Anubhav

Anubhav for Class VII

MARINE CAMP, MITHAPUR - The Outdoors Lab

Mithapur is a small industrial township located close to Dwarka, the historical pilgrimage place and to Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park, one of the most ecologically sensitive protected areas of Gujarat.

The marine National park is spread over 457 sq.km area along the coastline from Okha to Jodia in the Gulf of Kachchh in Jamnagar district. Covering 42 islands, the National Park is famous for its living coral reefs, which are the only one along the western coast of India except Lakshadweep. 40 species of corals, 130 species of marine algae and hundreds of varieties of shells, jellyfishes, sea anemones, crabs, star fishes, birds and turtles are there. It. will be interesting to observe and identify a few of these. The lucky ones will get a chance to see Dolphins too. Mangroves, the unique vegetation, though in depletion can still be seen on a few areas.

Learning Opportunites:

Marine waters are full of microorganisms, few of them like the zooplanktons can be seen by our eyes because of the glow during nighttime but most of them are not seen by our eyes. Magnifying lens and microscope come handy for studying such organisms. The outdoor lab at Mithapur attracts lots of flamingoes, it is interesting to know that flamingoes get their pink colour from the planktons that they eat regularly, and students will get to know these microorganisms through the microscope. Corals are other interesting animals. They are tiny polyps staying together in a colony and colonies together make a vast coral reef. These tiny polyps can be observed by a short trek through the low tide reef.

The situation of Mithapur is ideal to tell the children about our country and its surface. The western most tip of the land, Okha is hardly few kilometers from the campsite and we would be taking the children to that tip from where the gulf starts. Concepts like coastal area, inter-tidal zone, live and dead coral reefs etc would be taken up in this camp. The facts like the surface of our country is not uniform and the variations from the high mountains of the Himalayas to the surface of the sea at Mithapur can be described with little properties.

To understand the concept of island, a mass of land surrounded by waters from all the sides, the students would actually visit one of the small islands in the Gulf of Kachchh and spend some time. They will also discuss the reason why all the islands in the gulf are not inhabited; they will survey the living things on a particular island and will come out with their own conclusions for the reasons for their existence.

History & Prehistory: Whether there was a king called Krishna who ruled the golden city called Dwarka or not is still a debatable subject. But there is enough proof that there was a fully developed town in the name of Dwarka. It is believed that the portion between the Okha port and Byet Dwarka was the situation of that developed town. Students will get a rare chance to sail above the submerged old Dwarka. This trip is expected to generate a lot of mixed feeling among the children and certainly lead them to go back in time.

Image Gallery Class VII