An unforgettable evening

NIVTI FORT

After a sumptuous lunch of Kalwas, prawns, mackerel and other small fish, we started towards Kille-Nivti or Nivti fort. The so called Nivti fort is not really a fort but an outpost on the southern side of Sindhudurg fort, alerting and protecting it from attack of marauders from the southern seas. James Rennel describes Nivti port as;

“Nivti port, in the village of Kochra, six and a half miles south of Malvan and eight north of Vengurla, stands at the mouth of a small creek in rather a striking bay. Rennell (1788) suggested that Nivti was Ptolemy's (150) Nitra and Pliny's (77) Nitrias, ' where the pirates cruised for the Roman ships….”

NIVTI MOBAR

The drive was through a tortuous road winding up and down through a ravishingly beautiful countryside. We passed the Nivti village and climbed up to a view-point, opening to us an entire panorama of beaches, sea and shoreline. From this height we could see down below,

DUNGOBA

Nivti Mobar and Nivti Beach cuddling up in a horse-shoe shape. The hill on the opposite side behind the Nivti beach was so thickly wooded that we could not see any light falling on ground below the green jungle. It was so thick with the vegetation consisting of trees, shrubs and creepers that one has to crawl on all fours to reach the top. We learned that this hill is called “Dungoba”, one of the famous Devrais of Konkan region. There is a small temple on its top, of Lord Dungoba, protector of plant life. It is an express taboo, let alone cut but even touch and harm the plant kingdom here. This is what Shrikant Ingalhallikar, an ardent nature lover and author of "Flowers of Sahyadri" has to say;

  "This may be the only coastal 'Devrai' and perhaps the only one that has rare mangrove plants. Trees seen at the upstream end of the fresh water are the precious 'Sundari' mangrove trees or Heritiera littoralis. This is the only record on the western coast of the celebrated trees of the Sunderbans of eastern India. Around 50 full grown trees with heavily buttressed roots can be seen. They are known by the locals as 'Samudra Kandol' very aptly (Sterculiaceae) because Sterculia villosa which grows uphill is known as Kandol. Heritieras here have been flowering in July and fruiting in latter part of the year. All the trees in Dungoba sacred forest are protected by the locals. May God Dungoba bless the forest for the ensuing centuries"

We parked our vehicle at the highest motor able point and climbed down to hike up rest of the distance. With a short but steep climb up a stony and bushy foot trail, we reached the top of the Nivti fort Buruj.
To say that the view from here is breathtaking is a sheer understatement.

On the right, one can see the long and pristine Bhogwe beach disappearing up to the Karli River. Beyond Karli there was a clear view of Devbaug, Sindhudurg fort and Malvan coastline. This place is so high with a sheer cliff plummeting down below that we could see kites and sea-gulls flying directly below us. Looking down the coconut tree tops along the beach, we had a highly romantic “Google Earth Bird Ey

e View” in 3D reality soaking in all our senses.
On the left was the view of Nivti beach, Nivti-Medha beach, Khavne backwaters, Vayangani beach, Vengurla lands end point with a Lighthouse on its top and the outline of Terekhol fort in Redi at distance. We could see many ships anchored at sea near Redi for loading and exporting Iron and Manganese ores.
On the far horizon, towards west we could see the faint outline of Vengurla Rocks or Burnt Island with its Lighthouse (कोचरयाचे दीपगृह).

VENGURLA ROCK LIGHTHOUSE

Vengurla Rock Lighthouse is about 8 km north from Vengurla port and is approached, during fair seasons only by a mechanized boat. Steps have been cut in the rock for climbing up from landing point.The coastal region from Vengurla  to Nivti fort has several high rise rocks inside the sea. The Vengurla rock or Burnt Island consists of a group of rocks rising 20 to 50 m above sea level.

MINIATURE BEACH

But what lay down below in front of us was simply sprung out of mystical adventure stories. Protected by the jagged rocks in the sea below Nivti fort, was a small miniature beach, tailor-made for secret flirting expeditions of some billionaire Casanova.
As I was engrossed in relishing the beauty of this incredulous beach, I saw some swift and ominous movement in the left corner of my eyes. I was jumping with surprise and glee when I recognized that they were four wild boars, sniffing our presence on the top, rushing up with terrific speed from the beach. They zoomed past within 50 meters from us and vanished inside the thick foliage behind us. We were speechless for a few seconds, realizing the spectacle we have witnessed. Varah Avatar!
Then we settled down to take in the ever enjoyable view of the Red Sun setting down in the expanse of Arabian Sea.

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