Chilika Lake

Odisha, Indianature

Chilika Lake sits on Odisha's coastal plain, a vast brackish lagoon stretching across roughly 1,100 square kilometres of shallow open water, reed beds, mudflats, and seasonally flooded grassland. The scale of the place is genuinely humbling, and so is the noise — during winter, the sky above Nalabana Island fills with the calls of tens of thousands of waterfowl arriving from Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau. This is not a place for quiet woodland birding; it is wide, flat, and exposed, and you feel very small in it. Birding here is done almost entirely from boats, which local fishermen run out of Barkul, Rambha, and Satapada on the lake's southern arm. You'll want to negotiate a full-day trip to reach Nalabana Bird Sanctuary, the protected island at the lake's heart, where flamingos feed in the shallows and bar-headed geese graze in loose flocks. Spoon-billed sandpiper turns up on passage among the shorebirds on the eastern mudflats, though you'll need a decent scope and patience to pick one out from the dunlin and stints. Irrawaddy dolphins are often seen near Satapada — not a bird, but difficult to ignore. Accommodation is clustered around Barkul and Rambha, with Odisha Tourism's waterside lodges offering reliable if basic comfort. Local guides are available through the boat operators; dedicated birding guides are rarer, though improving. Early morning departures are worth the effort — the light is better and the birds are far more active before heat haze sets in. Go between November and February for peak waterfowl numbers; bring a scope, high-factor sunscreen, and a wide-brimmed hat, as there is almost no shade on the water.

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