Highway to Phulbani

Day-2

An impromptu plan, and we were off to Phulbani. We called up a contact in Phulbani who promised us there's lot more than Daringbadi to see in Phulbani, 4 waterfalls to be precise 😀. Being a crab 🦀 ( Cancerian) water attracts me more than anything else and with nothing more to see in Daringbadi( Hill view and nature park to be visited next time) the course was set.

We started for Phulbani around 12:30 Pm, on a road which was best part of this journey SH-1, with huge trees 🌲 on both sides of the road, pitch black roads with painted white stripes, autumn 🍂 leaves on the black canvas each turn was no less than a scenery. There was a stupid grin on my face while I was riding most of the time, and I fell in love with Odisha again, this time the roads, a 100kms full of beauty. I seriously forgot to take my camera out and click some pics of this road😑☹️.

We reached around 3pm in Phulbani and were prompted by google to try a restaurant nearby called Cooks. Phulbani is relatively  a better town, with good wide roads, cleanliness and almost every important thing can be found on the main road. All we needed after a good ride was some good food 🥘 and Cooks didn't disappointed us in that. He also gave suggestions about Hotels, places to visit and also about an android app called "Kandhamal", which contains all the info you need.

Rice, Dal, Roti, Panner and Mushroom

Dessert 🍨, you lovely sweet poison

We called up our contact who also suggested to stay at Hotel Dreamland. It has parking area like a cave with an animated plane on top of the building. The rooms were cheap and decent too, plus who gives unlimited wifi on ₹500 per day 😆.

Before Google Maps 

We met our contact Mr. Akhil Senapati, owner of Aakash Photo studio to plan further. He advised us to visit Maa Barala Devi temple along with  Pilasalunki Dam which round about 15kms from the town.These were starting of the bumpy roads ☹️, we got a bit late in reaching and it was almost sunset 🌅, , this Dam reminded me of Pitamahal Dam in Rourkela, with similar mountains surrounding this Dam.

Pilasalunki Dam

Bad images jinx started 😟

On the way to phulbani we stopped for some snacks " Vada" in particular as they say " Bara pratek odia ra durbalata 😆" ( Vada, weakness of every odia) add guguni too 😋 to this list.

Dinner time was pretty much relaxing with some music 🎶 and online research about the places nearby. I would have slept early but I can't sleep immediately when I hit the bed unlike Udipt, added his snores are no less than sound of a Bass trumpets 🎺, I heard from people that I snore too but this is brutal, I should Sleep first 😩.


Day- 3

Woke up around 5 in the morning but decided it was still early to go out. How does one start and day without a cup of Tea ☕️ ? Plus we needed a bit of confirmation on the routes. We tried the old fashioned way of asking peoples for directions instead of googling, thing is I wanted to hear the cliched dialog every odia says when you ask for directions " hmm... apana gote kama karantu.... ) 😆"( hmm.. do one thing... ).

Putudi waterfalls is around 15kms from Phulbani you take a right turn after 9kms from the main city   , do watch out for sign boards. From this turn our DANGAL with the roads started, if you hum a tune it shall come out in classical voice for sure but we were not complaining, for I knew there would absolutely be no crowd there in waterfalls. The view to the falls was great with River Salunki flowing by, sun rising up on that side, riding a bull up the ghats, I was expecting something good again.

Entry gates to Putudi were in poor state, picnic had taken a toll on this place, the Stairs, the view point, many broken Alcohol bottles with plastics can be seen all over, but the view was awesome from there. We heard many stories before, a word of caution actually from the locals before coming that one should be disrespectful towards this place, avoid intoxication if planning to go near the falls or better don't go at all. There has been many cases of people being killed in this waterfalls, a word of caution for everyone who loves to explore these kind of new places, don't mess with forces of Nature,  calculating risk is fine which we did when we did a small trek to the falls below but I wouldn't have done so during monsoon season which would have been plain idiotic.

Small trek video

Lighting was not proper, I did took some shots but not worth it, wasn't happy at all. The sun ☀️ was away and dull lighting conditions weren't making a merry of a scene for Photography. I did sat down for a while, listening to the sound of water gushing, the lush green surrounding and river salunki was offering some amazing peace ✌️ of mind.

I have uploaded 360deg images on google
360 Deg view of Putudi Waterfalls 

Udipt was pretty much against the idea of coming down, but I literally dragged him along, I didn't wanted to die alone 😆 🤞.  Another word of caution, please wear a good pair of boots, and if the rocks are wet don't put your feets on them last but not the least, don't litter 😡.

You can't always get desired lighting conditions on first visit to a place, I realised that one needs to spend a whole day to get some good shots, alas would be doing it next time. On our way back we say some good lights actually.

Back to main roads we took a right turn and went straight ahead to Katringa the T- Junction where right leads to Urumagada Waterfalls and left to Katramal Waterfalls.
After having breakfast 🍳 we went right to Urumagada, time was ticking, roads were no good either, but only thing bad was the sun overhead, but sky was like a blue ocean.

Upon reaching Urumagada Waterfalls, we strained our ears 👂 for sound of waterfalls which was absent, on reaching the falls it was absent too 😑 I mean the water,  yes yes do blame it on us, we went in the wrong season. But the view was amazing, I'm sure it looks lovely in prime seasons.

Click on link to View Urumagad 360 deg View


From there we headed back to Katringa junction, exhausted and dehydrated we took some rest, enquired about the route to Katramala Waterfalls and started off again. We also got to know fishes in those waterfalls are believed to be sacred and tourists often feed them with biscuits, the story was exciting enough for us to buy some biscuits for them. Now the best way to go from here is to hire a vehicle which charges around 1200 for 5-6 people's, also there are auto rickshaw plying in this routes, dunno how comfortable the journey shall be with that.

We reached the spot but due to absence of signboard we were unable to find the way to Katramala waterfalls, what we found was a incomplete foot bridge.

We returned back to one of the streams flowing by and I started shooting the little fishes ( Rasbora deniconius) underwater, I swear my heart was in my mouth pounding like a drum 🥁 when I dipped in my iPhone 7. I did many videos and clicked many pics, the biscuit we got for fishes were being shared among us 😆 Coz it was already way past the lunch time.

 

 

Now it didn't gave a good feeling to go away without watching the waterfalls, near yet to far, luckily some tourists were on the way to the falls and upon following them they lead us to the waterfalls, one has to take a right turn after the foot bridge while going by the rocky river bed and not on the bridge as it's incomplete.

Here there was no water either, but there were fishes, bigger versions of the Rasbora, luckily we still had some biscuits left for them.

Water Ledu

Translation - Do not litter

Click to View 360deg view of Katramala

On the way return We stopped again at Katringa, had a Cutting chai and retired to our rooms.

Pakrajhar waterfalls were shifted to day 4

On the Roads Again : Daringbadi

Every time or other I used to get this Question, “Have you visited Daringbadi?” Can you give us some tips about it? The answer was No.  Somehow the label Kashmir of Odisha didn't excite me enough to Visit Daringbadi. My heart lies with Koraput as known to all, which gets its equal share of frost, fog and falls. 

I was not super impressed with the Images found on Google but still decided to give it a go. Plans were made, hotel booking was done online, a few minor repairs on RE a 350 Thunderbird and we were ready. My Co-rider in this trip was Udipt Ranjan, my partner in UDstudios who was going to do his first maiden long distance trip on his RE a 350 Classic. 

Udayan Smiling Behera with Udipt Ranjan

8^th Feb 2017

We started around 6 Am in the morning, filled petrol’s in our RE up to the brim, had some tea and biscuits and off we go. 

 

Biscuit and Tea still a better love story than twilight

The climate was great with no surprisingly no fog at all, we cruised along and stopped at Tangi (Khordha) for another set of Tea and Water.  In a long journey it is utmost necessary to keep your body hydrated and take necessary breaks, the idea is to enjoy and not to push hard unless required. Our second stop was at Keshpur for some yummy Breakfast. 

Yamma Yumma

From Khaliote Ghati, there are two roads to go to Daringbadi if you are travelling from Bhubaneswar, one is via khalikote and other via Berhampur, Road from Berhampur is a longer but roads are good, where are the one Via khalikote is not bad but occasionally bumpy with congestions. Follow the road to meet at Biju Pattnaik Chakk in Asika and continue on that road up to Soroda. The roads are lovely and scenic in this part.

From Soroda follow the Tikabali road till Daringbadi, Some parts of roads are under construction here I hope they would be over by this summer. No whenever in doubt do ask for directions from the locals they are extremely helpful.

As the sun gradually came hovering above our head, our pit stops increased, taking breaks. I genuinely missed a Go-pro mount on this tour which is on my list now before my next trip. I have been to too many places in Odisha and genuinely speaking most of the main roads are in pristine conditions with proper road and place indications all over. 

Probably the first adventurer, Lord of the apes

From the hanuman statue, Daringbadi takes about 1hr or so, the best part of this road is the Ghats through the jungles of course which starts after Raskijodi Temple. Now in almost every part of India you shall find one small else big temple before or at the end of ghat roads, this is because ghat roads were not safe to travel and people used to pray before ascending the Ghats.Still a common practise among the drivers for a safe ride along the ghat. 

Just keep Praying

Finally we reached Daringbadi and checked into our Hotel Padma around 2PM. Can’t call it a proper hotel but a lodge with no restaurant. Other options in Daringbadi are Hotel Utopia, Deers Eco Resort; don’t forget to get your booking prior to your trip.

As I told the hotel had no restaurant we had to venture out for our lunch. On local recommendation we stopped at Dhaba called Hotel Hill View. Wonders how everything is called a hotel: \? The food was okay, but good thing was WIFI: D. forgot to mention, cellular service providers in Daringbadi are limited to BSNL, Reliance JIo and Feeble amount of Airtel.  

Time for some Sightseeing

Instead of sleeping in our rooms we decided to roam nearby areas. The suggestions we got?

Hill View Park (the name is getting clichéd here), Nature View Park, Coffee Plantations, Doluri River Picnic spot, Lovers Point, and Dasingbadi Waterfalls. 

Enter the Dungeons

We opted for Coffee Plantations first but sadly the park was closed for indefinite time because of Coffee harvesting. 

But the Pine and Nilgiri Plantation are good enough for a small walk. 

Bae Loves to pose

Opt to plan B Nature View Park and Hill View Park, on the gates of this park we had a shocker, the place was swarming with tourists and it was nothing more than a park. 

Prakruit Darshan

 

Pahadi Darshan 

I’m sorry to say this but we didn’t went inside, being from Sunabeda, a man made park is the last thing we would like to visit.

Plan C, Lovers Point.

All the love you need

Lovers point is around 15kms from point B on the Phulbani Route. Sun was getting low as we hurried to this place, planning to get some twilights shots of the fall. Upon reaching the place I realized it contrary to its name, it was just a small cascade with gentle water flowing. Again I drew a comparison between Daringbadi and Sunabeda, why exactly is this place famous for? Instead of Kashmir of Odisha, Daringbadi should be named Ooty of Odisha.
After a long tiring day, it was time for some tea and some serious planning for our tour.
If you want to rest and retire have a time out far from the city with pleasant climate then Daringbadi is for you, else you would be bored for sure. 

Day 2
Morning was a bit chilly in Daringbadi, and our hand almost collapsed on the ride to Dasingbadi Waterfalls.

Exactly when you need it

On the Coffee plantation route continue on straight path round about 12kms to reach the Dasignbadi water. The signboard is in tatters still serves it purpose.  

Roads are good enough for Four Wheels to cross but I doubt it won’t be in Rainy Seasons.  

 
Finally a place where we could open our Camera and mount on tripods.

The fall was small and beautiful and we  had a great time there. 

But first,  lemme take a  pic of me

may be also of him

Shot from Camera D810, Dasingbadi Waterfalls 

 

Dasingbadi Waterfalls , Shot from Camera 

Stairway to the falls of Dasingbadi

Dasingbadi Falls from above

 

In love with the roads

To be Continued...  On the Roads Again : Phulbani

Mangalajodi Trip Report

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.


***

watch tower road 

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.

Purple Moorhen

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.

Birds flock in flight 

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'.

Norther Pintail in flight 

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

- Rs 600 for 4 persons
Lunch at Eco-tourism Center - Rs 65 (Veg)
Ticket from Mukteswar PH towards Bhubaneswar - Rs 10

Fun and Peace in Mangalajodi - Priceless