Tonse

Tonse is a combined village, which include Tonse West and Tonse East situated about 8km from Udupi on the western coast of South India, between the Arabian Sea and Western Ghats. Tonse village is about 68km to the north of Mangalore.LocationTonse is bounded on its western side the Arabian Sea while on the eastern side the Suvarna river runs, creating a number of islands in its delta before it finally merges with the sea at Kodibengre.TourismJust three miles off the seacoast are the St. Mary’s Islands, a tourist spot, (locally known as ‘Tonse-Par’ meaning, ‘beyond Tonse’), reachable from the port town of Malpe, by powerboat or country craft. In the delta of Suvarna, a group of about a dozen islands, covered with lush green coconut palms surrounded by clear blue waters adds to the natural beauty to the village. An impressive looking hanging bridge, which attracts curious visitors from far and wide connects one of the better-known islands, Thimmankudru to the mainland. House Boats are in the backwaters of Hoode. The Hanging Bridge was constructed by 2 Karnataka Engineer NCC and the Bridge was named as Deepak in memory of a late NCC Cadet. The complete material for construction of this bridge was made available by local people from their own private funds, the bridge was designed by Officer Commanding 2 Kar Engg NCC and was constructed by NCC Cadets of REC Surathkal(NIIT), Manipal Institute of Technology and NITTE College of Engineering in the Year 1991. Total time taken to construct the Bridge was about 12 (Twelve Days). The Piers had been constructed by local villagers prior to this.People and OccupationThere are many from this village employed abroad. The western part of Tonse boasts of many educational institutions providing literacy and career opportunities, as a result of which people from this rural place are employed in all the parts of the world. Agriculture, fishing, lime-shell mining and coir industry are the main source of livelihood of people in this region. Rice is the staple food of the population, whereas coconut is the commercial crop.