Chilka Lake Bird Sanctuary, Puri, Orissa is Asia's largest salt-water lagoon. Made from small islands- including the picturesquely. It is also named as Honeymoon Island and Breakfast Island. Sandy Ridge separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal. The pear-shaped lake spreads across 1,100 sq km. It has a unique ecosystem with a range of aquatic flora and fauna found in and around its brackish waters. One can see many native and migrant birds that makes the beauty of this place Chilka in India for birds watching.
Amongst many variety of birds few are white bellied sea eagles, greylag geese, purple moorhen, jacana, herons and flamingos which make the place bird watchers delight. Chilka, is home to one of the world's largest breeding colonies of flamingos.
Famous for birds Chilka is also home place to blackbuck, spotted deer, golden jackals and hyenas. The lake is also very rich in aquatic life. Its waters harbour has approximately 160 types of fish, crustaceans and other marine creatures, and ofcourse the famous Chilka dolphin. An important source of livelihood for the local people here are prawn, crab and mackerel fishing. One can see hundreds of small fishing boats sailing each morning in the lake to bring in the day's catch from the lake. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve harbours India’s second largest pachyderm population. During the dry season the chances of seeing the elephant herbs is pretty high.
There are few places where one can spend there time. One of such places is Nalabana. It is a forest reeds famous for long range of migratory birds in winter.
The other place Birds Island. It is a heaven for migratory and resident birds. The birds can be seen in their natural habitat here.
Kalijai is an adobe of Goddess Kalijai. This island is famous for scenic surroundings and of course the temple.
The place famous for Chilka Dolphins in their natural best is Satpada.
The famous islands within the lake Parikud and Malud.
The place famous for its scenic beauty Brahmaputra.
Chilka is approximately 120 km from Bhubaneshwar. All facilities like the nearest airport, state transport, OTDC tour buses and private operators are available on the roads between Chilka, Puri, Behrampore, Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. The nearest railway stations are at Rambha and Balugaon, both of which have train connections to cities as distant as Kolkata, Puri, Hyderabad and Chennai. One can easily find buses from both Balugaon and Rambha to the lake.
For local transport easily available three wheel rickshaws and auto rickshaws are there. People use bicycles and cars as private transport. To move from island to island the services of boatmen and the OTDC's motorboat is available.
As the weather remains moderately warm so one can come any time during the year. Only to avoid the time of the rainy season which is from June to September. The best time is October to March when the lake is crowded with migrating birds say around 50-70 type of birds. During Makar mela in January Pilgrims flock here to pay obeisance to the Goddess Kalijai in the temple on Chilka lake.
There are a few hotels on the banks of the lake. Including an OTDC run hotel and two tourist bungalows that have stunning views and a relaxed vacation ambience.
At the shores of the lake one can even see a number of state-run as well as privately-operated rest houses and tourist lodges whose tariffs depend upon the facilities offered.
