Vijaydurg (town)

This article is about the city. For the fort, see Vijaydurg fort and For the port, see Vijaydurg Port
View of Vijaydurg city from Vijaydurg fort

Vijaydurg (formerly also known as Gheriah) (Marathi: विजयदुर्ग) is a seaport 485 km from Mumbai on India's West Coast. It boasts a safe harbour with average depths in excess of 100 feet.

From Vijaydurg, Goa is a 200 km drive South along the National Highway 17. The beach facing the Arabian Sea has a historic fort ( 800 years old) from which the town/seaport derives its name. The region offers a very panoramic view of the creek and the fort. A number of virgin beaches abound near Vijaydurg. There is a historic temple, a church and mosque in the village of Vijaydurg.

Nearby places of interest

Wildlife

Wildlife including the hyena, red fox, barking deer, sea otter, dolphin, porpoise, whale. A wide variety of fish including king mackerel, (surmai), ladyfish, pomfret, stingray, hammerhead shark, puffer fish, mullet, great white shark, carp, eel, black salmon (rawas), swordfish and the seemingly rare sailfish are routinely spotted here. Shellfish like lobster, clams, mussels, oyster, crayfish and many types of crab are abundant. Commonly occurring birds abound like the barn owl, kingfisher, kite, cormorant, stork, egret, red-whiskered bulbul and cuckoo. Endangered species include the great Indian hornbill, vulture, langur (black faced monkey), giant squirrel, crane and tern.

Since the mouth of the estuary opens into the Arabian Sea, the water is clean due to inter-tidal flushing. Vijaydurg also has a Port Trust, Sea & Land Customs Outposts, Shore-guard and a large State Transport Depot. Up until 1983, Vijaydurg was a port of call for the Konkan Steamer service, which ran two ships: Konkan Sevak and Konkan Shakti, which were later sent to supply the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Forces) in Sri Lanka.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vijaydurg.

References

Coordinates: 16°34′N 73°20′E / 16.567°N 73.333°E / 16.567; 73.333

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, November 09, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.