Balukhand Konark Wildlife Sanctuary

We came across Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary while driving down from Puri towards Konark. This road is known as Marine Drive and runs along the length of the Sanctuary. This is one of the few sanctuaries that is situated on a sea coast and is also one of the nesting grounds of endangered Olive Ridleys.

Signs of Autumn

Since, it was autumn, trees along the road gave a look of Mediterranean garden. There were hardly any leaves on the trees. I was little surprised that on one hand this place has been given a Sanctuary status and on the other hand there is so much of free movement of vehicles near the area. But then I was told that Sanctuary is on the right hand side of the road and there is no inhabitation inside the Sanctuary area. Everywhere you can see a lot of boards saying “ Drive Slow- Deer may cross road”. Every passing vehicle was speeding at around 100kms/hour. Thanks to the wonderful Marine Drive. The road is absolute beauty and running along the seacoast adds to the magical experience. One can see the Bay of Berngal all along the length of the road till Chandrabhaga, a place where people come to have holy dip. One also comes across the famous temple of Ramachandi(Ramchandi). There is a wonderful beach here where lot of people come for Picnics. We didn’t have enough time to go to the temple and skipped.

Bullock cart on the Marine Drive

At one place ,me and Siddhu crossed the Casuarina bushes and what we saw at a far off point on the beach was amazing. There was a huge Olive Ridley lying motionless. We ran near it but it was a dead one. Poor one. One side was completely smashed, perhaps by a moving trailer. But at least we saw for the first time this wonderful creature. Another learning also in terms of Photography. Put your Camera’s brightness level at the lowest possible count.Reason is that there is so much reflection of sunlight from white sands that finally picture comes very bright even after digital adjustment.

Casuarina Forest



Dead Olive Ridley

After driving for another two hundred metre we came to a point where sea was at stones throw distance. Me and Siddhu could not resist the idea of taking photographs. We jumped down to the Casuarinas bushes and took snaps. Water here was surprisingly greenish blue and had Casuarina trees coming out from inside the water. It was because of small lagoon that had formed by sand line.

 

Washed away coast due to high tide

  Green Waters...delight for eyes

Finally, reached Chandrabhaga after 1 hour drive and recharged ourselves for the other destination- Konark Temple which has been covered in another part of my blog.

Some important facts about Balukhand–Konark Wildlife Sanctuary (collected from net).
This sanctuary is situated at convenient location along sea coast between Puri and Konark. The flora of the area includes casuarina, anacardium, neem, tamarind, karanja, etc. The prominent fauna include blackbuck, spotted deer, monkey, squirrel, jungle cat, hyena, jackal, mangoose and variety of birds and reptiles.
Covering an area of 72 square kilometres, this sanctuary was established in 1984 to protect the shoreline nesting sites of olive ridley and green sea turtles. There are various groups of black buck existing on land.
Accomodation-There is no accommodation within the Sanctuary. Tourist can stay at Puri or Konark where a good number of hotels of different categories are available.

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