Chilika Lake

Chilika Lake, sprawling along the east coast of Odisha across the Puri, Khurda, and Ganjam districts, is the largest brackish-water lagoon in India and one of the largest coastal lagoons in the world — a vast, shallow sheet of water that swells from about 900 to over 1,100 square kilometres between the dry season and the monsoon, separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sandy ridge and fed by the Daya river and dozens of streams.

• This unique blend of fresh and salt water makes Chilika one of the richest wetland ecosystems in Asia and a Ramsar site of international importance.
• It is most famous for two wildlife spectacles.
• The first is the rare Irrawaddy dolphin: Chilika is the only place in India where these gentle, snub-nosed dolphins can be reliably seen, and boat trips from Satapada, near the lake's sea mouth, go out to watch them surface in the channels.
• The second is the birds: in winter, Chilika becomes the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl on the Indian subcontinent, hosting well over 160 species — flamingos, pelicans, herons, and great rafts of ducks and geese that fly in from as far as Siberia and Central Asia, gathering most densely around the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary island.
• Boat trips from the lakeside points of Barkul, Rambha, and Satapada glide out to the lagoon's islands, including the much-loved Kalijai temple, set on a rocky islet and dedicated to a local goddess.
• The Sea Mouth at Satapada, where the lagoon meets the Bay of Bengal, and the wide sunset views over the water from Barkul and Rambha are among the most serene sights in Odisha.
• For vegetarian travellers, the surrounding Odia food culture is a delight — dalma (lentils with vegetables and panch phoron), pakhala bhata (fermented rice with curd), seasonal vegetable curries, and the famous chhena-based sweets — and the Jagannath mahaprasad of Puri lies just up the coast.
• The best season is November to February.