11th Dec 2011 :-
Waking up Early on a Sunday morning was never my priority nor I guess it is for anyone else :D. I woke up around 4:30 am with sleepy eyes and a blanket covered from head to toe and the first thing I did was gave wake up calls to all the participants, except Chikun who was already online :D.
Me and Tanuja reached the Bhubaneswar Railway station around 6 am, where Sushree was waiting for us with closed eyes (I guess she was sleep walking). After inquiring about the Berhampur intercity express of 6.30am arrival we ran towards platform no. 4 for our tickets as its less crowded there. But there was a long queue over there too and it was already 6:15. My first thought at the ticket counter was "hey no one's gonna check the tickets till chilika" , letz go WTC. But then as a responsible Indian citizen I thought; nope No WTC, thatz when I asked the ladies to do the honors (i.e to do the tickets). As Swastik and Alok decided for the biking tour we were left with 9 members who got united near the last compartment of the intercity. The lady on the mic was going on announcing about the departure of our train. We all were about to board the train, when Madhumay called up from a STD booth asking of our whereabouts (his phone is in dead mode so he couldn't communicate with us before). It was going to be 6:35 then, and the lady went on announcing about the departure of the train but then I remembered the scene from DDLJ where sharukh was giving a helping hand to kajol to get into the train. I thought of something very similar to happen where instead of the former characters it would be me and Mohit pulling Madhumay in. Nevermind thankx to our Indian stretchable time, Madhumay made it (WTC :P) and the train left around 6:40 am
The sun near the horizon, the distant paddy fields passing by, the wee golden hour and the cool breeze of the morning. Traveling in the train in the morning hours was fun, along with the excitement to be at Mangalajodi. We arrived at Kalupada Ghat station about 8:15am where Santosh (from Eco-tourism Mangalajodi) was waiting for us with 2 Auto-rickshaw's .
The village scene at Mangalajodi was quite welcoming to us while we made our way towards the Eco-tourism center. Shreeja asked 'Bro, is this the place ??' I asked her to hold her patience for a while.
Upon reaching the center, she asked again 'Bro, is this the place ?' I again asked her to wait a little more :P
We were greeted by Laxmi ji there, who asked us to get freshen up and wait for the breakfast. What we initially thought thought of 5min wait stretched up to more than 40mins. Alok and Swastik joined us in the wait too. The looks of the members made me to check periodically about the progress in our breakfast, while I saw Laxmi ji preparing parathas for us. Some members got busy clicking a Treepie perched on a nearby tree, some other got busy in clicking macro, while some just waited. finally around 9:20am breakfast was served. We gulped down the parathas and hurried towards the auto to reach out for the site.
When the auto hit the bumpy road, I said 'this is the place! This is Mangalajodi', and the rest of the members in the auto were peeping out of the auto like one does from the window of an plane but here to see the swampy green marshy lands.
***
On the way saw many Open billed storks nearby the fields when the members of the auto decided to halt. Shreeja was the first one to jump out, followed by Swaroop, Sushree and Chikun with camera's in their hands charging upon the grey heron who was looking at us. 1,2,3 click and up the bird flew away by the time I would jump out of the auto to click. Then I thought it was already getting late and we should be hurrying up to the watchtower as we would get more birds out there. The ride from there was like a passenger train stopping at every sight of a bird. Swaroop saw a open billed stork near by and literally jumped out the auto (as soon as it stopped) in Singham style to shoot the open billed stork (with the camera of course) but as very obviously the birdie flew away :P. I advices Swaroop to be steady in approach and to shoot while in the auto and then gradually go closer slowly, but I was the first one to jump out on the next stop upon sighting a Purple Moorhen. Luckily there were many and each one of us clicked several shots of the bird. We decided to walk from there to the watch tower while clicking the nearby scenery and birds till we reached our boats.
One the first boat, I was accompanied by Tanuja , Anurag and Arpit. On the second boat there were Chikun, Swaroop ,Swastik and Alok. On the 3rd boat there were Shreeja, Mohit, Madhumay and Sushree. Poor guys on Boat number 3 had to wait little more to get the hoods of their boats done.
The very first sighting was that of a Pond Heron, followed by the Black Winged Stilt in the waters as the boat slowly moved on in the marshy lands. On the way I saw a a man sitting at the tip of the boat with a canon L series 500 mm lens. I decided to hide my cam with 300mm lens until we got past him :D. Our guide was standing at the tip of the boat like the man on a watch of a ship, informing us about the birds 800ms away for which I could only see as dots in ma camera. I asked our guide for the binocular but sadly he said it was in the boat number 2. The birds who came near after that were the Northern Pintail and again the Black Winged Stilt. Birds every where flying, perching, grazing along with the scenery, cool breeze and the slow boat ride. Everything was just too good. The Little Cormorant was sunbathing with its wings opened, while the Whiskered Terns were flying around catching the dragonfly and giving various poses. A Jack Snipe was sneaking by the left while the Large Egret was posing in the front followed by a Pied Kingfisher.
We were nearing the boat no.2 in which Swastik and Soumya were clicking in burst mode of the camera like the men with machine guns. Our guide asked for the binocular from the guide in Boat number 2 from there we went parallel till the Ajay Kudiya house. With the help of the binoculars and our guide we were able to see the Glossy Ibis, Sea Gulls and the Norther Shoveller, while we moved the very own Splinter, Little Gerbe (with a background score of Bhag Dk bose) was making the run along with the Green Frogs competing with it in giant leaps. Probably the Indian sport ministry is in the process to sign them up for the Olympics to win gold for India.
We had many discussion with our guide like how people used to poach, what they used for poaching, how the locals have came up together, how this place is getting importance and so on.
As we moved on we saw the Little Egrets, Black-Tailed Godwits, Phesant Tailed Jacanas, Bronzed Winged Jacanas and Purple Herons. I heard someone saying from boat no.2 'arre sie mota, fulfulia chadhei ra pakhaku neiki chalo'. (take me closer to that fat fluffy bird) they were the Brahminy Duck in the vincity. As we neared the Ajay Kudiya house a Brahminy Kite was sitting there. While we got busy in clicking the beauty our guide exclaimed 'he is welcoming you to Ajay kudiya'.
It was around 12 noon. The sun was over head and we could feel the heat of it. We waited for our Boat no. 3. Our guide said that all the birds come to this place after the sunset and go elsewhere else after the sunrise.
As we neared the hut , a guy was singing the song Balunga toka , i said to myself " probably he is welcoming us too :P .
After a small walk and few group photographs (courtesy our guides who clicked 5 pics of the group because the camera was still in burst mode :P ) we made our return journey towards the watch tower.
Just when I thought our journey was over, I saw a kingfisher hovering in the air and diving into the water. I saw this for the very first time. I didn't bother to take out my camera but just watched the beauty in action.
Alas our journey of the boat ended. While our autos were on the way to watch tower, we decided to rest inside the watch tower. From the top of the tower we saw the fish getting roasted, smokey fish as one the locals yelled.
Many of us were looking down at the pot and the fish with watery mouth to get a bite of it. Before they could ask our autos arrived and we went back towards the Eco-tourism center.
All were hungry as a tiger but we waited for our vegetarian Lunch to arrive. Rice, Dal, Cauliflower curry..yum yum specially the Dal. We all filled our stomachs upto the brim and took rest under the shed.
It was around 2:30 p.m. We decided to board the Khalikhot DMU at the Mukteswar P.H station. After clearing up the bills we all went towards the station and waited till 3:30 pm for our train.
And the wait was not over with it, our train halted at khurda station for about One and half hours. I went near the TTE asking about the departure of the train. Mohit and Madhumay went further asking the driver of the train asking about the same :P .
Finally we decided to board the Intercity Express and we reached our destination around 6 p.m.
What a day it was! What a memorable 12hours it has been! I was filled with the memories of the birds flying in flock, the sound of the boat, water, the birds, the peace and tranquility of the nature.
I hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did and I look forward for another trip to Mangalajodi; the land of paradise for birds.
The members were :-
Arpit Pradhan, Mohit Varu, Anurag Mishra, Tanuja Sethi, Udayan S Behera, Sushree Das, Shreeja Behera, Swastik Mishra, Madhumay Mallik, Chikun (Jaga), Swaroop Mishra and Alok Kumar Sahu.
Bird Sighted:
1. Little Cormorant
2. Whiskered Terns
3. Black Winged Stilt
4. Wood Sandpiper
5. Black-tailed Godwit
6. Openbill Stork
7. Pheasant Tailed Jacana
8. Bronze Winged Jacana
9. Jack Snipe
10. Purple Heron
11. Citrine Wagtail
12. Little Grebe
13. Grey Heron
14. Little Gerbe
15. Great Egret
16. Pied Kingfisher
17. Common Moorhen
18. Little Egret
19. Sea Gull
20. Northern shoveller
21. Brahminy kite
22. Glossy Ibis
23. White Browed Wagtail
24. Indian Pond heron
25. Purple Moorhen
26. Northern Pintail
Along with White Throat-ed kingfisher, Purple rumped sunbird, Drongo, Pied Mynah.
Details of the Rate charts :-
Ticket from Bhubaneswar to Kalupada Ghat - Rs 25 (single person)
Auto from Kalupada to Mangalajodi - Rs 150
Breakfast at Manglajodi Eco-tourism center - Rs 35
Auto from Eco-tourism center towards watch tower - Rs 100
Boat ride
Lunch at Eco-tourism Center - Rs 65 (Veg)
Ticket from Mukteswar PH towards Bhubaneswar - Rs 10
Fun and Peace in Mangalajodi - Priceless
Waking up Early on a Sunday morning was never my priority nor I guess it is for anyone else :D. I woke up around 4:30 am with sleepy eyes and a blanket covered from head to toe and the first thing I did was gave wake up calls to all the participants, except Chikun who was already online :D.
Me and Tanuja reached the Bhubaneswar Railway station around 6 am, where Sushree was waiting for us with closed eyes (I guess she was sleep walking). After inquiring about the Berhampur intercity express of 6.30am arrival we ran towards platform no. 4 for our tickets as its less crowded there. But there was a long queue over there too and it was already 6:15. My first thought at the ticket counter was "hey no one's gonna check the tickets till chilika" , letz go WTC. But then as a responsible Indian citizen I thought; nope No WTC, thatz when I asked the ladies to do the honors (i.e to do the tickets). As Swastik and Alok decided for the biking tour we were left with 9 members who got united near the last compartment of the intercity. The lady on the mic was going on announcing about the departure of our train. We all were about to board the train, when Madhumay called up from a STD booth asking of our whereabouts (his phone is in dead mode so he couldn't communicate with us before). It was going to be 6:35 then, and the lady went on announcing about the departure of the train but then I remembered the scene from DDLJ where sharukh was giving a helping hand to kajol to get into the train. I thought of something very similar to happen where instead of the former characters it would be me and Mohit pulling Madhumay in. Nevermind thankx to our Indian stretchable time, Madhumay made it (WTC :P) and the train left around 6:40 am
The sun near the horizon, the distant paddy fields passing by, the wee golden hour and the cool breeze of the morning. Traveling in the train in the morning hours was fun, along with the excitement to be at Mangalajodi. We arrived at Kalupada Ghat station about 8:15am where Santosh (from Eco-tourism Mangalajodi) was waiting for us with 2 Auto-rickshaw's .
The village scene at Mangalajodi was quite welcoming to us while we made our way towards the Eco-tourism center. Shreeja asked 'Bro, is this the place ??' I asked her to hold her patience for a while.
We were greeted by Laxmi ji there, who asked us to get freshen up and wait for the breakfast. What we initially thought thought of 5min wait stretched up to more than 40mins. Alok and Swastik joined us in the wait too. The looks of the members made me to check periodically about the progress in our breakfast, while I saw Laxmi ji preparing parathas for us. Some members got busy clicking a Treepie perched on a nearby tree, some other got busy in clicking macro, while some just waited. finally around 9:20am breakfast was served. We gulped down the parathas and hurried towards the auto to reach out for the site.
When the auto hit the bumpy road, I said 'this is the place! This is Mangalajodi', and the rest of the members in the auto were peeping out of the auto like one does from the window of an plane but here to see the swampy green marshy lands.
***
 | |
| watch tower road |
 | |
| Purple Moorhen |
The very first sighting was that of a Pond Heron, followed by the Black Winged Stilt in the waters as the boat slowly moved on in the marshy lands. On the way I saw a a man sitting at the tip of the boat with a canon L series 500 mm lens. I decided to hide my cam with 300mm lens until we got past him :D. Our guide was standing at the tip of the boat like the man on a watch of a ship, informing us about the birds 800ms away for which I could only see as dots in ma camera. I asked our guide for the binocular but sadly he said it was in the boat number 2. The birds who came near after that were the Northern Pintail and again the Black Winged Stilt. Birds every where flying, perching, grazing along with the scenery, cool breeze and the slow boat ride. Everything was just too good. The Little Cormorant was sunbathing with its wings opened, while the Whiskered Terns were flying around catching the dragonfly and giving various poses. A Jack Snipe was sneaking by the left while the Large Egret was posing in the front followed by a Pied Kingfisher.
 | |
| Birds flock in flight |
We had many discussion with our guide like how people used to poach, what they used for poaching, how the locals have came up together, how this place is getting importance and so on.
As we moved on we saw the Little Egrets, Black-Tailed Godwits, Phesant Tailed Jacanas, Bronzed Winged Jacanas and Purple Herons. I heard someone saying from boat no.2 'arre sie mota, fulfulia chadhei ra pakhaku neiki chalo'. (take me closer to that fat fluffy bird) they were the Brahminy Duck in the vincity. As we neared the Ajay Kudiya house a Brahminy Kite was sitting there. While we got busy in clicking the beauty our guide exclaimed 'he is welcoming you to Ajay kudiya'.
 | |
| Norther Pintail in flight |
As we neared the hut , a guy was singing the song Balunga toka , i said to myself " probably he is welcoming us too :P .
Just when I thought our journey was over, I saw a kingfisher hovering in the air and diving into the water. I saw this for the very first time. I didn't bother to take out my camera but just watched the beauty in action.
Alas our journey of the boat ended. While our autos were on the way to watch tower, we decided to rest inside the watch tower. From the top of the tower we saw the fish getting roasted, smokey fish as one the locals yelled.
Many of us were looking down at the pot and the fish with watery mouth to get a bite of it. Before they could ask our autos arrived and we went back towards the Eco-tourism center.
All were hungry as a tiger but we waited for our vegetarian Lunch to arrive. Rice, Dal, Cauliflower curry..yum yum specially the Dal. We all filled our stomachs upto the brim and took rest under the shed.
It was around 2:30 p.m. We decided to board the Khalikhot DMU at the Mukteswar P.H station. After clearing up the bills we all went towards the station and waited till 3:30 pm for our train.
And the wait was not over with it, our train halted at khurda station for about One and half hours. I went near the TTE asking about the departure of the train. Mohit and Madhumay went further asking the driver of the train asking about the same :P .
Finally we decided to board the Intercity Express and we reached our destination around 6 p.m.
What a day it was! What a memorable 12hours it has been! I was filled with the memories of the birds flying in flock, the sound of the boat, water, the birds, the peace and tranquility of the nature.
I hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did and I look forward for another trip to Mangalajodi; the land of paradise for birds.
The members were :-
Arpit Pradhan, Mohit Varu, Anurag Mishra, Tanuja Sethi, Udayan S Behera, Sushree Das, Shreeja Behera, Swastik Mishra, Madhumay Mallik, Chikun (Jaga), Swaroop Mishra and Alok Kumar Sahu.
Bird Sighted:
1. Little Cormorant
2. Whiskered Terns
3. Black Winged Stilt
4. Wood Sandpiper
5. Black-tailed Godwit
6. Openbill Stork
7. Pheasant Tailed Jacana
8. Bronze Winged Jacana
9. Jack Snipe
10. Purple Heron
11. Citrine Wagtail
12. Little Grebe
13. Grey Heron
14. Little Gerbe
15. Great Egret
16. Pied Kingfisher
17. Common Moorhen
18. Little Egret
19. Sea Gull
20. Northern shoveller
21. Brahminy kite
22. Glossy Ibis
23. White Browed Wagtail
24. Indian Pond heron
25. Purple Moorhen
26. Northern Pintail
Along with White Throat-ed kingfisher, Purple rumped sunbird, Drongo, Pied Mynah.
Details of the Rate charts :-
Ticket from Bhubaneswar to Kalupada Ghat - Rs 25 (single person)
Auto from Kalupada to Mangalajodi - Rs 150
Breakfast at Manglajodi Eco-tourism center - Rs 35
Auto from Eco-tourism center towards watch tower - Rs 100
Boat ride
Lunch at Eco-tourism Center - Rs 65 (Veg)
Ticket from Mukteswar PH towards Bhubaneswar - Rs 10
Fun and Peace in Mangalajodi - Priceless
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