black17BHP

A day in natures Lap - Satkosia Gorge


Starting Point: DAV SCHOOL BBSR ODO: 0.0
After BULLZZ last trip to Satkosia, those of us who missed out decided to go for a day in natures lap. I, Somnath and a Joydip (a friend of mine, not an XBHP) geared up for the trip partially because of pictures from last trip and partially from a Novel by Budhadev Guha a Bengali writer.

The location was an overnight destination, 207 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, had called DFO earlier and they demanded a DD which was done ASAP as we didn’t want to miss the beauty.
The preparations part was carried out my friend took 2 days off as he was coming from Kolkata and we had our bikes checked for something we were waiting from 1st week of November. We decided a meet @ 6 in the morning near DAV School.

After a bit of delay we started at 6:33, with a bit of foggy morning, we felt the journey will be comfortable, but it turned out the opposite as the fog got denser after living the city. On NH5 towards Cuttack and Manguli Chowk (from where we were had to take NH42), we could barely see 100 meters, driving carefully at with lights and indicator on, was a bit scary to be honest but also a new experience. I was riding with my friend as pillion and Somnath lone on his Platina. After we refilled ourselves and our bikesJ we again decided to roll in the foggy roads, as time was passing fog started to disappear and I saw Somnath after almost an hour and immediately we decided to have a cup of tea (2 for me) and fags at our favorite tea stop Manguli Chowk, 40 odd kilometers from Bhubaneswar . As time was running out, we left NH5 and took NH42 for Angul(106 KMS from Manguli) and decided to go for long but safe drives @ 70KMPH.With Somnath bypassing the speed breakers with his light weight wonder and off course his driving skills, I was left frustrated as my bike was carrying almost 180-185 kilograms of weight (me, my friend and our bag), and a little wobble would result in end of trip, so decided to take on the road as it comes. We decided to have a stop at Dhenkanal , as the mountaintop behind us was covered up with clouds.
The Transporters


The Drivers

Captured a few snaps and we rolled again with a decision of stopping directly at Angul DFO. As Angul was round about 65 kilometers from we increased our speed a bit.

The roads inside Angul, to say the least, were horrible by huge proportions. And so were the traffic-cutting skills of the commuters. We managed to scamper along to a traffic signal, from where we needed to head to the DFO’s office for collecting the permits. The DFO told us the gate is 32 kms from here (I will kill them if they give such half info again: @, it made us think the place is 32), we completed the formalities for obtaining the permit while and decided to have some foodJ. To our frustration we found no good snacks bar and had to be satisfied with dry foods. Started again keeping only 32 kilometers we were driving casually with a belief that AB TO POUCH GAYE YAAR. Reached the gate, showed papers and asked for directions. When the officer told us that we are still 30 KMS to go, we started immediately while cursing the lady who gave us half info.
Directions

Map

The roads from here were mostly good, surrounded by trees and farms, often crossing a hamlet and an occasional water-crossing. The forest division had started, as pointed out by the signposts to take it slow on the roads.
Jungle Starts

Our Tourers

The weather had turned cool. The road had quite a few up and down bends and I was driving at 80-100 (later realized which was bit risky). As the roads turned into off roads we were mesmerized by the natural beauty of the place.
The Offroad

Mountain nearby

The first glimse of the place

Within an interval of a few minutes, we reached the parking spot which looked down at the sandy beach and tents where we were to spend our next 24 hours, with no network in our mobile phones! We were out of the real world (YES!!!!).
View from parking spot

The place was managed by TIPPS (forgot the full form), as we entered the place spellbound with our eyes open and our bodies demanding rest with tummy in urgent need of food, the receptionist welcomed us and told us to have food as they cleaned our tents. With tasty food and tiredness mixed together we all decided to take a power nap as there was an hour left for the boat ride, so no time for long nap. We all had a sleep with Joy (this is what I call Joydip) promising to wake up us in time.
View from boat

Don’t know how time passed by and we were up for the boat ride, as the passengers filled up and the boatman promised to show us crocs, we started our boat ride. As moments passed by and crocs kept fooling us (I think they knew we were coming :@)… but the setting sun on the mountains was creating a magical moment (have to be there), we were busy clicking and suddenly the boatman whispered “Croc on the right, keep quiet”, the whole crew was on the right shouting which made the croc disappear before we could take a snap (crap!!!). Nothing much exiting happened and I started clicking again along with cursing other members in boat who neither had the patience to observe the croc closely or common sense that a loud sound would make it disappear fast as it’s not a trained croc from zoo or circus. As the boat ride continued we saw some turtles and birds although few and far between but the natural beauty was simply breath taking, awesome. With the setting sun and colorful sky the boat ride came to an end leaving us in a bit of disappointed over the croc incident.
Few shoots from boat
Our Tents

Reflections

More Reflections

View of nearby mountains

As sun set there were more colors in the sky mesmerizing even more, we were speechless watching the setting sun like we have never before, it was beautiful to say the least. After the stunning experiences we went back to our tent having spent one of our best evenings with nature.
Colorful Sky

Sunset Series







Burning Sky

Sunset from water level

As the dark settled in we had some tea and ordered chicken pakore for our snacks along with some…… ah hmm (desi chicken, mind you J). After tea we decided to spend some time in the river bank although it was clearly stated that “BEWARE OF CROCODILES”, we thought it is worth the risk to feel the jungle at night.
Caution

It was a wonderful experience, to feel the silence of the jungle, with only the sound of the flowing river and a bit of cold, a bird humming after a few minutes and we talking to each other… I experienced peace out there and after some time we even stopped talking and started enjoying the night even more. It was an awesome experience to say the least and the night in natures lap was true in every bit. We were without watch or mobiles but certainly had a feeling that we had spent more than some time here and it’s time to go back to enjoy our chicken along with some drinks. Gossiping while having the Chicken Pakore and delaying our dinner as much as possible to enjoy the night didn’t help much as the care takers were repeatedly calling us. We enquired about the sun rise timings and went for sleep,

I was the first to wake up next morning as nature called; I called the others and freshened up myself, took my camera and went to capture the sunrise, it was a bit cold but the calmness of the morning was even more enjoyable due to the cold feeling(ended up catching cold though). As the I left the camp and went ahead following the river, the sun came out, with a clear sky and diamond like sparkles I was stunned and kept promising myself that I will have a revisit even if I am the only one up for it. The sight was so beautiful that it felt like a dream. I sat down on the lonely river bank to see the magic of nature once again. But my dream was soon broken when Somnath called me up, to be honest I didn’t realize when he came or he was following meJ.
The Sunrise



View from riverbank in morning

We headed back together and it was already 7:30, while going back we meet people from our next tent and to our surprise, they were a group of retired men (4 couples to be precise and all 60+), still having the zeal to travel and explore, I found it very interesting and had a chat with them, even more surprise; they came all the way by car and they are real travelers, have traveled to almost all part of India even with their physical problems, I found them really inspiring and also respected their determination and mental strength to overcome their age barriers and to follow their heart.
Few pics from trekking
The Roads

Inside Jungle

Rays creating Magic

The Trekkers

Every Shade of green

After the chat we went for trekking, going the opposite way we came, apart from the blue sky and the yellow roads all you can see was green, green of every shade possible, following the path we ended up on a little waterfall and being the person Joy is, he instantly decided to climb up the stones and Somnath also shared the same idea. I restricted myself thinking of my days I had spent in hospital for my back pain. Soon after climbing 150-200 feet they stopped and after having a chat among there selves they started coming back, it climb was relatively easy but opposite was not as the stones were slippery and it was a stiff angel, Somnath and Joy slipped a number of times before making their way down safely. After having a look into our watches, we decided to head back to the camp as we had to travel 205 KMS back and we wanted to finish the travel in NH42 within the day as it was two lanes and heavily crowded with trucks.

Upon coming back we had our breakfast and packed our bags, were not in a mood to leaveL. We started back our journey and saw few ghariyals in a zoo nearby with a sign board stating “don’t dip your hand in water, a ghariyal may shake hand with you”, our time with nature was coming to an end.
Trio before leaving the camp

Ghariyals

Another One

My Baby just before leaving the camp

Last View

We decided to take our first stop at Angul to have our lunch. We were done by 2:30 and Somnath told me to pick up pace as there is still 106 kilometers left of NH42 which he wanted to cover within 5-5:30, so I was going at 80-85 constantly, after travelling 67 kilometers in 77 minutes we decided to take a stop, as our babes (bikes) were getting hotter. Started from there with 70 odd more to go for Bhubaneswar but the next stop can’t be Bhubaneswar as there is Pahal in between and with GARAM ROSOGOLLA calling, it’s hard to resist especially if you are a foodieJ. After dealing with 10 rosogollas, i thought it’s better to get started. The rest of the journey uneventful but we ended our journey with a promise that we will come back once again in winter season and for 2 nights so that we can spend one night without worrying about the drive next dayJ.
ODO

End Point: DAV SCHOOL BBSR ODO: 415.7

Aryan

Topic Approved.

@black17BHP: Kindly put the image files between the '[IMG] and '[/IMG]' tags so that the photographs show up directly in this thread.

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black17BHP

Hi Aryan, done the same, now all the pics are visible, did not know it earlier as this is my first post, Sunil aka Diffuser911 used to post for us but he is temporarily out of town

diffuser911

Nice going Avik, made me re-live the experience.

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chicane1879

Awesome stuff, Avik. When did you do this trip. The place is simply out of the world. Dunno when i will get to visit this place. Btw, Were there any other tourists around because the place seems to be free of any crowd(which is good, though)

This is a stunning shot..

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black17BHP

@Sunil: As i said in the write up will visit once more and that two for 2 days... seroiusly its a place where you go again and again

@ Swagat: Its 65 Kms from Angul, will send you the details. and i also think the sunrise pic is the best

yatishankar

Good to See that Avik.The place with its abolsute out of the world stunning landscape is a true visual treat to any person living in the metros. The temperature must have gone a little higher during this time. Did you carry the big red bag on your back?I didnt see that tied up with the bike buddy, dont do that, its gonna hamper your back. Had a small talk with Somnath the other day,he enjoyed the trip too. Satkosia is quite a famous place today (may be)- thanks to these kind of logs in xbhp. Brought back our memories to that place.

Ride on BuuLlZz

somnath13

Wow.....superb.....awesome.....spellbound......hmm m getting lost in literature jargon to find words for such a place. I really feel lucky to have a visit there.....lucky????? well, my Oriya cook do not have any idea about the place which is so near to the city. Near?????? Actually, now a days I m getting used to these distances. 200-300 kms in a bike least bother me.
Well, Avik, pics are stunning. We will surely cherish nights there again. By then, if my wallet permits, I may have my new soul mate.

somnath13

Yatida........come out of the hustle-bustle of metro......you can surely feel the life here. Show some respect to ur SLR

black17BHP

Dont worry Somnath the trio will have a revisit again and surely you will have your new SOUL MATE