Vedaranyam Salt Pans

On day 2 at Nagapattinam our plan was to drive past Vedaranyam to Point Calimere - a bird sanctuary as well as wild life sanctuary.Unfortunately no birds could be sighted.We were informed by locals that the birds had all flown of during early January owing to some cyclonic disturbance of their habitat. Disappointed we turned towards the Kodikkarai wild life sanctuary. We bought entry ticket for the car and were informed that we could drive 6 kms into the sanctuary, see wild animals en`route and finally reach the sea shore and see the remains of the historic Chola lighthouse, destroyed in the tsunami of 2004. .But after driving for about a kilometre we were forced to turn back as the road was badly damaged and I ran the risk of a tire puncture.
On our return journey we stopped briefly at Vedaranyam to click pictures of the salt pans.
The Vedaranyam March or Vedaranyam Satyagraha was organised to protest the salt tax imposed by theBritish Raj in in India. The march took place in April 1930 and was the second of its kind following the Dandi March organised by Mahatma Gandhi both in the framework of the Civil Disobedience Movement. The march was led by a group of 100 volunteers from the Indian National Congress under the leadership of C.Rajagopalachari often referred to as "Rajaji". It began at Tiruchirappalli and ended in Vedaranyam a small coastal town in Thanjavur district. Rajaji later went on to become the first Indian Governor General of Independent India.