Chilaka Lake

Chilka Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Orissa state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 km. It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest lagoon in the World.It is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent. The lake is home to a number of threatened species of plants and animals.The lake is an ecosystem with large fishery resources. It sustains more than 150,000 fisher–folk living in 132 villages on the shore and islands. How To Reach: By Air: the nearest airport is Bhubaneswar, about 120 km away from where taxis, trains and buses are available to the lake.
By Rail:the nearest rail stations is at Balugaon, on the Howrah-Chennai track. From Balugaon buses are available to the lake.Some of the trains which stop at Balugaon are: 6003/6004 Howrah Chennai Mail, 2703/2704 Faluknama Express, 8645/8646 East Coast Express, 6358/6357 Gurudev Express, 2863/2864 Howrah Yeshvantpur Express, 5228/5227 Muzaffarpur Yeshvantpur Express (weekly), 2508/2507 Guwahati Ernakulam Express (weekly), 2530/2509 Guwahati Bangalore Express (triweekly), 5628/5627 Guwahati Trivandrum Express (weekly).
By Road:a part of Chilka Lake is visible from NH5 and the Howrah-Chennai train track. Many buses ply from Bhubaneswar (Baramunda Bus Station) and Cuttack (Badambadi Bus Station) to Balugaon throughout the day being the best ones. The journey takes 2 hours and costs less than Rs.100 one way. From there, one has to hire a taxi or an auto-ricksaw to reach Barkul or Rambha (In case of Rambha, passengers can alight at Keshpur, which is further ahead from Balugaon, and from there hire an auto-ricksaw). Satapada is well connected by daily local buses from Puri. Visitors can take an OTDC day tour from Puri to see Satapada (~Rs. 400; 3 hr boat ride and AC transport included). However, Satapada is not so well connected from Bhubaneswar and taxis have to be hired to get there.
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