My bird images from this trip -
click here! (includes Mangalajodi images till Brown-winged Kingfisher)
 |
| Salt Water Srocodile (Crocodile porosus). |
Lying in the estuarine region of Brahmani- Baitarani in the
North-Eastern corner of Kendrapara district of Odisha, A protected area since
1975, Bhitarkanika includes mangrove forests, rivers, creeks, estuaries, back
water, accreted land and mud flats. The area is intersected by a network of
creeks with Bay of Bengal on the East. Its 672 sq.kms. of mangrove forest and wetland, designated as a National Park since 1998, is a refuge for the endangered Salt Water Crocodile (Crocodile porosus).
 |
| Spotted Deer in the Mangrove! |
 |
| Drinking salt water...? |
23
rd was a very long day! We were up at 5am for
our final session at Mangalajodi. After breakfast we drove back to Bhubaneshwar
and had an early lunch at the Mayfair hotel and quickly proceed towards Bhitarkanika
via Cuttack.
The 160 kms drive from Bhubaneshwar took us a long time as
the roads were bad and we reached Dangamal after dark (6pm) and quickly checked
into our place of stay for the next three days -> “
Nature Camp” ! Basic
tents. Decent food and very friendly staff! Felt good…
We were up at first light and were taken straight to a boat
by our able guide “Bijay Kumar Das”. Next three days we spent a lot of time on
the boat!
Leopard Cat!
This day 24th January 2016, I shall never forget!
This was the day I saw my first leopard cat in the wild! Simple, we were in the
boat looking to photograph Kingfishers when our guide uttered the magic words
“Leopard Cat”! There it was, sitting in the open, sunning itself in this vast
expanse of mangrove! Miracle!
 |
| Leopard Cat |
We then went up and down the water and saw a lot of salt water crocodiles! of various sizes, some
about 20ft long. There were over 1600+ of them in the area Bijay tells me…
The short walk to the meadow through the mangroves was
wonderful! We saw a couple of "Water Monitors".
 |
| Meadow |
 |
| Water Monitor |
In the end we were able to get some decent shots of the
“Brown-winged Kingfisher” which was our target in the first place! … and in the
process had loads of fun!
 |
| Black-capped Kingfisher |
 |
| Brown-winged Kingfisher |
 |
| Misty morning on a boat looking for kingfishers... |
 |
| We were able to photograph 6 species of kingfishers here! |
26
th we took the 7.30 pm flight back to Bengaluru
to reach home just after midnight! Another wonderful “all is well, that ends
well” trip! Thanks Ananth, Ganesh, Aravind for the superb company! Thanks
Panchami and Avinash for all the support.
 |
| White-bellied Sea Eagle |
See you soon..
Vijay Cavale
January 2016
