It started because Sarang Naik was broke. As a college student and amateur photographer in Mumbai, he yearned for the wilderness but travel...
It started because Sarang Naik was broke. As a college student and amateur photographer in Mumbai, he yearned for the wilderness but travelling to faraway sanctuaries did not fit his shoestring budget. That is when he turned his trusty camera towards the city – spending hours walking alone through urban forests, shooting flamingos in a wetland near his home, and photographing seagulls at the Gateway of India.
In March 2017, at the crack of dawn, he followed members of a citizen science collective, Marine Life of Mumbai, to Marine Drive. Instead of walking along the promenade, the motley crew climbed over the ledge and cautiously stepped on the four-legged tetrapods lining the coast. The tide was low. Standing on a slippery rock, surrounded by Mumbai’s murky waters, looking into the tide pools, Naik found a whole new world, that surpassed his wildest dreams, opening up.
Tide pools or “intertidal ecosystems” are one of Mumbai’s best-kept secrets. John Steinbeck, the Nobel-prize winning American author, described tide pools as “ferocious with life,” and compared their richness to tropical rainforests.
When the tide retreats, it leaves behind shallow pools that stay trapped in the shore’s rocky gaps and cracks. Some of the pools are large enough for a dip, others are...
