Talasari - A memorable rendezvous in the lap of nature along Odisha coast

The scenic river bank and Talasari beach in Balasore, Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's 

Looking for an weekend family outing in the lap of nature in the hot summer month of May, me and a childhood friend, a property consultant by profession, zeroed on Talasari beach in Balasore district, a tiny coastal tourist destination close to Odisha - West Bengal border. As none of us had ever been to the place, whatever little knowledge on the place was courtesy the promotional advertisements of Odisha Tourism featuring the unique red crab and through reference search online and via local acquaintances.

The iconic red crabs at Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna

The initial thought was to stay at the border town of Digha in West Bengal and a site-seeing visit to Talasari which was just 10 kms away, mostly influenced by the search results of 300 plus hotels in Digha, in sharp contrast to hardly any good accommodation available on online searches at Talasari except the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) managed Panthasala.

The sea facing OTDC Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar , Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

However, the final decision weighed in for Talasari impressed with the scenic images and heavy recommendation by local acquaintances, which eventually proved to be an apt choice for the peaceful place in the lap of nature, just what we were looking at for the weekend trip.

 View from OTDC Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar , Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

Though we planned to start at six in the morning from Bhubaneswar, the eventual start was close to seven o clock on a relatively hot Saturday Morning. While major part of the journey was on National Highway 16, the 50 odd kilometers of state highway undergoing renovation warranted more time as we reached our destination OTDC PanthaSala at Talasari at around 1 PM.

After a quick check-in to the sea-facing rooms, the scenic beauty of the estuary of Subarnarekha river, ample of greens, island and sea beach led to an impromptu brief round of selfies and photo-ups followed by freshening up and lunch at the Panthasala.

 View of the river and Talasari beach from the balcony of Room 112 in OTDC Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar , Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

Post lunch both the families including the kids decided to take a stroll enjoying the cool breeze coming from the estuary river as well as hundreds of fully grown trees. There was hardly any effect of summer felt at this place as we spent almost one and half hours walking, sitting, chatting and small photography sessions in the serene, cool and quiet seaside.

The path leading to the river bank from OTDC Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar , Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

While country made potua fishing boats dotting the riverbank parallel to the sea  was the centre of attraction for photography enthusiasts like us, the tiny crabs with a single but disproportionately larger whitish leg in comparison to its body, and the small birds also turned out as good subjects for photography experiments.

The river bank at Talasari.  Pic @ Krushna's

The single big legged tiny crab at Talasari. Pic @ Krushna's

As we came to know about the receding waters in the estuary of Subarnarekha, flowing in between the mainland and the sea shore having a sand island of sorts in the middle, we could see some water in the river, just enough for keeping the fishing and tourist boats afloat. A little chit chat with the local staff of Panthasala revealed the information that the estuary riverbed will get fully dried up by 5 PM when we can either to choose to walk on it to reach the beach or take the service of hired motorcycles to visit the beach as well as river mouth where we can also spot the famous red crabs.

The river filled with some water during high tides, early on the day. Pic @ Krushna's

The completely dried up riverbed at Talasari, late afternoon on the same day. Pic @ Krushna's 

This prompted us to take a small break to rejuvenate ourselves inside the Panthasala, although the two kids were in no mood to go inside as they were enjoying the jhulas and their small fun-plays.

Playful kids at OTDc Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar. Pic @ Krushna's

People walking past the dried up river bed, heading towards the Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna's

When we went back to the riverbank late afternoon, we could actually see the riverbed dried up completely and hundreds of people walking on it to reach the sand island and access the sea beach while dozens of motorcycles vroom on the dried river-bed ferrying people there. Six of us including the two kids got sorted onto three such bikes on an agreed rental of Rs. 100 per bike which will take us to the other side of the river to the sand islands, show us hundreds of red crabs and also make visit to the river mouth before returning back to the river bank alongside the mainland. It was a new revelation that local youth have found good engagement during the few hours of low tide everyday, when the river bed gets dried up as around 40 motocycles from nearby village ferry people to the Talasari beach and on an average every youth makes around 5 trips daily earning average Rs. 500 per day from this service. Similar service is also provided through out the day by nearly 120 youths in the nearby Udaipur beach few kilometers away from Talasari which doesn't get affected during high tide hours.

Being ferried on bikes to the Talasari beach . Pic @ Krushna's

With two of us riding pillion on each two-wheeler, the three bikes made their way through the riverbed into the small sandy forest on the island and then towards the beach and river mouth. As the daylight was fading fast when we were on our way towards the river mouth, suddenly the bike drivers shouted 'nali kankada' pointing towards the red crabs which were literally on a sprint, disappearing into the holes in the sand as our bikes went closer to them.

As we were standing near the river mouth, the view of heavy winds pulling out the sands crated the illusion of a blanket of sands being pulled out gradually at a faster pace.

Heavy winds literally pulling out the sand blanket at Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna's

The bike ride on the just dried up riverbed truly turned into a lifetime memorable experience as we returned to the Panthasala after seeing quite few redcrabs in the dimming lights, wishing to come back in the next day to see them again in full day light. .

Bike ride at Talasari river mouth. Pic @ Krushna's

Back into the confines of Panthasala early evening, we decided to take a small evening trip to new Digha, which was just less than 8 kms from Talasari. In the absence of any directional signage, as we asked few locals on the route, we were guided to a short-cut narrow village road after few hundred meters from Panthanivas. The narrow village road with hardly any vehicle coming on the way coupled with frequent sharp blind turns turned this travel no less than a suspense thriller as whenever we found a person on the road and asked about the way to Digha in this route, the answer was just two words - 'border! sajja ..' which we could understand with a bit difficulty was advise to go straight towards the border. Within half an hour time, we were at a crowded New Digha, but mistakenly went past the area and arrived at old Digha, as all the signboards were written only in Bengali, which none of us could read. Seeing the maddening rush and overcrowding near the Old Digha beach, we decided to have some light evening snacks there and returned back to Talasari while realizing the correctness of our decision to stay put at calm and quiet Talasari  in place of Digha.

The well maintained gardens at OTDC's Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar in Balasore. 

As we relished on a mouthwatering dinner at Panthasala, we came to know that the high tide to fill up the river is expected to come at around 11 AM the next day, thus giving wings to our excitement for a second bike trip on the riverbed next morning to spend some time on the beach with the famed red crabs of Talasari.

A view from the sea facing balcony of OTDC Panthasala at Talasari / Chandaneswar. Pic @ Krushna's

The next morning at Talasari, though bit cloudy, was presenting beautiful canvas as I could see from the our sea facing balcony, people walking on the dried up riverbed starting from 5.30 AM. After few clicks of the beautiful landscape, I quickly got myself ready for the morning trip to the river mouth and attempted to nurture my photography skills by shooting various objects inside the Panthasala starting from the wide range of flowers, chirping birds along with the morning activities on the riverbed. Soon, all of us, after having a refreshing round of tea headed towards the bike point for reliving and even bettering the awesome experience of the previous afternoon. Again sorting ourselves onto three motorcycles we crossed the riverbed and the small green cover on the sand island adjoining the sea beach.

A glimpse of the famed red crab emerging out of its home at Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna's

On our way towards the river mouth we could see hundreds of red crabs on the sand beds seeming to be enjoying the early morning sunlight. As we reached the river mouth, we informed the bikers to return back when we call them as we wanted to spend some more time at the river mouth as well as with the red crabs. In between, two of us took couple of rounds of bike ride on the calm sea beach and the river mouth after persuading one of the bikers to give his bike to us for a brief ride on the beach.

The kiddo 'Omm' enjoying in the ankle deep water on the river mouth at Talasari. Pic @ Krushna's

Omm and Aayush playing at Talasari river mouth 

The ankle deep water flowing just like a stream at the river mouth soon turned into the favourite playground for both the kids as they started making out the most of it through running, dancing, jumping and playing in the clean and whitish looking water. I was curious to see several brown coloured tiny birds standing on the wet sands near the water on the river mouth, seeming to be playing the role of a witty predator to the small crabs as well as other small insects. After spending nearly an hour at the river mouth cum sea beach we started walking towards the river to have our eyes set on the hundreds of red crabs scattered all over the place.

The footprints of famed red crabs at Talasari. Pic @ Krushna's

The footprints or leg marks of the red crabs on the sands was creating a distinct pattern for all of us to see. As I tried to capture extreme close up snaps of the famed red crab, very soon I realized the extremely advanced sensing capabilities of these crabs as they rushed into the holes wherever someone comes bit closer o them.

Red crabs galore at Talasari beach in Balasore, Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

Searching for an apt opportunity to get a good view and capture a snap of the red crab on my lens from the close view I adopted a Buddha posture by sitting silently in a standstill posture for over 10 minutes at one place without  any body movement. This also did not cut the ice with the crabs as they continued to shy away or hide from my presence except the one which came out just next to my knee and vanished into its home in lightning speed before I could react for a good snap. The returns bike riding was also quite exciting as we took a different route with harder ground surface till the dried river bed unlike the sandy surface beneath the greens through which we had arrived on the beach. The less than 24 hours spent at Talasari has truly turned into a lifetime memory and one of my choicest seashores for few moments of solitude.

A glimpse of the famed red crab emerging out of its home at Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna's

On return from the beach, after a quick shower we were ready for exploring nearby areas. The two options before us was to travel to Bichitrapur eco-tourism site, some 12 kms from Talasari for a boat ride around the Talasari beach and the river mouth or the second visit to new Digha for some active play places for the kids.

Unlike the evening before, we took the comparatively wider road via Chandaneswar to reach the new Digha beach. Once we arrived at the new Digha beach, all excitement got doused seeing the thousands of tourists taking bath in the muddy sea water on a small stretch of beach making it almost impossible for reaching there without pushing or stepping on someone knowingly or unknowingly.

A glance at the new Digha beach

The cable car facility at Amarabati park in New Digha. Pic @ Krushna's

Boating facility on the lake inside Amaravato park. Pic @ Krushna's

The toy train and boating facility inside Kajal Dighi adventure park in new Digha. Pic @ Santosh Senapati

As we came outside the sea beach area in new Digha, our next destination was Amaravati Park. Though a medium size park, this one has several elements such as cable car facility and boating facility in the lake inside this park, to generate interest among the children of all ages. The next destination was the nearby Kajal Dighi amusement park for children having a more cleaner water body and boating along with toy train facility operating around the lake. The science centre and the marine aquarium adds to the few places to visit in Digha if you are travelling or holidaying with your kids.
A Photo-story: 

The tiny predator searching for the prey at Talasari beach, Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's

Visitors heading towards Talasari beach walking past the dried up river bed. Pic @ Krushna's 

A country boat parked on the river bank near the scenic Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna's

Enjoying bike ride at Talasari river mouth. 

Kids enjoying the clam water at Talasari beach and river mouth. 

A worker making a country boat at Talasari. Pic @ Krushna's