Rambha, Chilika: Soak in a salty lagoon's lap.

Courtesy : http://www.trekearth.com/

The rain lashed the window pave of the AC compartment as our train was whizzing past inconspicuous stations on the Howrah-Chennai track. We were, actually, heading for a lesser known town south of puri and the gateway to Chilika, Asia’s biggest salt water lagoon on the Bay of Bengal.

Next morning we got down at Balugaon and headed for the OTDC Panthanivas at Rambha. The Panthanivas is a sprawling compound facing the lake with AC cottages, AC and Non AC DB rooms and a conference hall and a beautiful garden. Fish lovers can have a treat here with the variety of both the species and the menu which includes items of prawns, lobsters, crabs and a host of sea fishes.

Being clustered in the city our souls long for open space. We wasted no time but headed straight towards the jetty connected by a straight road inside the lake. The jetty is a makeshift fishing harbour from where you can ire a boat to take a short trip. But for sight seeing tours it is advisable to opt for the OTDC packages.

Next day early morning we headed for the Kalijai Island It has the famous Kalijai temple where thousands of devotees throng during Makar Shankranti.. OTDC arranges a boat if there are ten or more heads and they charge a total of three thousand bucks for Kalijai and back which takes six hours. One can see the Bird Island, Nalbana, Breakfast Island, Honeymoon Island, Ghantashila hill island en route. These places are a bird haven where Siberian birds flock in during winter.

But the most attractive part of this tour is a visit to Rishikulya Beach 18 km away, where Olive Ridley turtles visit for nesting and hatching. The turtles come in February for nesting and in April and May for hatching. One will have to get there at midnight to see the nesting when the turtles dig holes using their flippers to lay their eggs and floats back. During harvesting season one has to visit Rishikulya in the early morning during the harvesting season. Due to illegal killing of these turtles in the vicinity, one may come across a few carcasses and have to endure the stench. Its better to have precise knowledge of the timings of the visit of turtles at Rishikulya, as the window is slim, a week at the most.

Sunset at chilika

The evenings are pleasant and one can stroll in the beautiful garden in the premises while see the children play. Its time for a cup of tea with pakodas, or a bottle of beer to chill out.

Amitava Chakrabarty

Navigator: By train to Balugaon and then by Auto or Car to Panthanivas Nearest Airport is Bhubaneswar from where Rambha is roughly 130 Km.

Stay: PANTHANIVAS RAMBHA
Phone: 06810-278346, email: otdc@ortel.net 

Bookings at Kolkata : Utkal Bhavan, 55 Lenin Sarani, Calcutta. Phone 22651195/ 22654556 ...