Kolleru Lake

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Kolleru Lake
at dusk
Location	Andhra Pradesh
Coordinates	body 16°39′N 81°13′E / 16.65°N 81.217°E / 16.65; 81.217Coordinates: body 16°39′N 81°13′E / 16.65°N 81.217°E / 16.65; 81.217
Basin countries	India
Surface area	245 km²

Kolleru Lake is a freshwater lake. It is located in Andhra Pradesh state, India. Kolleru is located between Krishna and Godavari delta. Kolleru spans into two districts - Krishna and West Godavari. The lake serves as a natural flood-balancing reservoir for these two rivers. The lake is fed directly by water from the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru streams, and is connected to the Krishna and Godavari systems by over 68 inflowing drains and channels. The lake was an important habitat for an estimated 20 million resident and migratory birds, including the Grey or Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus Philippines). The lake was notified as a wildlife sanctuary in November 1999 under India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and designated a wetland of international importance in November 2002 under the international Ramsar Convention. The wildlife sanctuary covers an area of 308 km².

Egrets, Grey Herons, Painted Storks & Black-headed Ibises gathering in thousands at Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Current State of the lake

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Kolleru lake is suffering from the unsatisfied greed of people and selfish interests of man kind who is exploiting the lake’s integrity. Thousands of fish tanks were dug up effecting converting the lake into a mere drain. This had a lot of impact in terms of pollution leading to even difficulty in getting drinking water for the local people. This is besides the loss of ecological diversity and intrusion of sea water into the land masses and its fallout in terms of adverse influence of rainfall pattern in this region.

This imbalance has an adverse effect on the thousands of acres of crop in the upper reaches of sanctuary in view of stoppages of water flow into the sea because of obstruction by bunds of the fish tanks that appeared illegally.

Satellite images taken on February 9, 2001 by the Indian remote sensing satellite found that approximately 42% of the 245 km² lake was occupied by aquaculture, while agriculture had encroached another 8.5%. The area under aquaculture consisted of 1050 fish ponds within the lake and 38 dried-up fish ponds, which together covered an area of 103 km². The agricultural encroachments were mostly rice paddies. Surprisingly no clear water could be found in the satellite image. The rest of the lake is being diminished by water diversions or was infested with weeds like elephant grass and water hyacinth.

Sunset with Grey Herons, Egrets, Painted Storks & Black-headed Ibises gathering in thousands at Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Rich in flora and fauna, it attracts migratory birds from northern Asia and Eastern Europe between the months of October and March. During this season, the lake is visited by an estimated 20,00,000 birds. The resident birds include Grey pelicans, Asian Open-billed Storks (Anastomus oscitans), Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala), Glossy Ibises, White Ibises, Teals, Pintails, Shovellers. The migratory birds include Red-Crested Pochards, Blackwinged Stilts, Avocets, Common Red shanks, Wigeons, Gadwalls and Cormorants, Garganys, Herons, Flamingos & among others. See the Pictures of Birds at Lake Kolleru at [1].

Kolleru lake contains numerous fertile islets called lanka's,many of the small ones are submerged during floods. The origin of unusual depression which forms the bed of the lake is unknown, but it was possibly the results of an earthquake. Therefore many ancient villages are precepted in the bed of the lake as a result of floods and earthquake.

History

Two copper plates of the early Pallava dynasty have been found in the lake, traces its history to Langula Narasimha Deva(Langulya Gajapathi Raju) an Ganga Vanshi Orissa king, (Oddiya/Oriya raju) . According to legend, the Gajapathi fort was located at Kolleti Kota on one of the eastern islands of the lake. The enemy general "muhammadan" encamped at "Chiguru kota" located on the shores. In some ways, the lake protected the Oriya forces. The enemy finally try to excavated a channel, the modern-day Upputeru, so that the water of the lake would empty into the sea and the level would fall so that they could attack the Gajapathi fort. The royal Oriya army general sacrificed his own daughter to propitiate Gods and ensure his success against Muhammadan and her name was "Perantala Kanama". Therefore the channel was called Perantala Kanama.Sri Peddinti Ammavari Temple is one of the oldest and famous temples found in kolleru.The Gajapatis were a medieval Hindu Suryavamsi dynasty of Orissa, parts of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. During the glorious reign of Kapilendra deva, the first Suryavamsi Gajapati king,the boundary of the Kalinga empire(Ancient Orissa) was from river Ganga(Hoogly river) in North to Kaveri in South and from Amarkantak in West to Bay of Bengal(Kalinga Sagara) in east.

Sanctuary

Spot-billed Pelicans Pelecanus philippensis at Attapaka in Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India.

The sanctuary has the following watch towers for sighting the birds.

Atapaka: 1.5 km from Kaikaluru to see varieties of waterfowl. Murthyraju tank 8 km from Nidamarru East Chodavaram: 53 km from Eluru where Open Bill Storks nest in colonies from July – December.

The sanctuary is approachable from all four sides of the lake by road, directly to the following places.

Atapaka – 2.5 km from Kaikaluru town Murthiraju Tanks – 8 km from Nidamarru Gudivakalanka – 3 km from Gudivakalanka or 15 km from Eluru Nearest city is Vijayawada, which is 65 km by road or rail. Nearest town is Eluru

Best season to visit: November to March.

Accommodation: Hotels in Eluru, Kaikaluru,Akividu and Vijayawada.

References

History of Kolleru: The Imperial Gazetteer of India By Sir William Wilson Hunter, volume ix

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kolleru Lake Bird Sanctuary

External links

• Pictures of Birds at Lake Kolleru.
• http://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater_wetlands/our_work/ramsar_sites/kolleru_lake_.cfm
• http://www.aptourism.com/apservlets/jsp/iplaces3.jsp?&THEME=Wild+Life&LOCATION=Kolleru&DISTRICT=West+Godavari&infoId=217
• http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/05/26/stories/2006052602680600.htm