Roadtrip from Tada to Markapur in Andhra Pradesh, India - Pulicat Lake, Bird Sanctuaries, Temples and a lucky stop - 9th day of our 14 days long trip through east coast of India || Noida to Rameshwaram
Tada is about 30 kilometers from Pulicat Bird Sanctuary, which is located near Sriharikota and is also home to Satish Dhawan Space Center, the famous rocket launch site. We started early from our highway hotel. Because of this we were able to start our drive through the Pulicat Bird Sanctuary at 7AM. Only after reaching there did we realize that the bird sanctuary is always open. It is basically a road through rice fields and lakes that connects Sriharikota to mainland.
You can go here anytime. When you search for the bird sanctuary on Google, you will find various timings on various websites. In reality these timings are those of a little gated facility with statues of birds. The area where the actual birds are, is actually open throughout the day.
We had started early and discovered that birds too were relatively late-risers. In fact, we saw more birds on our way
and reached the Satish Dhawan Space Center at about 8 after stopping at many places to click fishermen and birds. We were obviously not allowed entry to the rocket launch site, but apparently visitors can register online to come and watch an actual rocket launch.
At Pulicat, we saw Pelicans, Open Bill Storks, Painted Storks, Egrets and Herons, out of this Pelicans and Open Bill Storks were new to us. Then we headed to Nellapattu Bird Sanctuary, which is around 85 kilometers from Pulicat. When compared to Pulicat, Nellapattu is definitely more organized. However, the joy of discovering birds is more in Pulicat.
From Nellapattu we headed to Nellore where we visited the Shri Thalpagiri Ranganathaswamy Temple and the ghat of Penner River. And then we headed to Markapur.
If you are headed to Srisailam, like we were, it is better to stay at Markapur and then reach the ghat entry at about 6AM next morning because entry to the ghats is restricted during the night and you might find yourself in a tight spot. The ghat road opens at 6AM and closes at 9PM. We were just lucky that we were tired and had decided to stay at Markapur.
At Markapur, we checked in and then went out for a simple dinner of Idlis and Chutney. It was light and tasty and helped us sleep better.
%20to%20see%20the%20Danish%20fort%20in%20Tamilnadu%20state%20of%20India-3.jpg "Do you know about the 'Danish' Fort in India which is located at a beautiful location round the coast of Bay of Bengal?")
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