Embarked on a pleasant road trip to Orissa from Kolkata. Covered these three places in 3 days. We started our trip at about midnight. Reached Satkosia by the following noon. It was an odd 650 kms. The road was mostly smooth but also had severely damaged portions as well.
Day-1
First up was Satkosia Tiger Reserve,where we stayed at The Satkosia Sands Resort in Badmul. These are a few glimpses of our road trip on the way to Sands Resort.......
Entering the Satkosia Tiger reserve periphery.....
After entering the reserve we proceeded to the Satkosia Sands Resort,Badmul, which happened to be our destination
These are some of the views of the property.....
We stayed in these tents.......
This place hosts beach recreational facilities like volley ball etc
Walking this way for 5 mins one would reach the bathing ghat at Mahanadi which is inclusive of this property
The tent materials were so good that we didn't feel the early April heat. The tents were fully furnished and had three compartments,namely: a bedroom,a changing room and an english style toilet
Lunch
Enjoying folk dance with evening snacks........
Went for a stroll at night.These are the AC tents on the higher ground
View of the property at night...........
Dinner
The food here is awesome and the resort staff are very cordial.
The food here is awesome and the resort staff are very cordial.
Day-2
The weather here is unpredictable and changes often
Canopy walk
The day started with a jungle walk conducted by the property managers. Came to know about two man eating lions from the guide
After checking out of the resort we went for cruising in the Mahanadi river at the gorge
Cruise point
This road on which I'm standing connects this place to Amarkantak in Chattisgarh and upto Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh through the jungles
We spotted alligators,barking deers,turtles,migratory birds among others during the cruise......
At the far horizon was our tents at Badmul
During the rainy season,the river water rises upto the point marked "A" on the tree trunk
Saptasajya
Our next destination was Saptasajya which was about 80kms from Satkosia.We had prebooked accomodation at Saptasajya Eco resort. These are some of the views of the property.......
Lunch
After lunch we went for the Ram Sita temple on the hills.The destination was about 2 kms from the resort
Ram Sita Temple
Enjoyed and relaxed the evening and the following night at the resort.....
Evening snacks
Dinner
Day-3
Breakfast
Here too it goes without saying that the resort staff were very cordial,answering to your every call and food was tasty,rustic and fresh.
After breakfast we checked out of the resort and proceeed to our next destination - Kapilash temple......
The journey was very scenic and the views from the hilltop was mesmerizing.The roads were smooth all through.
Kapilash Temple
Here we concluded our 3 day trip and returned back to Kolkata.
The return journey was not smooth as the roads were bad running upto the National Highway