My next expedition was to an archeological site. I had been wanting to visit this place since I heard about it. No prizes for guessing who enlightened me about this place LOL *Blush blush* :-D
This place is near to Pondicherry. So here I was with one hardly free day MAY 1st on Laborer's day all planned to see the wood fossils of Tiruvakarai. I had to leave by 7 AM (SO sad but def'ly worth it :P). The bus stand really irritated me and almost spoiled my mood, when a cranky fully crowded bus came up, I made up my mind to go for this bus, cos standing in the bus stand wasn't fascinating me in the least. So even though the ride was extremely horrible, i had the pleasure of being seated on the engine right next to the driver hehe. It was kind of fun ;-).
We reached Pondicherry around 11 and then got an vehicle to go to Tiruvakarai. But bloody office can't leave an lady alone to have fun right? they called me 2-3 times and asked me to come to office. Here I am almost 4 hours away from Chennai and they expect me to leave my expedition to go and work for them !!!! Duhh I had better plans. Even though I had to waste almost an hour convincing them that I would be back by evening and work, I had the satisfaction of scolding my HR for trying to drag me on a holiday and that too on laborer's day. ;-D
Anyway the drive was almost an hour and I visited a chicken farm on the way and then reached this place.
Hey look at this cute little Chick ;-)
We keep going Qwack Qwack Qwack :P
Man was i dumb founded, the rock fossils no way look like stone, they look like wood pieces scattered around only. But when you touch them you can feel the texture of the stone rather than wood. This region in and around teh fossil park has these wood barks scattered all around in the natural scenery and you will be amazed as I was to know that, they are 20 million years old. I was so intrigued by the fact that I wanted to snap some of my pictures with these fossils , cos I will be long gone but the fossils will still be there in the same place for years and generations to come.
When I came back, I googled some of the information about this place but sadly even though this is almost an marvel, there are not much people who know about this place or much promotion for this wonder. All i could manage to get was this
"It's the only Petrified Forest in India. Other petrified wood forests are in Santa Cruz, Argentina, National park in northeastern Arizona, Lesvos (Greece), Curio Bay (New Zealand), and Nová Paka (Czech Republic). Southern Alberta in Canada has the largest petrified forest in the world, covering thousands of kilometers.
Petrified wood is a type of fossil where all the organic materials are replaced with minerals (silicate such as quartz). It is amazing to note that the original structure of the wood is retained. The petrification process occurs underground. When mineral rich water flows through the sediment, it deposits minerals in the plant's cells. The plant's lignin and cellulose decay away and a stone mold forms in its place. The wood is preserved due to lack of oxygen. Elements such as manganese, iron and copper in the water give petrified wood a variety of color ranges. The wood fossil at Thiruvakarai was brown in color which shows the presence of iron oxide. Petrified wood preserves the original structure of the wood in all its detail. Structures such as tree rings can be seen with the naked eye.
People who visit South India should not miss this petrified wood forest. One can travel from Chennai to Pondicherry or Chennai to Tindivanam. Thiruvakarai is located between Tindivanam and Pondicherry. It is better to get down at Mylam and then go to Thiruvakarai."
Welcome :P !!
One of the Huger Fossils lying around!
One of the longer ones!! Imagine how mighty it might have looked 20 million years back :O
These looked kind of kewl, and they were among the first which captured my attention!
Can you believe this is a fossil aka Stone??
My Foot Prints on a fossil!! b-)
I will be long gone, but be sure you remember me after a million years ;-)
Cute small ones!!
Anyone who wants to know more about this place, do let me know, I will be more than glad to help you see 'an one of of a kind' PLACE .
Isn't it amazing that these wood fossils have survived for so long? But trust me this is a place which is a must visit and am very very glad that I could go and view them. I wouldn't suggest you to go from April - June as the heat is too high , the rainy season would be more preferable .
Come what may , this was truly one of the amazing trips of my life.
PS: I have a lot of my birthday pictures and will update you on that soon. watch this place for my visit to the MANGROVE forest in INDIA, ranking second only after Sunderbans :)
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