People can now go croc sighting, thanks to Mangrove Foundation’s Crocodile Safari

The Mangrove Foundation recently launched Crocodile Safari, which will commence in Songaon village, in Khed tehsil, Ratnagiri district. The village is located in Maharashtra’s Konkan belt and situated along the Vashishti river.

The project is part of the Mangrove Foundation’s initiative to support implementation of various livelihood activities under the ‘Mangrove Conservation and Livelihood Generation Scheme’.

“It is a unique project that we have set up in Songaon. The Crocodile Safari is totally different from the others, as it works not only for upliftment of local communities besides promotion of mangrove and marine biodiversity conservation,” Pranjali Chopra, Project Associate at Mangrove Foundation, told DH on Friday.

Additional Principal Conservator of Forest of Mangrove Cell and Director of the Mangrove Foundation Virendra Tiwari, and Rajendra Patil, Range Forest Officer of Mangrove Cell in Ratnagiri, have played a key role in establishing the project. From Songaon village, Kranti Minde and Rajaram Divekar are among those taking a lead in the project.

“Songaon ecotourism is a community-based conservation initiative and livelihood generation program that aims for sustainable tourism,” Chopra asserted.

Songaon, famous for crocodile sightings in the Vashishti, has emerged as a hub for sustainable tourism in the recent past. Asked about the number of crocodiles in the area, she said: “In one go, we have counted as many as 20 crocodiles.”

“We have made the programmes very unique…we have combined many things—mangrove safari, crocodile safari, bird watching, star gazing, nature trail—(all of) which can be experienced at Songaon Ecotourism project,” Minde said.

“We have been receiving good response since the formal launch on May 3,” Divekar stated.

Visitors are being told about the importance of mangroves in the ecosystem and how they are important for humans.

The Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation of Maharashtra, popularly known as Mangrove Foundation, is an autonomous body under the Revenue & Forests Department, Government of Maharashtra.

The establishment of the Mangrove Cell initiated a series of measures for the conservation of mangroves in Maharashtra. Mangrove Cell has taken a block-by-block approach towards mangrove conservation from raising mangrove nurseries to large-scale plantations in degraded areas to conducting ‘Clean Mangrove Campaigns’ to various awareness programmes.