A date with history

Beach getaway

It may have been sheer chance that led Vasco da Gama to first set sights on this golden powdery gem, studded along Kerala’s coast, that spills into the aquatic infinity called the Arabian Sea. For us, it was not chance but choice, and a well-charted itinerary that took us to this serene and secluded stretch of sand ‘n’ surf situated about 16 km from the city of Kozhikode (Calicut).

Off the beaten touristy track, its serenity and solitude provides the traveller a soothing balm of salubrious surroundings. So untouched and unsullied is it by the signposts of commercialisation that in its languorous liquidy lap, a stray seagull or an egret may be the only lingering company.

Virgin sands

The Kappad beach, or Kappadavu as it is known in local parlance, embodies a paradox of tourism. It owes its historical significance to the fact that it was the first port of call of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama when he charted out a sea route to India back in the summer of 1498.

It was the famed spices and wealth of the Malabar region that drew the Portuguese explorer to this scenic spice-rich seaside some 500 summers ago, leading a group of nearly 170 seamen. Today, all that stands here as a symbol of its special place in the history of this land is a stone monument.

Despite its historical significance of having been the gateway to European domination of India for the next 450 years, Kappad remains relatively undiscovered by the bustling beach-bound hordes making a beeline for God’s Own Country.

That it is tucked away into the backyard of Kozhikode, accessible only through a narrow meandering road meant more for tuk-tuks or mini buses rather than mammoth wheels carrying conducted tourists, may be a reason behind its unspoilt virgin feel. Still not on the radar of beachfront developers, it is cocooned from the coastside collages of commercial activity in the shape of shacks, adventure marketers, honeymooning hordes, commercial photographers and the like.

A reclusive retreat shaded by inland palm groves, the Kappad beach boasts of a rocky headland that affords breathtaking views of the sea ‘n’ sand spread.

Apart from the elusive egrets that try to play companions to the traveller courting the company of solitude and silence, there are stray fishing boats that stand as symbols of a sort of languid commerce.

The egrets engage the touristy shutterbugs in a play of hide and seek. The moment you zoom in on a flockfrolicking bird in the frothy sea, it takes wing and flees farther away; by the time you plod through the sandy powder to plant yourself closer to capture its antics afar, it’s flapped its way into the horizon, teasing with its ‘catch me if you can’ playfulness.

So, it’s essentially the rising and receding of the swell of surf alternating with the revelling and retreating of the feathered friends that make up nature’s entertainment in this touristy script shorn of the sound effects of cacophonous mainstream beach life. Adding to this nature’s symphony may be the bird calls from other species like parakeets, egrets, sunbirds and drongos that throng the neighbourhood of this calm retreat.

The profusion of winged visitors at Kappad beach is due to the fact that it is in the vicinity of the Kadulundi Bird Sanctuary. Called Kadulundi Nagaram by the locals, it is populated by nearly 100-odd species of local avians and about 60 species of migratory feathered visitors. So, seagulls, sandplovers, sandpipers and the like make its skyline come alive with frames of flapping motion.

Kappad beach boasts of not only an interesting avian life, but also a distinct flora and fauna. The tall tree trunks hemming the inner edge of the infinite stretch of sand lend a different feel to the beach compared to the coconut groves making up the lush canopy lining the lanes leading to the beach. The roots of the towering ebony tree trunks close to the coastline jut out like a maze of gangrenous veins on the smooth sandy skin of the beach.

The weather-beaten tree trunks form natural alcoves where tourists can seat themselves in the lap of nature, soaking in the seaside and scooping up mouthfuls of ice candy. This maze of tough tree roots that double up as seating spaces may be nature’s way of proffering a perching place to the stray sun-sapped travellers on a beach where man-made benches and shacks are few and far between.

The rocky headland proves to be the pivot which affords picturesque photo-ops to shutterbugs wanting to preserve snapshots of this historically significant seaside. Thus, a beachside that was once the gateway for Portuguese explorers now travels into the pixelated archives of posterity.