Stop at Chilka Lake on the way to Puri. ( Stage 2 of 7 State driving trip )

The next leg of our trip was from Vishakhapatnam to Puri, a distance of slightly less than 500 km on the east coast road. On the way, we were planning to stop at the Chilka lake. While planning our stops I had checked with an Oriya friend if I should plan an overnight stop at the lake, but he said it was not necessary, and besides the only place to stay nearby was the govt. guesthouse which he was not sure about.

As it was only 345 km to Chilka lake we decided to have breakfast at the hotel and headed out by 8 am. The city of Vizag seems to have grown along the highway, and so for about an hour we had a lot of office traffic to contend with. But once beyond that, the road was superb and we made good time. On the way we passed Gopalpur-on-sea which had recently borne the brunt of a cyclone. As we passed by we noticed that for about 2kms along the highway many of the trees had been flattened by the storm.

The Chilka lake is just a few kms off the highway, so it was a good decision to stop for a short visit while driving along the way. Unfortunately, there is no signage of any sort at the small bridge where one has to get off the highway onto the service road, and take a turn under the highway to head towards the lake; and so we went past the turn a couple of times before we figured it out. Just off the highway, on the road leading to the lake is a superb dhabha. You cant miss it, because there are a lot of vehicles parked all around it. Being foodies, we decided it was wise to stop for lunch before we went boating. Had a superb local meal of fish and rice, and then went to the Lake. Here we were told that the boat ride to the mouth of the sea ( to see dolphins ) could only be done in the morning as it was a 4 hr. trip and so the best we could do was a 2 hr. trip. These trips are done in relatively small looking boats with a powerful ( or at least a very loud ) outboard motor.

Our boatman and boat on Chilka lake.

The lake is huge and its size takes you by surprise. Once you have travelled into the lake for sometime you cant see the land around you and the water is fairly choppy which is why the boats need the loud outboard motors. All the boats have long bamboo poles attached to the rudder and not the small handles one is used to seeing.

There is also a strong breeze which makes the entire experience quite pleasant. There were a few common birds like cormorants, egrets and herons, and also some others that I could not recogise.

The boatman said that if one had time for the longer ride to the mouth of the sea, one could see more birds; and so my advice to anyone considering a visit would be to do a booking at the government guesthouse so that you can go out at dawn to see the dolphins and see some migratory birds as well.  The lake itself is immense and the second largest lagoon in the world. All of 1100 sq.km and spread over 3 districts of Orissa. In peak migratory season as many as 160 species of birds travel from the Caspian Sea, Aral Sea and other remote parts of Russia, Kirghiz steppes of Mongolia, and of course from Ladakh and the Himalayas to come here making it the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent.

Coming back to the dolphins, the Irrawaddy dolphin found here is similar to the beluga in appearance, though most closely related to the killer whale. So going on the long 4 hr boat ride seems to be a must do if you really want to get the best of Chilka lake. I would suggest gambling with the govt. guest house because of its proximity. Though we did not see the insides of the rooms, the outside were clean and painted, and the restaurant where we had tea was OK (though largely deserted). The other alternative is stay at Puri and drive to Chilka early in the morning, but unless you set out well before sun rise ( its really early on the east coast ) it would not be possible to set out on one of the first boats unless you stay at Chilka.

Line up of boats at the pier. Waiting for next morning. 

We finished our boat ride, and as we came back to the shore, I noticed the little cloth and the rope in the front of the boat and decided to take this picture.

Also took some pictures of the late afternoon sun casting its light along the shore.

Once back on ground we stopped at this artisan and got him to make a key chain for Aashna,

and then set out for Puri after having our tea at the government guest house.

There was only a little over a 100 km on towards Puri and the route takes you close to Bhubaneshwar before turning towards the coast and driving towards Pipli and on towards Puri.

The trip should have been uneventful, but unfortunately, Aunty ( the affectionate name I use for my female voiced GPS ) decided to take a short cut and ended up directing us down a road that got narrower and narrower as it got more and more crowded. Eventually, we had to concede defeat and with a couple of helpful locals clearing the people out of the way, we reversed back a short distance and then took another road which took us on to Pipli. Reaching our hotel at Puri was again a bit of an adventure. The hotel is at the end of the beach and one drives down the beach road and then turns at a right angle where the beach is curved to reach the hotel. Unfortunately for us, there was still a lot of sand that the cyclone had blown onto the beach road, and while I was not worried with my 4 wheel drive, just 300 mts from the hotel we came to a tempo that had broken down right in the middle of what was left of the road, and with steep sand dune like mounds on either side we did not attempt to navigate around it. Instead, we drove back a bit and after a few false attempts finally reached the resort from the other side. Even the back of the resort had a fair amount of sand collected on the road, and I am attaching a picture I took the next morning at the gate of the property, showing damage to the vegetation by the recent cyclone.

The next couple of days we spent at Puri, Konark, and Bhubaneshwar before we headed towards the Nature Camp , Chhotkei situated within the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in central Odissa on the next leg of our trip.