Sunday was a special day for the people of Kaikaluru, Atapaka and nearby villages, surrounding the one of the largest fresh water lakes Kolleru, as the State Tourism Department for the first time organised ‘Pelican Bird Festival-2018’.
The festival began with a rally of colourfully dressed-up folk artists and local fishermen with pomp and gaiety and the ‘dappu’ and metallic beats from Kaikaluru to the venue adjoining the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary, the home for thousands of pelicans that migrate to the lake
The rally was led by the Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya and District Collector B. Lakshmikantham and the festival was later declared open by the Minister who along with the local politicians released helium filled balloons at the venue.
Scores of villagers, who are well-versed with their winged friends, visited the festival venue to have a look at the sand art, games and sports events, eat at the food court organised as part of the festival.
A few meters away, visitors from far-off places flocked the sanctuary where thousands of spot-billed pelican and painted stork birds brood and protect the young ones.
Visitors felt that due to noise of loudspeakers at the festival venue the birds, which usually hangout in large numbers on the very first island of the lake moved towards the other end leaving boat riding as the only option for them to take a close look at the migratory birds.
Low water level
Also, the number of birds was comparatively low due to lowest ever water level of three feet in the lake.
On the other hand, the tail-end of the lake, where a huge number of boats settled away from disturbances, could not be accessed through boating as the water level was much lower. The motorcycle traffic on the road sharing the border of lake has also been a trouble.
“There were a huge number of birds at the tail-end but the boat operator said that the available water level is not suitable for a ride,” a visitor said.
In the evening, a large scale musical night was arranged by the department and cinema star D. Venkatesh was the special attraction. Display of fireworks and rural folk dance competitions were part of the festival at the venue.
Speaking during the inauguration, a local leader and former MLA, told the villagers that the musical night event would be nothing short of a cinema’s audio release function.
Ms. Akila Priya said that the event would be organised every year here after to attract tourists from across the globe. A seminar on the pelicans was also organised as part of the festival. Though the local leaders gave importance to the pelicans on the banners erected all over the village none of them spoke of the importance or need for protection of the birds.
