Satkosia ; A Hidden Gem on The Bank of Mahanadi

The diversity of flora and fauna that we Indians are blessed with is facing devastation. Pollution, poaching, deforestation, urbanisation, large-scale hydro-electric projects all of these factors and more are catalysing this cataclysmic phenomenon. The most alarming part is the lack of awareness of our people and our utter ignorance. Tourism can help raise awareness if done in a eco-friendly manner. When in the wilderness we must tune ourselves in such a way that we do not leave any lasting impact on that place. A wilderness explorer must be a silent observer.
Satkosia Tiger Reserve boasts a diverse gorge eco-system with deciduous plants. It is situated at the bank of river Mahanadi, the largest river in the state of Orissa. A great place for wildlife enthusiasts to spend a few days in.

Tikarpara Nature Camp

BOOKING:

Booking and entry permit is done officially through the website of Orissa eco-tourism.
https://www.ecotourodisha.com/index.php
 Please check the current rates from the site. At the time of our booking it was around 2500-4000 Rs. for 2 persons (Including food and lodging) depending on the location. But the online transaction takes a whopping 10% of the total amount as transaction fees. Another thing to note is that the payment portal DOES NOT accept RUPAY cards ( even though that is not mentioned in the website).
Alternatively you can try your luck by spot booking , that would spare you the transaction charges, but I would not advise that. You can stay at one place for maximum of 2 days at a stretch.

Here are a few contact numbers:
DFO Office Satkosia: +918763102681
Shamim Chauhan (Site Manager Satkosia) : +8658023333

Visakhapatnam and Araku Valley; A refreshing short trip

Visakhapatnam or Vizag is a bustling city on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Despite being the most populous city in Andhra Pradesh it is surprisingly clean and a popular tourist spot. This particular tour is almost mandatory for Bengalis and they like to throw in theBora caves and the beautiful Araku valley in the mix. The entire tour can be done in only 5 days. So I am just gliding over the facts of this tour, the history and mythological essence can be studied at your own leisure.

 ITINERARY: 

Day 1: Reach Visakhapatnam. (Preferably in the early morning). Visit to some of the places of interest.

Day 2: Catch the train to Araku Valley. Visit Bora caves. Night stay at Araku.

Day 3: Journey back to Visakhapatnam.

Day 4: Realax. Catch a train back.

Obviously you can extend the program by 2-3 days by staying an extra day at Araku and Visakhapatnam.

Kaikhali ; A weekend trip (1)

Kaikhali is a small land adjoining the confluence where Matla and Nimaniya rivers flow in to the Bay of Bengal. This place has river banks full of mangroves like  Garan, Golappata, Hogla, Sundri, etc. The boat-ride on the Matla is sure a very refreshing experience. I would not miss the beauty of it on a moonlit night or twilight, the next time I visit. This place is practically within the Sunderban area. Some boats take tourists in the depth of the jungle where tigers are claimed to come out. I would not put too much faith in that though.

Season:  The best season to visit the Sunderbans is definitely the winter.


How to Reach : From anywhere in Kolkata first you have to reach Sealdah railway station. As far as I know there are no buses available which goes directly to Kaikhali. Reserved buses and cars are available though if you are going with a large group.

From Sealdah you have to go to Joynagar-Majilpur station by either Lakhsmikantapur local or Namkhana Local.
Word of advice , these trains can get crowded pretty nastily so if you are not confident enough to handle it , do opt for road journey. But the roads here are not buttery smooth either.


From Joynagar-Majilpur station you can either go to Kaikhali directly or make a break-journey.
Case 1: The only way to reach Kaikhali directly is apparently auto-rickshaw. You have to reserve an auto (short for auto-rickshaw). They will charge anything from Rs 250 to Rs 500 for one-way journey. If you do not plan to stay overnight make sure to book the auto for the return journey. The price mostly depends on the season and your bargaining skills.


In our case we booked two autos for a total sum of 1200 Rs in the condition that we will start our return journey by 3p.m.

Case 2: From Joynagar you can take bus or auto to get to Jamtala. This will not cost you much as this is the regular route for the locals. But the buses are crowded to the roof. From Jamtala you will have to reserve another auto to get to Kaikhali.

The total distance is 35 km and can take a toll when you are hanging from an auto-rickshaw.


Description: The entire bank of river Matla at Kaikhali has concrete embankment. We stroller leisurely on them and found a crowd at a distance. Curious, we went there and found that boats can be booked for 950 Rs. Each boat can hold upto 12 people ,not anymore. So it is wise to go in groups of at-least 10 people.

Boats for hire

We took a boat without further delay because the auto will charge extra for any delay after 3.30pm. The boat journey was truly spectacular. The river was so vast that the other bank appeared to be just a light mist. The water was gleaming like silver and it was really hard to keep our eyes open. I suggest you bring your sun-glasses.

The riverbank in sight were full of lush green mangrove trees. It was truly a magnificent sight to behold.

                          

The boat journey was to another small town called Jharkhali (jhar = storm in Bengali). It is a nice little place full of green trees and has the atmosphere of a village fair. People were buying and selling various food items.

There is a Butterfly Park with an entree fee of 10Rs. In it there is a children's park ,a watchtower and plants on which the butterflies prefer to lay their eggs on.

The monkeys here are quite handful. do not feed them and keep your valuables away from them.

The return journey had a soothing feel as the sun was a bit gentler and the sky revealed its blue colour.

Jharkhali

There is a small market near the boat-ghat. You can get lunch there for decent price. The food is quite good. On out way back we visited the Nimpith Ramkrishna Ashram. Do not miss it.

Nimpith Ashram

Then we returned back to Joynagar. As most Bengali will tell you " You Just DON'T " come back from Joynagar without tasting Joynagar's "MOA" , a sweet delicacy made of Kheer (condensed dried sweetened milk ),Khoi (puffed rice) and of-course the fragrant Nolen Gurh ( sweet sap tapped from Date palm trees ). There is a high probability that you will be deceived while buying these. So try avoiding small vendors or shops. Bunchki Babu's shop is near the station and sells good quality Moas.

This winter let Kaikhali be your destination.

More details are coming soon ....................

Kalpeshwar ; Tranquility Redefined

Unlike other shrines of Panchkedar Kalpeshwar is not situated on top of a hill with spectacular view of dazzling snow-peaks. But what it offers is a peaceful environment to spend a few days which is priceless if you are in the season of Chardham Yatra. Generally the pre-monsoon season in Uttarakhand is crowded like anything. So after you finish visiting your place of interest you can visit this place and stay for a few days.

Natural-Gate-way To Devagram

Season: Post monsoon seems to be the better season to visit this place (September -November). Pre monsoon is good too.

 

How to Reach: From anywhere in India first you have to reach Haridwar which is half a days journey from the capital Delhi. From Haridwar you have to reach Joshimath ,which is an important town in the Badrinath route. From there one can get shared cars to Urgam. Previously cars could only go to Helong and a full 10Km trek was to be done through jungles and hills. Now fortunately or unfortunately the road is extended to Urgam. By 2014-2015 it is expected that the motorable road will go upto Kalpeswar.

On the Way to Devgram

From Urgam it is like 2.5 km walk to Devgram. This walk is quite refreshing as the entire route is through wheat and vegetable fields and there is no climb so far as altitude is concerned. The following pictures will give you an idea.

Indian house sparrow

Stunning cactus blossom

Fertile lands of Devgram

Pathik Rest House

Before going to the temple its best if you leave your luggage at the lodge. There may be others but this one surely catches the eye. Pathik Rest house is really a nice cozy place to stay. The people are
very caring and nice.

Dahlia & Dragonfly

After a little rest and much needed lunch I started for the Kalpeshwar temple. On the way you can find many things that will grab your attention and spark your curiosity .

Jungle blue-berries

On the way I found these berries,according to the locals theses are favourite food for local bears. But as you can see there are so many left for the bears means that its not edible for us.

This bridge connected the temple to Devgram,(but sadly right after the catastrophe of Uttarakhand in 2013 this bridge was destroyed).

Kalpeshwar Temple

Photography inside the temple is prohibited

There are some other temples in the village. The shrine of "Dhyan Badri " is probably the most popular of them.

Snake lily

The bottom line is that its the perfect place for relaxing after a tough trek or hectic traveling.

The waterfall above is situated near the temple of Kalpeshwar. You can ask the locals for directions. Its a perfect little place for taking a bath without any danger of being washed away by the river. We have spent nearly two hours just sitting there and enjoying the pristine beauty.

The people of Devgram like most other villages of Himalayas have a honest pride in what they are and how they live. Their hospitality is unmatched.

Stunning sun-set at Devgram

Farakka ,Jaldhaka and Lataguri/Gorumara :Ideal tour for Electrical Engineering Students

     From the deafening  noise of 500MW generators ,humming of 400kv lines to pin-drop silence of pristine forest with occasional call of peacock, we have got everything in this tour.It has been a great learning experience for us and we had the enjoyment of a lifetime and for that I with all my friends thank our department and all the teachers who worked very hard to materialize this plan of ours.

Conveyor Belt at NTPC

500 MW Generator ,NTPC Farakka

Transmission tower

Farakka Barrage

     Without further introduction I will come straight down to business.

Day 1 :    

     First we reached Malda Town by rail ,as of now students should be able to get 50% discount of tickets but thanks to a bunch of misguiding Railway officers we could not get railway concession.Anyway , we boarded the Teesta -Torsha Express from Sealdah which departed 5 mins after the scheduled time of 1.40pm . This delay went to our favor as one was our teachers was stranded in a traffic-jam and he had our boarding passes it almost gave us a mini-heart attack.Thankfully he boarded the train just minutes before the train left.
     The compartments were cleaner and better that what we thought it would be. We had a gala time in the train ,we sang and danced and gave a lot of "Bawal" throughout the journey (though I am not sure if the fellow passengers liked it ). Not surprisingly we reached Malda Town a full 1 hr late than the scheduled arrival time of 9.50 pm. Luckily we had prearranged a hotel (Hotel Kalinga : Two star in name and rent but below quality in service).After a late dinner we settled for the night.

Day 2 :

The next morning we had breakfast (not a very hearty one I must say )and started for NTPC Farakka thermal power plant by a bus that we have reserved.After almost one hour we reached our destination . First we were briefed in a visitors briefing centre and provided with helmets.Then we entered the plant and it turned out to be way larger than what we expected .80mtr high boiler units , large conveyor belts for coal supply ,a large switch-yard that looks like a jungle of metal were enough to make our jaws drop. I am not going to bore you by giving more details about each places.In most places photography is strictly prohibited but here are some.

Sculpture Outside NTPC Farakka

After the plant visit we were "dog-tired" and needed a much deserved rest but that was not to be as our train to New-Jalpaiguri was scheduled to come at Malda-Town at 11.40 pm,but that wasn't the end of the ordeal as you will soon find out.
Day 3:
 Our Day 3 started at the Malda Station as the clock showed 00.00 ,the train (Bhahmaputra Exp) was 2 hours late . After a long wait the train finally arrived at 3.40 am ,we thought "oh well we'll just go in and get in the bunks and sleep peacefully", but there were some idiots who thought that they could sleep in our reserved bunks just because thats what they have been doing since the train left Delhi, it took 30 of our student and teachers to make them leave.One of them slept in the corridor and pick-pocketed the wallet of a friend to return favour before he left sometime at dawn. I zipped myself in the sleeping-bag and had a few hours of much needed sleep.

  

Jaldhaka

 


  After reaching NJP we hurried to our cars to reach Lataguri as we were already much late.Even after much request by our teachers the Jaldhaka Plant Authority gave us a deadline of 12 noon.After two hours of drive through spectacular countryside with tea-gardens and jungles we reached Lataguri. Lataguri is a small town
in the outskirts of Gorumara National Park.We put our luggage in a resort and after some breakfast shot-off towards Jaldhaka Hydel power plant.
   Jaldhaka is a much smaller plant than Farakka and took much less time.We took leisurely  strolls around the plant and took photos to our hearts content.

After the plant visit we returned to our respective resorts.

Outside our resorts (Gorumara / Naora .. Lataguri)

Day 4: The next morning we woke up as early as possible to book tickets for Jubgle Safari and three of us including me lost our way and ended up moving 2 more kilometers ahead of the ticket counter,the empty road with no houses and no people whatsoever....it was thrilling  alright.

Me and my friends in front of the entrance of the park

           After a bit help from the locals we returned the way we came to the resort,by then the cars were ready and we boarded without any delay and our safari started.

Peacock crossing the road ,during Jungle Safari.

For many this was their first ever Jungle Safari and we were excited,but I must say I was a bit disappointed

.Compared to my previous experiences at Kanha ,Bandhavgarh and Jim Corbett National Park Gorumara Jungle Safari offers less hours and only covers a introductory route often going through villages.We were fortunate to see an elephant (though not in the open : hence not good enough for photographs), we also saw several peacocks including one with its tail spread-out.

But surprisingly we saw no deers (saw hundreds in all other forests ),may be because we were on a more bushy trail rather than one filled with grass-lands.And just like that it ended and we returned to some extent disappointed (first timers were excited :p).
      Some of us   took a long walk to  Naora river (pr riverbed rather) ,it was a good fun-filled experience.First of all there wasn't much water in it ,just some in the middle.We took broken sticks and wrote stuffs such that people going through the bridge can see them,it was fun.Some of us underestimated the depth and attempted to cross it ,but I don't think any of them made it.

    It was our last night at Lataguri and to make the most of it we made a campfire .Though we took a lot of  time building it and then our teacher told us that the locals have spotted an elephant nearby and its not a good idea to make noise so we had to stop and get to bed early, so sad(though the locals were trying to scare it off by burning crackers ,I could not understand what harm could our noise have done).

Day 5 : On this day from 4am all of us were busy as  bees.We were to buy tickets for watch-towers.Unlike other forests I have visited in Gorumara chances of seeing wildlife are better from a watch-tower than a moving jeep.There are 4 watch towers..3 most popular are ..
1>Jatraproshad (named after an elephant)
2>Chapramari
3>Medela

In the jungle

 We went to Jatraproshad and because of the fog saw nothing exciting, some of our friends went to Chapramari and saw couple of Indian Bisons (Gaurs ) and another group saw pet elephants .But dont get the wrong idea the watch-towers overlook Murti river and on the other bank there are salt pits where wild animals come regularly.We could not see anything because of the fog.

Jatraproshad watch tower

Fog blocking view from the watch-tower

So we returned with a heavy heart as this was our last day and we did not get much.Nonetheless we had the time of our lives.

Special Thanks to :
                              Department Of Electrical Engineering
                              Jadavpur University
(Respected Teachers who accompanied us )

1.       Dr. Biswanath Roy

2.       Mr. Arindam Kr Sil

3.       Dr. Biswendu Chatterjee

4.       Mr. Ayan Kumar Tudu

Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy----





More coming soon ...