Pirotan

Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / surface missing template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / height missing

Pirotan (also Pirothan, Gujarati: પિરોતન, Hindi: पिरोतन, Pirotan ) is an island in the Arabian Sea and part of the Marine National Park of District Jamnagar, Gujarat in India. It lies about 12 km off the coast of India near the port city Bedi. The neighboring island of Rozi is located about 10 km south-east. The island belongs, next to another, to a comprehensive 42 islands protected area, to get the visitors only with rare exception permits admission.

History

Originally the island under the name of Pir jo thaan was known, which means as much as the place of holy Khwaja Khizer Alaihisalaam. This is evidenced today a shrine was built in his honor.

1867 a flagpole was installed to facilitate passing ships navigating on the island. In 1898 this was replaced by a 21 m high lighthouse, which was built over 1955-1957 finally by a 24 m high new tower, which you can visit today. In 1996, the solar cells were installed, the old diesel generators are now used only as emergency generators.

Flora and Fauna

Characteristic of Pirotan are mangroves and sandy beaches. In particular, the mangrove species Rhizophora, Avicennia and Ceriops can be found here. On the island itself, the neighboring islands and in the sea there is a rich fauna species: sea horses, anemones, octopus, pink flamingos, seagulls, sea snakes, sea urchins and many species of crabs.

In 1982, the island, the neighboring islands and 3 km ² coral reefs for the first marine national park of India were collected.

Population and tourism

Few people live permanently on the island. These include the Park management, the staff of the lighthouse and the shrine of Khwaja Khizer Mujhavar.

The management of the protected area is rarely of licenses for visiting the island. Moreover, these are only valid for a day stay. The journey to the island takes about an 1 ½ hours and only during high tide, due to required water level for landing, take place.