Its a short trip which was done in January 2012, with my family. Me my mom and dad. Am sharing this because this may come handy for few people who wants to visit Bhitarkanika by road. Most people say you can drive till chandbali or Jayanagar. To reach Bhitarkanika you have to park your vehicle over there and avail a boat. But no, you can drive till Dangmal or Khola which are the main entry gates of Bhitarkanika. I will share them later in the post.
Let me share a teaser picture from Bhitarkanika first!
Day 1
We started at 9am from our home. Soon we were cruising through NH6 at good speeds, by one hour we crossed Kolaghat and in another hour we were at Kharagpur. From there we took NH60 towards Balasore. By 11-30 am we reached Jaleswar and as usual the Bengal - Orissa border was choked by the trucks. So had to do a little bit of wrong side driving a bit of driving through the muddy roads and soon we were back on the highways crossing the traffic congestion. We were lucky we crossed Jaleswar in 15 minutes. Nh60 was a bliss for driving. By around 12-15 we reached Balasore, 230kms from Kolkata. Our plan was to visit Kuldhia forest another 20 kms from Balasore. So from Balasore we took the right turn and headed to the forest department to get the permits to enter the forest first. There was a lady in charge and she gave us the permit in no time but asked for rs 50 as processing fee for which she never gave us any receipt!
So we left the place and headed towards the forest road. Asked few locals for the direction, they told us the route but every one told us our car can't go in that road as only jeeps are required to handle those terrain. Few jeep drivers looked down below and checked out the ground clearance and told us our car cant go there , so we can park our car and hire there jeep. But i was like let me try with my car first and if i fail to go ahead will return back and hire there jeep and we moved ahead and reached the forest check post.
The guy checked the permit and opened the entry gate and we were soon inside the forest. I was surprised to find the roads were mud roads with pebbles (you have to be careful for a tyre cut) but more or less they were smooth. Its a forest you have to climb through a small hill, due to the pebbles my car was loosing the traction but careful driving provided no difficulty. But at one place i was afraid to find no roads ahead and i have to go through a diversion which is 15-20 feet deep and the incline is very steep with looses pebbles. Plus there were small rocks which can scrap the underbelly of the car. May be this was the reason all were telling us not to take our car. I got down from my car inspected the whole path. I mentally marked the spots through which i should take my car. Carefully came down the slope without scrapping the car. But going up needs some momentum. In first gear i raced up but at the end the road was so uneven my car got stuck. Applied reverse gear. Backed off turned my car full towards the left and with slow acceleration without free spinning my tyres i slowly climbed up again and it again scraped but was able to come up to the main road. If one gets nervous or want to cover it in haste will damage his car for sure. You have to be very careful to negotiate such road in an Etios. I was happy i made it but it was certainly not meant for a sedan to do. Anyways we were happy and were enjoying the silence of the forest. There were not even a single sole except us. The scenic beauty of the forest is just beautiful. After 12kms of climb through the small ghat we reached the F.R.H bungalow Kuldhia. Guys here were very friendly and they let us use there rest rooms too.
Some pictures inside the Kuldhia forest.
We explored the jungle till 4pm. Few time we thought we were getting lost inside the jungle as all the cross roads seemed to be so similar, but i kept in mind from where i took left or right turn. Beware, there are no proper road direction's given inside the forest roads. So by 4pm we started our return journey towards the entry gate and has to once again go through that diversion. This time i had enough of experience and managed to take my car up in one go with a mild scrap in the under body. By 4-30pm we were out of Kuldhia and decided to stay for the night at Bhadrak. We reached Bhadrak by 6pm and checked in at hotel Orion. Its a nice hotel beside the highway. Foods were good too with cordial reception. We liked it. We were tired so had an early dinner and retired for the day by 9pm.
Distance covered till now is 383kms.
Day2
The hotel was situated just beside the highway so through out the night the sounds of trucks and there horn were quiet evident and couldn't have a tight sleep. So got up early by 6am. My parents got ready before me and by 8am they were near the car. I lazily took my own time to get ready and boarded the lift at 8-05am closed the doors it came half way down and a power cut, am stuck! I called my dad from the lift he told the security persons , they some how opened the doors and i had to jump 5 feet down to get to the floor! Wow what a way to start a day!
So by 8-15am we started our journey from Bhadrak to Khola gate just 5kms before Dangmal. These are the entry gates of Bhitarkanika. There is a road from Bhadrak which leads to Chandbali from there you can avail a boat till Dangmal or khola. This is what most people do. Bhadrak to Chandbali is 70kms road and locals said roads are bad. We decided to drive till Khola gate where our hotel tents were located. From Bhadrak we drove further 70kms towards Cuttack. Approximately 40kms before Cuttack there is a place called Chandikhol. From here you have to take left and this road heads towards Paradeep. This road is one way and toll road in excellent condition. We continued on this road for 20kms and just after a flyover we took the left turn. You have to ask some one for the roads to Pattamundai. As to reach Khola gate one has to go via Pattamundai. After we took left from the Paradeep road the road condition deteriorated, it became a two way road with few rough patches and a bit of traffic. Mostly bikers. We headed to Pattamundai. From here we have to go to a place called Rajnagar from here you cross a bridge and you are into Bhitarkanika territory. Any locals can guide the roads from here to Dangmal/ Khola. Once we cross the bridge our hotel guy was standing for us to guide us till the hotel. Its hardly a 5 kms stretch. But oh god practically there was no road and its meant for tractors to ply on. I struggled with my Etios to avoid scrapping but still failed to succeed a couple of times. Some how managed to cross this 5kms stretch in 40mins and reached our tents at Khola.
Let me give the route summary once more if you find it confusing above.
Kolkata- Balasore-Bhadrak-Chandikhol- take left on Paradeep road go for another 20kms again take left- pattamundai-Rajnagar-Khola- Dangmal.
Kolkata to Khola is 477kms and Bhadrak to Khola is 177kms. Dangmal is 5kms from Khola.
Basically Bhitarkanika is a mangrove forest, small river/creek passes through it and one can explore the place by a boat ride through the small river/creek. There are few jetty or gates from where you can avail boats. One of them is Khola another one is Dangmal. One can stay either at Khola or at Dangmal. There is another jetty/gate called Gupti. One can reach Gupti by car from Rajnagar or by boat from chandbali or khola or Dangmal.
We checked in at our hotel tents by 12 pm and it was Sand pebbles resort. First time in life i experienced staying in a tent and it was awesome.
A couple of pictures of our tents-
By 1pm we had our lunch and we were ready to go for the boat ride inside the mangrove forest of Bhitarkanika by 2pm. Our resorts Bolero dropped us to the Khola gate which was 1km from our resort and its the jetty from where boats leave for the tours. The boat ride through the creeks of Bhitarkanika was just amazing and altogether a different experience. One must have the experience to feel what i want to say.
Now let me share few pictures from our boat ride.
After this wonderful boat ride we were back to the jetty by 5pm. One must carry a movie camera to record the beauty of this place. For movie you need to pay rs 500 and rs 25 for still camera's. Our resort's Bolero was waiting for us at the Jetty and they took us back to our tents. Our tents were located in a desolated place and the evening was pitch dark except the lights from our resort. No electricity in this region.
A couple of pictures out side our resort in the evening.
Well you don't have much to do here in the evening so had an early dinner and retired for the day. Next day we had to get up early by 7am and reach Khola jetty for a boat ride to Ekakula which will be a 5 hours ride one way so over all a 10 hours boat ride was waiting for us. Ekakula is a sea Beach on Bay of Bengal. In correct season(Feb- March) one can spot Olive riddle turtle over here.