These coracles are used to cross the river Kali. The word 'coracle' has come from the Kannada word 'Harigolu' which means "God is my Staff"! The boatman uses a staff instead of oars to manouvre the vessel across the the river. The raft itself is a basket woven with bamboo canes and buttressed with buffalo hide. Passenger, 4 at the most, sit on the round stool in the centre, and the boatman sits on his special seat. It goes round and round noiseleesly in the river so that you could watch the water birds without disturbing them.
They have modernized the transport in Kariyar lake. Here , there are motor boats spewing fumes and making tremendous noise, to go across the lake. One cannot hope to view any water birds from a boat. Our boatman told us that even crocodiles give the boat a wide berth, which is a good thing.My thanks to James for Weekend Reflections. You can see more pictures at
Marvelous reflections for the day. I love the coracles and would love to be able to around the river so quietly! Wonderful and very interesting post for the day! Enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
Thank you for showing the corarcle -never seen a round boat! -ingenious!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I´ve seen round boats in Vietnam too.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, I love to learn new thing and this is the wonderful thing about blogging. Great 'green' way for transportation.
ReplyDeleteTyra
Nice sharing on this one : I love to get to know better tradition of foreign countries... Those boat are so unsual... Very interesting indeed !
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to learn of different modes of transportation. I like you wish more were sensitive to the surrounding wildlife and the well being of all who have to breath and hear their mechanics. I love the image of the coracles going round and round quietly across the river. Too bad Kayaks without motors could not be used for regular crossings of the larger lake but for emergencies use the motors. We are always in such a hurry on this planet. ;>( ;>)
ReplyDeleteSylvia, it is lovely to go in a coracle.
ReplyDeleteJeannette, welcome and thank you.
Guy, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Tyra, yes, it is green way of transport.
'Tsuki, thanks for your comment.
Carol, I too share your feelings about the insensitive nature of humans.
I've never before seen coracles! Intriguing. Thanks for sharing the background information on this unique water craft. Very appealing method of bird watching!
ReplyDeleteWhat a unique way of watching birds! Most interesting post! The view of the river in the second photo is beautiful!
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