Field Trip Report: Arbi Falls Essay

The second field trip for Batch No: 1 on 30.01.2013 was to a water fall named â€Å"Arbi water-falls†. Our bus left us on the top of the plateau of Dasrath Nagar from where we had to walk down the steep slope of the plateau to get to the fields. We had to cross a swift stream of water which was very transparent and cold. We walked through the dykes, sort of no-man’s land made out of mud marking the boundary of two fields. Adjacent to the farmer’s house, which our sir described to over a hundred years old, was a well and a temple which was a special temple as there were big trees and people pray lord Vishnu in his cobra incarnation. It was also said to us that the people over there worship ‘Nagaraj’. We crossed a large number of bamboo barricades to visit the surrounding paddy fields, anywhere my eyes went I could only see greenery spread. The fields were quiet dense and we walked inside the canopy of large trees. After examining the nature around the place we headed towards the falls by the same way from which we entered. In few minutes we could cross the stream and reached the small road which headed us to the foothills of the falls. We had to cross the slippery rocks and thorny bushes to reach the top. We could also see the natural pores on the ground from where the water was oozing out very quickly and the natural water was really very pure and cold. We crossed the small valleys full of bushes and slippery rocks. Algae had grown on all the sharp edges and corners of the rocks, making it much more slippery. At last we reached the top of the falls to land on a barren field. There were houses all around that place. We took few pictures and left that place to board our bus. OBJECTIVE:- â€Å"To study a wetland ecosystem and observe the flora and fauna around Manipal.† LOCATION:- Co-ordinates: 13 °20’11†³N 74 °47’36†³E FLORA AND FAUNA:- Having a wide range of flora and fauna, the southern side of Manipal, frankly, is full of greenery. With a host bird species, butterflies, insects, snakes, cattle and other such animal species, the Dasrath Nagar area of Manipal can also boast about its variety in flora with a range of trees, ‘Acacia’, ‘Cashew’, etc. being the primary ones. PROBLEMS FACED BY LOCAL FARMERS:- Lack of labour Pests destroying their products Insufficient water supply Not much profitable farming PROBABLE SOLUTIONS:- Government should give machines and more mechanized products to the farmers in less cost so that they can use those and produce efficiently without the labour present. Pesticides and similar products should be given to the farmers in less costs so that they can use it efficiently on their fields, water supply can be enhanced by making well, use of motors to suck water from the falls and distribute to their fields. CONCLUSION:- It is a recently discovered waterfall near Manipal Lake. This waterfall is active only through the months of August to November, during the monsoon season. Recently this waterfall has come in the spotlight. Hence, a lot of people and Manipal University (MU) students have started coming here. Due to this increase of people, the waterfall and the nearby areas have started getting polluted. People living near the waterfall complain that visitors come and throw plastic bottles, chips wrappers and garbage near the fall.