaimannar at the northwestern point of Mannar to Dhanushkodi on the Pamban Island on the southeastern edge of India. This archipelago is known by many names: Adam’s Bridge, Ram Setu, or simply, the Dancing Islands. They earn their name from their transient nature. Made up of sand, corals and limestone shoals, the islands keep shifting above the strait. As the winds blow, the sands move, the islands sink and rise, dancing with the ebb and flow of sea currents.

Cross the Mannar causeway and bridge, and you are on an islandwithin the island country. The fifty-square-kilometre landmass, where all directions point seaward, abounds in mosques, churches, technicolour kovils (temples), uninhabited sand dunes, birds, feral horses and donkeys. Occasionally, on the streets, you’ll find a donkey lost in contemplation, refusing you the right of passage.

Mannar, famous for pearl fishing since the 2nd century AD, is a global hub for 15 million migratory birds of 250 different species, who use it as a pit stop along their long journeys across the Central Asian Flyway. As the last landmass for birds travelling on the CAF, Mannar is pivotal for migration. Of these millions of birds, 150 species winter here, including the Eurasian oystercatcher, pied avocet, sanderling, northern pintail, and greater flamingo. Twenty six nationally threatened species including the Indian courser, spot-billed duck, sooty tern, bridled tern and Saunders’ tern even breed in Mannar and the dancing islands.

“The wetland environment is one of the most priceless gifts of nature,” proclaims UNDP. These birds are true global citizens, flying in from far and wide, billowing with the breeze, fishing in the shallow waters and sunning themselves in the tropical heat. Here you’ll find most birds believe in impermanence, putting up messy nests, hippy style.

Among them are black-tailed godwits, garganeys, pintails, plovers, terns and the pink celebrities—the flamingos. They follow the migratory routes of their ancestors and arrive in Mannar in the Vankalai Sanctuary (a Ramsar Wetland), Adam’s Bridge and the Korakulum wetland—the only freshwater lake on this windy island.

While the birds have the entire island to themselves, you can stay at The Palmyrah House. Built over a part of a 35-acre sweeping mangrove, it blends in perfectly with the ecology. There’s much to explore in Mannar. A Portuguese fort, rebuilt by the Dutch, overlooks the Indian Ocean. Centuries-old baobab trees stand stoically through the hurried march of civilisations. In the colonial era, the historic pier at Talaimannar was along the main route for Indo-Ceylon traffic. For a century, a lone lighthouse has stood sentinel at the old pier, condemned to rust.

Out of the 16 dancing sandy islets of Adam’s Bridge, eight are under India’s domain and eight under Sri Lanka’s. My partner Aditya and I obtained permissions from the Wildlife Department and Sri Lankan Navy to visit one of these islands. And there we were, with the naturalist Indika Jayatissa and two boatmen in a bright blue fishing boat. Far out in the ocean, the motorboat refused to budge. The boatman jumped down and started pushing the boat while walking on the shallow ocean floor.

Though we didn’t come across the elusive dugongs or sea cows, we travelled across the Adam’s Bridge, which, geological evidence suggests, was once a land connection between India and Sri Lanka. As we walked on the first islet shielding our eyes against a sandstorm, a flock of gulls on the sands rose in a blizzard of wings. And settled, as sure as darts, in the shallow waters. Heuglin’s gulls earned fame when they were tagged in 2021. They journeyed 20,000km to Northern Russia and back! The birds, with ancient memories, remember the routes, just as the desert remembers being a sea once.

Wildlife organisations have been warning about a proposed mega project of windmills in Mannar that threatens the refuge given to travelling birds from times older than Lord Ram’s Vanar Sena. It remains to be seen which way the wind will blow.

While returning from the first islet at night, we lost our way. The nightwatchman of a moon shone in the sky. The delicate scent of the sea carried away the diesel fumes. The distant lights on the shore seemed unreachable as the skippers kept jumping in the ocean to push the boat around. I felt a tiny bond which the two of us city dwellers had formed with the naturalist and seafarers, and wondered about the great friendships forged by the birds travelling the globe together. Sometimes, the most unusual ensembles give flamboyant payoffs. What do you get when you add flies to butter? Well, the answer is on the wings of time. 

Essentials

• How to get there: Express Train from Colombo to Thalaimannar (7.5 hours); Private cab (7 hours)
• Permits: No permit required for the island of Mannar. Wildlife Department and Sri Lanka Navy permissions required to visit one of the Dancing Islands.
• Seasons: November to March is the best time for migratory birds. Flamingo sightings are from late December to March.
• Resident birds: Through the year, you’ll find species like the grey francolin, long-tailed shrike, black drongo, barn owl, black-rumped flameback woodpecker, among others.