Kavaratti: Travel Photography 1/7

I am participating in a game on the facebook, in which I have to post seven photographs related to my travels. This is the first of the lot.
This photograph is of the main island of Lakshadweep, Kavaratti as seen from the ship as one approaches it. It is indeed a spectacular sight in the evening when the outlines of the island are barely visible on the horizon and the camera takes trouble focusing on it. At dusk the colours of the sky and sea merge and it is then you can see the tiny speck of land.
Kavaratti is the administrative headquarters of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. As is apparent from the name, it is an island group of a "hundred thousand islands". Though not nearly as much but still quite a few! Most of them are uninhabited. Those that are inhabited sport one of the densest population concentration of the Indian Union matching the metropolises. However, from a distance none of this human inhabitation is apparent and you only see a tiny speck of land covered with coconut palms. As one approaches the lagoon of the coral islands, the swimming pool like clear water of turquoise green colour is seen teeming with fishes and sometimes a turtle. Now begins the sad part, the corals are dying at a very alarming rate so is the aquatic life. So much so that, in my dozen visits spanning over four years: 2009 to 2013 the decrease was apparent from a casual observation. One day not very far from now, there might only be dead corals left, till then Lakshadweep remains truly a paradise.


Approach to Kavaratti

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