The calm enthralling view
We have gone through the Marine Drive many times, but little did we realize there is a beautiful beach that feels like a private beach with very less crowd. We got to know about this beach, when we were at Toshali Sands, they call it a private beach, but it actually belongs to the department of Forest and anyone can go inside by buying a ticket there at just twenty rupees. The hotel gave us a coupon to show it to the official checking at the entry point, so we did not have to pay anything, but one has to pay in cash, so it's advisable to carry such change. The beach is part of Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary spreading over an area of 87 km². There is a Nuanai nature camp inside it as well, the place is worth for a one day visit.
The kids were very excited to visit a sea beach after two years, one has to walk almost half a mile from the parking point, but once you see the sea in front, you literally forget the distance.
The hotel has put some staffs with these chairs and umbrellas to take care of their tourists, but if its not crowded, then they won't mind sharing that with you. We were told there is a changing room but the staffs denied saying it was broken sometimes back. I wish, the government should have made some better facilities and promote such a lovely beach, by charging a little more as well. A rest room and a changing room are must to have , with snacks and beverages as nice to have. So if you are planning to go there, be prepared to carry everything that you need, and come back wet and change somewhere else. Unfortunately we realized only after we got wet.
Kids were initially reluctant to go inside, and get completely wet. There was a big log lying there, and I thought, it would be nice to take some pictures as the water was approaching just near it.
The lady could not stop and came for a picture and then my son followed. Little did he know that this time he will not be spared. It was so much fun to see his reactions.
Once they were wet, they did not hesitate to get wet completely. My son even tried to sit on the log alone and see what happened :)
It's definitely risky to leave small kid sitting alone because the water will take the log inside when the current flows back. But I know he was heavy enough :) , I did not let my daughter sit alone.
The beach is closed before evening because there are some wild animals that may cross your path if you stay late. So those staffs warned everyone to leave soon. I talked to him if they have any other facilities and he said, they can take people inside using a big tyre if one goes in the first half. But that is scary, isn't it ? After speaking to us, he showed interest to do our photo shoot - he told he has learnt to take some great photographs. The first picture and all of the below were taken by him.
We all walked back together and I was advising him to have bottled drinking water at the beach side and the answer surprised me - they have drinking water buried under the sand and they give it if someone asks and the amount of water stored is no less than 100 liters - someone even can bathe.
I thought, it was worth taking a photograph of him and know more about him.
He has three working sons and they ask him to quit the job, but this man does not want to quit his passion. He comes from the city, by cycle covering a distance of 12 km at one side and is a cameraman, a lifeguard, a swimmer.....He requested us to come early another day.
This post will be part of my Google review of this place.
Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 19.828570 lat 85.884769 long Balukhand - Konark Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha d3scr)
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