Day 5 - Thursday, 15 Dec 2022
Sakshi's message in the group the previous night was as follows....
Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow we shall visit Chilika Lake which is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha. It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest brackish water lagoon in the world !
Here is plan for tomorrow (15 Dec) with 50+ Voyagers Travel and Adventure Club.
7:30 - 8:45AM – Enjoy your breakfast.
8:45 AM – Assemble in hotel reception area
09:00 AM -proceed to Chilka lake which is 1.5 hour drive
Appx 10:30 AM - 12:00PM – Reach Chilka and board a boat for Dolphine sightseeing
Appx 1:30 PM : Will stop for lunch at Dhaavan resort which is an island resort in Chilka.
After lunch we will continue our sightseeing by boat. Visit Rajahansh Beach which is inside the lake.
4:00 PM – Will start boarding the boat for return journey to Chilka boating point
5:00 PM –We will board our bus and proceed back to Puri
Appx 6:30 PM – Return to the hotel
8:00 PM onwards : Dinner at Hotel.
9:30 PM : Good Night and Sweet Dreams.
Meals Included: - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
* Time and schedule of above plan is just for reference. Sightseeing order and exact timing may change due to road and weather condition and rush.
* Please carry original ID Card. Wear good shoe and take water bottle, umbrella/hat if you need.
I have mentioned earlier that in the hotel accommodation at Puri (Jamindar's Palace) all rooms allotted to 50 + group members were sea facing. By the time we reached the hotel on Tuesday evening it was too late. Wednesday morning we left early (before sunrise) to have darshan at the Jagannath temple, by the time we returned after darshan it was 915/930 AM. As such it was only on Thursday morning that we could get a view of the rising sun from behind the sea waves. I am sure all group members would have taken this golden opportunity, either from the comfort of their room or by going down to the beach which was just 5 minutes away. Geetha & myself enjoyed the sunrise from our room. After the customary coffee we availed the complimentary pass from the hotel manager and went down to the beach where we were not surprised to bump into several group members who had already reached there. We observed that the portion of beach from where we entered was a sort of "private beach" with very few people. The "public beach" was about half a kilometre away, and was teeming with lot of beach comers.
Sunrise from the room
Sunrise from the room, morning walk in the beach, breakfast in the restaurant, after this we assembled in the reception area by 845 & by 9 we boarded the bus & left for Chilka lake. By 11 AM we reached Chilka lake and got into 2 boats. Sakshi had brought along a couple of packets of murmura (puffed rice) which we dropped into the lake handful by handful to attract the sea gulls & other birds. It was a memorable experience seeing the birds dive to the water surface to peck this food.
Chilka Lake is Asia's largest brackish water lake and home to thousands of migratory birds and Dolphins. Many birds fly from Siberia, Mongolia, Iran, Caspian Sea and Baikal Lake in winter. Several islands dot the vast lake. The lake covers an area of 11,000 sq km, which, during the seasons other than monsoon, turns brackish due to the waters entering it from the Bay of Bengal.
After about an hour's ride (first phase) we visited Rajhansh beach. This is bordered on one side by lagoon and on the other by ocean, with a forest and mountains in between. This idyllic paradise is located where Chilika Lake and the Bay of Bengal meet, and here one can get the best of both worlds. It was around 1230 noon now & was quite hot. But still everyone enjoyed the beach for sometime & then returned to the boats.
A short ride of 12/15 minutes bought us to "Chilika Island Resort" an eco resort in a small island where lunch was arranged for us. Tika applied to one's forehead, flowers and raw rice grains reverentially put on one's head was the welcome we got when we reached this resort. This made the guest feel like a VIP - Athithi Devo bhava. The lunch was simple but delicious. Before leaving the resort, the female members of the group were told to plant a sapling which would be tended to and taken care of by the resort people!
In the post lunch boat ride we proceeded towards the area where we hoped to see dolphins. The Irrawaddy dolphin is a species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near seacoasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. They are ‘Endangered’ as per the IUCN Red List.The total population of these aquatic mammals in the world is estimated to be less than 7,500. The dolphin distribution in Chilika is considered to be the highest single lagoon population.
Irrawaddy dolphins are slow swimmers in comparison to other dolphin species. These dolphins typically occur in small groups of about seven. They are relatively social, producing a wide range of vocalisations to communicate. Although shy around boats, they can display interesting social behaviours, including tail slaps, fin waves, breaching, and sideways swimming.
After the dolphin sighting we returned to the bus. After reaching land but before boarding the bus we halted for a tea break at a local restaurant. Here we had an "impromptu variety entertainment program" consisting of self authored poem recital by Ramesh, self authored song singing by Jayalakshmi, and general song rendition by Rekha, Mukund & yours truly. After this eventful day, we reached Jamindar's Palace by late evening for dinner.
By 745 PM we received Sakshi's message in the group regarding the next day's schedule.
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