HERITAGE WALK IN A NATURAL ANCIENT SITE: Dr Navina Jafa
The road travel from the Sasan Gir Forest in Gujarat to the Island of Diu was an exciting three hours drive. A bridge connects the Island f Diu on the Western Coast of India.
Diu, the coastal town of the Union territory of the Island, lies at the eastern end of the Island. The story of the sea caves, a natural heritage site, was one of the adventurous highlights of the visit.
A turning staircase built by the Portuguese colonizers leads down into the interconnected cluster of the Nadia Sea Caves. Red-brown boulders with humungous trees, aerial roots, and light permeating from the crevices offer the visitor an entry into a hall of silence where waves are heard crashing along the coast.
The Sea Caves the hollow spaces with life embedded in divergent ways. Roots of trees centuries hang out of the old, insects that travel sea and land, somewhere the spotted owlet howled signalling the echoes of the phantom sails of the Portuguese war-boat of yesteryears.
Like other sea caves, the formations often called littoral caves are formed by the constant action of the sea and illustrate natural erosion. There are sea caves around the world. The proximity of the sea and the evidence of sea water in shaded areas on land make them habitats for unique biodiversity.
Folklore reigns supreme. People in Diu believe that only sea pirates used the caves but that they were built by the Portuguese and used material from the area to build the Diu Fort. Many old folks say that during Operation Vijay in 1961 when the Indian Army drove away the Portuguese, the last colonizers in India hid in the caves.
The caves with natural openings beneath the ground allow for the play of zones of light to filter inside. The caves vary in size, and although the red-brown coloured rocks dominate the site, other colours, like shades of yellow, provide an extraordinary experience. The Sea Caves are of particular interest to geologists.
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TRAVEL, DANCE, ART, CULTURAL HERITAGE OF INDIA - DR NAVINA JAFA 