About Mangalajodi:Heaven of water bird

If you are a new birder, there can't be any other place than Mangalajodi though there are several birding spot in India. It is situated in Odisha ; a state of India--- on the bank of Chilika lake, where poachers became conservationist.
It is a tiny little village, not easy to find out. But how wonder it is that more than 100 species of birds made this Mangalajodi as their home for winter; find their way to this spot every year.
It is Asia's largest brakish water lagoon. Birds, who don't has the "Google map", come without loosing their way from various parts of Asia. Birds come from Ladakh, from Russia and Mongolia. One will find here birds comming from Caspean sea even.

Transformation of Mangalajodi

Once when the villagers were poachers, number of birds were very less. And now the villagers realised the value of the birds and they became the conservationists. During day time they work as birding guides , boatman and hospitality staff. And by night, they patrol the marsh land to prevent any illegal activity and poaching. They realised that protecting the bird is their primary source of livelyhood . Now they treat the birds who come from far away, far corner of the world, as their guests.

And gradually birds also have noticed the transformation. The number of birds which once diminished, began increasing with time. Now near about 3,00,000 birds come here from different pars of the world every winter, whose number was only 5000 - 6000 at some time.
To a birder Mangalajodi is a heaven for photography specially if one likes the waterbirds. A brilliant place to visit and spend some time punting through extensive wetland. There are so many migrant and local birds in just one place that for a non birder it worth a visit. One will get all the birds at eye level sitting on a hand paddled canoe (no engine, no sound, no pollution).

Heaven of Birds

The birds one will see here is Green bee eater, Open bill storck, Purple moorhen, Black winged stilt, Little wood sandpiper, lots of Black tailed godwit, Purple heron, Cormorant, Pheasant tailed jacana, Bronzed winged jacana, Marsh sandpiper, Yellow bittern, White breasted waterhen, Red wattled lapwing, Spotbill duck, Water cock. Beside that, Pacific golden plover, Little grib, White bellied sea eagle, Whiskered tern, Brahmini kite, Yellow wagtail, Pygmi goose, Ruddy shelduck also seen here.

Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust in Odisha has won the prestigious United Nations World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO) Award for innovation in Tourism Enterprise at 14th UNTWO Awards Ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.

How to go

Nearest railway station of Mangalajodi is Balugaon. Many trains from Howrah station of Kolkata stop here. From Balugaon it is 30 Km. journey to Mangalajodi. One can also take a flight to Bhubaneswar, from where Mangalajodi is only 2 hours drive.

Staying at Mangalajodi Ecotourism camp will be an wonderful experience . The facilities are basics only but the food is delicious.
Best time to visit is November to February to see migratory birds.

Next : Taxonomy of Indian birds