Satkosia the hidden beauty

 Heat of the Angul was blistering even in late march. But the famous ‘Lassi’ of Angul was always there to beat the heat. After having a stomach full of ‘lassi’ we resumed our journey towards Satkosia Tiger Reserve

Lssi of Angul

Shortly after crossing the Pampasar check post which was the main entry point of satkosia, we were engulfed by a strange feeling.  As if we had entered a very primitive world. The terrain was hilly with mixed forests.The Sal trees there, were in there full bloom. Flowers of Sal tree were scattered at places on the road. Mahua (Madhuca indica)   trees were also busted with fruits. The entire forest was full of a peculiar intoxicating wild smell of Sal flower and Mahua.

Pampasar Check post

Satkosia is a strange world indeed, being the meeting point of two bio-geographic regions, the Deccan Peninsula and Western ghat it posses enormous biodiversity.The landscape is hilly and quite large in size and spreads over four districts of odisha namely Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Boudh. The Mighty Mahanadi has cut right across the eastern ghat on its way, creating a magnificent gorge.  The river is the home of Mugger and Gharial (Types of Crocodile). The land is inhabited by Royal Bengal Tiger, Elephant, Gaur (Indian Bison), Leopards. Where on earth one could find a more thrilling place than this?

Satkosia Map

We reached Chottkei Eco-Tourism cottage by 1pm and liked it at very first glance.

It is situated on a small elevation and allows a panoramic view of forest and hills.

Chottkei

Hospitality of the staffs was great. Rooms were reasonably comfortable.

Sunset at Chottkei

 All the staffs were from the near by villages. Forest department of odisha has made a tremendous effort to generate employment among forest people through these Eco-tourism centres.

Mohua Fruit and pan cake made from it

Next morning we headed to wards Tikorpada. This is situated at the bank of river Mahanadi. This is another place where tourists can get accommodation. There were a few tents for the tourists. Tikorpada is the place from where one can enjoy the beauty of the gorge. 

Ahana and Ahir

Mahanadi Gorge

Private boats are available but be careful, do not put your hand in water other wise crocodile may shake hands with you!!

The warning

The name satkosia has derived from two words.`Sat’ meaning seven and `kos’ means krosh an ancient unit for length (approximately two miles) indicating the length of the gorge as14 miles or 22Km.

The area was declared as SatkosiaTiger reserve in 2007, comprising of two adjoining sanctuaries; Baisipalli sanctuary and Satkosia gorge Sanctuary.

Reflection of Baisipalli Forest

This area is also a part of Mahanadi elephant reserve.Tiger reserve covers an area of 964 sq Km out of which 524sqKm declared as core area.

The general elevation of the area is around 350m from sea level. The gorge is around 51 m deep on the river bed at Tikorpada .Its highest peak is Sunakhania at 933m.
Satkoshia is home for 400 plant species.Sal(shorea robusta),Sissoo(Dalbergia lactifolia),Arjuna(Terminalia arjuna),Siris(Albizia lebbek),Mahul or Mahua(Madhuca indica) and Phassi tree(Anogeissus acuminate) which is used for construction of the sacred chariot of Lord Juggernaut are few to mention.

Shama at Tikorpada

It provides shelter for 38 species of mammals, 161 species of birds, 27 species of reptiles, 4 species of amphibians and 183 species of fishes.

Whitebreasted Kingfisher and Redvented Bulbul

Freedom

In the afternoon we headed towards Kandhaida water tank in hope to spot some wild animal. Nowadays this place is forbidden for tourists. Only 269sq Km of total area is permitted for tourism.  Tourism is allowed mostly in buffer zone.
It was a beautiful forest road. The road ends in a small pond. Surrounding forest was quite dense. Sal trees were in there full bloom

Sal tree in full bloom 

. Mahua (moul) trees were busted with their white fruits. The forest was enchanted with their fragrance. The sun was just setting.  It was an ideal situation for wild life sighting.  But there was something more for us.  A white concrete watch tower with `loongies’ and towels were hanging from all around it was situated near the pond. A group of bare bodied forest guards were sitting beneath the watch tower, joking and chatting with each other at peak of their voices. One of them was collecting water from a hand pump.  The shouting of the guards and squealing of hand pump were producing enormous noise which pierced the silence of the forest for miles.

Setting Sun against forest

We quickly realised that this was the last place on earth to find any wildlife and started our journey back to the bungalow. We were all disappointed with our afternoon venture. On the way back to Chottkei we took a break near Purnakot, a beautiful forest bungalow of the ancient British period. It was situated on a small hillock but the forest of the ancient days was replaced by a small village with few shops. A glass of hot tea helped us to refresh our mind.

Next morning we left the bed early.  It was still dark. A red jungle foul was first to declare the breaking of dawn. This was followed by good morning calls of peafowls then a series of good morning call from drongo, robin and shama. Thereafter it was a pandemonium of calls from all the feathered resident of the jungle. Budhia our guide decided that it was the right time to start our journey, so we left Chottkei to visit a near by falls called Bhimdhara. Again it was a beautiful forest road flooded with mahua fruits.This time we were not so unlucky. We spotted two Gaurs (Indian Bison), few Chitals (spotted deer), a barking deer and few red jungles fouls. 

A female Gour

On the way to Bhimdhara our guide Budhia showed us a road that goes to Labongi through a wonder full dense forest, but the road was forbidden for the tourists as it traversed through the core area.

Bhimdhara

 

A machan in the Forest!!!

On our return from Bhimdhara as I was sitting on the balcony of our cottage and trying to photograph an Oreol sitting on a post at a distance. Suddenly a Magpie Robin flew into the balcony and sat just in front of me on the centre table. It was so close that at first I could not even focus it with my 70-300 zoom,then slowly I started slipping backwards along with my chair until my camera was able to make a reasonably sharp focus.

Magpie Robin

The little bird didn’t bother about me at all. He kept himself busy with the remnant “pakoda” of our last evening snacks.

Yellow Wagtail

Drongo

Redwattled Lapwing

In the afternoon we headed towards Labongi. Though very remote, Labongi is a familiar name to all forest loving Bengali due to Rijuda, a famous character from renowned writer Buddhadeb Guha’s story. We all have travelled many little known forests and took part in many expeditions with Rijuda and Rudra in our imagination since our childhood. Labongi is one of them. The forest was much denser here than the other part of Satkosia that we have travelled. It spreads over a typical odisha hill. The characteristics of forest here refreshed my memories of Simlipal, though the later part is much larger and has got more depth. Just at the foot of the hill there was a small temple, situated amidst the dense jungle. An idol of goddess Durga was being worshipped there.

Durga Temple

Labongi forest bungalow was situated right at the edge of a hill overlooking a small valley below.

Labongi

Hills surrounding the valley were covered by Sal and Mahua trees.

View from Labongi Bungalow

The road goes straight through the valley below towards the watch tower but`Alas!’The tourists are not allowed to go there.

I don't know whether tourists are allowed to stay at Labongi or not, but undoubtedly it is a beautiful location to stay at Satkosia. After witnessing a wonderful sunset at labongi,we started towards Chottkei   leaving behind the Rijuda’s Labongi, the serpentine forest road and the lonely temple.

Few last words; although satkosia is not an ideal place for wildlife sighting, there are also many positive side of satkoshia. Firstly the mesmerising natural beauty, no where in India one could find this lush green forest, mighty Mahanadi and awesome gorge together. Then the bird enthusiasts will always find this place exciting. About a kilo meter downhill from chottkei resort there is a narrow stream let. This place is a paradise for bird watcher. Next is the easy accessibility of the place. Angul can be reached from Bhubaneswar which is the state capital for odisha (about 190km), Cuttack a renowned city in odisha (115km) and from Sambalpur a business city of odisha. One could get vehicle for forest from any of these three places or just in front of Angul DFO office and last but not the least the relatively hassle free booking.  Best season to visit Satkosia in my opinion is November to February. For booking contact Eco tourism Cell, Satkosia Wildlife Division, Angul, Orissa 759143, India. Phone: 08763102681.
Email: dfosatkosiawl@yahoo.co.in