Karwar (ENS): Researchers in Marine Biology from across the globe come looking for a unique beach that is located near Karwar. Instead of brown sand, the shore of this small beach has black-coloured sand.
Teelmaati beach, located about 12 km from Karwar city, may soon get the attention of authorities to develop it as a tourist spot. For many years, marine researchers have been visiting Teelmaati beach for various reasons. It is also one of the smallest beaches on the west coast and has a shore area of 50 mtrs.
As the beach is surrounded by two other shores, the water gushes towards the shores of Teelmaati which has large black colored rocks on the shore. This part of Arabian Sea has no island making water current stronger than other shores. This hits the black rocks and produce a black colored powder which gets mixed with the sand. “A few years ago, we had given a proposal to the district administration to construct a tourism infrastructure near Teelmaati because of its specialty. There are very few beaches in India which have such unique sand colour. One can see multi-coloured sand dunes in Kanyakumari where two seas meet an ocean. But barring Teelmaati, there are no such beaches in Karnataka. Recently, some of the tourism developers from Karwar have purchased land near the beach and have asked for basic infrastructure like road and electricity. The district administration has responded positively,” said retired marine biologist and a resident of Karwar V N Naik.
Deputy Commissioner S S Nakul said the administration is aware about the uniqueness of the beach and soon, development works will be taken up. “Under Swadesh Darshan scheme, the Tourism Department is expected to take up development works,” he said. During 1960s, Teelmaati beach was the international border between India and Goa which was under Portuguese rule. Locals in Teelmaati say the beach was once a smuggling point between Karwar and Goa where rice and liquor were exchanged.
“Number of students come here asking for black beach. We guide them through the small hillocks and they return happily visiting it. During monsoon, the waves come and hit hard on the shore and it’s a must view,” said a villager from Majali.
The vehicles can go up to Majali village after which one has to trek crossing two hillocks to reach Teelmaati beach.
“For last many years, locals from Karwar visit Teelmaati as a day picnic spot. But slowly the beach area and the route through Majali village is getting polluted. The authorities must plan something to save the rare shores before its gets more polluted,” he said.