ARRIBADA - my second rendezvous with the annual spectacle of Ridleys
An Olive Ridlay sea turtle returning to Bay of Bengal after laying eggs at Podampeta shore near Rusikulya river mouth in Ganjam, Odisha. Pic @Krushna's The first time I had seen hundreds of Olive Ridley sea turtles was at Rusikulya River mouth in January-February 2006 with an erstwhile mentor and another friend from South Korea. We started from Bhubaneswar at around 10:30 PM and reached the Rusikulya rivermouth well past midnight. Having no camera and a Nokia 1100 mobile handset with me at that time, what I remember from the tour is that hundreds of people walking down on the sand in the dark with big torches to witness the mass nesting of the Olive Ridley sea turtles. Olive Ridley sea turtles returning to sea after laying eggs at Podampeta, Rusikulya beach, Ganjam. (Pic@Krushna's) In this backdrop, the news of lakhs of Olive Ridlays arriving at Rusikulya beach for laying eggs prompted me to plan a trip during the peak nesting period (average around 10 days annually) ...