An enchanting tour to Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha
“The Bhitarkanika Mangroves are a mangrove wetland in
India's Orissa state. The Bhitarkanika Mangroves cover an area of 650 km² in
the river delta of the Brahmani and Baitarani rivers.”
-Wikipedia
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| Our first open crocodile visit |
Exploring the nature in Bhitarkanika was one of my deepest
desires and here I again visit the place for a two day trip affair with
friend(s) and his family.
It took us around 5 hours to reach the place from the
capital of the state. o.O ......
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| Beautiful Fiddler Crabs |
Finally we reached the gates and the thrill to explore
the place increased. After freshening up and having lunch we started wandering
here and there watching the flora and fauna.
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| Our ride in the river |
What a beautiful place it was!! A place where you see parakeets and
woodpeckers everywhere and not the usual crows or mynas. Where there is no sound except bird calls. chee-cheen…cuckoooo….
everywhere… Beautiful pathways and
alongside woodpeckers pecking on the coconut trees. At near by marshy land and
ponds, roaming sandpipers and red-wattle lapwings. Hoopoes and Doves and Oriental Magpie
Robins. Ah! we have reached a paradise!!
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| The soothing sunset |
There were crocodile breeding cages and small ponds created
for the crocodiles here and there. Beautiful flora was to be been. From big huge trees to bushy shrubs. Cant exactly name the trees, but they were very beautiful. :) We had an amazing
creek boat trip where we felt the water to our nerves, watching the gorgeous
scenery of the vast river and the mangrove forest besides. There are around 55
mangrove species in Bhitarkanika out of 58 known species. Amazing na!! Many
Salt water crocodiles were spotted on the muddy river beds. Big-fat and sleepy
ones that scared us. Alongside were Spotted deers who roamed freely, maybe keeping an eye on the crocs. Water birds like Pond Herons, Common Greenshank, Wimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Egrets were seen. It
was fascinating to watch their eco-system in the open. Then finally the
important hosts greeted us, the Blue Capped kingfisher and the Brown Winged
Kingfisher. Few Blue Capped kept posing around us sitting from one open branch
to other. Bhitarkanika is a paradise for kingfishers and watching these two for
the first was almost like pleasing and fulfilling the trip to here. The guides
also took us to one watching tower too. The view from there was in simple words awesome :)
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| Sharing the jungle |
Two days passed like that amidst the nature and if time
permitted wished to stay for even longer period. The next day we had to leave around afternoon to Bhubaneswar. And the first
half went for more nature watch and birding. Roamed deep inside the mangrove forests,
hearing bird calls and capturing few snaps. There were little crabs to watch
and the strange aerial roots called Pneumatophore. There were Magpie Robins in
view and Spotted Doves and Red-Whiskered Bulbuls and Common Ioras. I think we also saw one Rufous Woodpecker. We waited for long hours to get
some clicks of the woodpeckers and got some decent shots :) Deers passed along us freely and little scared of
course. Human are most dangerous. There once again Blue Capped Kingfisher visited us and we jumped with joy. So unexpected it was. Then continuing our
bird watching and feeling the nature deep inside us, we had our lunch, did some
photo-shoot of ourselves and started off to home.
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| One of the most beautiful morning |
Did I forget to mention that we lost a good chance to see a porcupine at night. Thanx to few loud tourists we missed it. Because after they saw the animal, they started shouting with joy and spoiled the whole environment of the wilderness. There was one guest who came to see off. Mr. Water Monitor, of whom we had only seen posters of inside the sanctuary.
The journey ended with the longing to stay back. Priceless memories and
feel. Shall definitely come again :)
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| This is the best my camera could capture. Enjoy ! |
