Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Banki and Ansupa Lake: Two tourist places near Cuttack

       
Greenery on side
     During Puja vacation I took my honda activa and friend Samir for few hours pleasure travel to near by places. The Banki is around fifty kilometers from here and can be easily reached by two wheeler. The road is good and is almost parallel to the bank of river Mahanadi. On one side we can enjoy the biggest river of Odisha while the other side is full of greenery. On the bank of river there are extensive cultivation of vegetables and to our delight we can purchase fresh vegetables.



Vegetable Cultivation 
On the way one worth while place is Gayal Banka-Devi Dwara, a place very close to Mahanadi. During flood it used to get submerged and was regularly disrupting the road link to Banki. At present a new road has been constructed at higher elevation to avoid this perennial problem.




The second important place is Jatamundia Chowk which has a new bridge on Mahanadi that links Athagarh to Banki. The left hand bifurcation road took us to Banki which is only nine kilometers from Jatamundia.
Jatamundia-Subarnapur Mahanadi Bridge
There is a river called Rana which merges with Mahanadi. During last flood the old british period bridge over it was washed out and a new one was constructed nearby.
 New Bridge over Rana River adjacent to old washout Bridge

Rana River merging with Mahanadi
Banki is famous for hindu goddess Maa Charchika. This time I have not gone to the famous temple. One can have daarshan of Maa and also can take prasad at the temple. I took the road to Kalapathar and found two interesting items. There is a small temple near the road which has this unique tiger sculptor. This tiger is in sleeping posture which is rare.





The sleeping tiger statue

The necklace shaped mountains


Ansupa Lake is only four kilometers from Jatamundia Chowk in opposite direction. This is one of the biggest plain water lake in India. Adjacent to it is a small hill called Saranda Garh which is now eco-tourism centre. On the hilltop there is a beautiful garden and bamboo cottages for nature lovers. 

The history of Saranda Garh
Bamboo Cottage Sign Board
Mahanadi and Ansupa Lake from Hill Top

A Selfie at Saranda Garh Hill Top