SUP Mag UK lo-res free to readers April 2014 lo-res free to read | Page 17

Reasons to visit The lagoon offers outstanding natural beauty and a largely unspoiled environment with a wide diversity of wildlife. Indian food and culture is unique and quirky – cows on roads, vibrant village life, friendly people, simple and fresh produce and unusual cooking methods. Eating out is inexpensive but the quality and range of cuisine is exceptional. India offers very good value accommodation and internal transport. People in rural parts of Odisha are generally very friendly and welcoming and are keen to converse. Odisha is a relatively undeveloped area but can offer the ‘real India’ – very different from regions extensively visited by tourists. Odisha / Chilika is far superior, right across the board, and for Indian people wanting to try SUP Chilika offers a chance to do so in a perfect and relatively safe setting. SUPers looking for new and exotic places, wanting to learn in an exciting environment and paddlers interested in wildlife will love Lake Chilika. India, in time, may well turn out to be a globally recognised stand up paddle boarding destination – watch this space… 17 s t a n d u p p a d d l e m a g u k We stopped on an island at the south west end of the lake that was perfect for visitors. Local villagers were welcoming and pleased to provide clean well water and sell us high quality food at low prices. The fish and fresh vegetables we bought from them, and cooked over an open fire, was one of the highlights of the trip. There were grassy areas for camping and sleeping out and temperatures in early March were very comfortable – a tent was only required in the unlikely event of rain. The Eastern Ghats in the western part of the lake provide a dramatic mountainous backdrop for paddling and buildings like the historic (C19th) British Tax Collection point provide a unique and easily recognisable landmark. All in all, Chilika is a fabulous destination for stand up paddling. Chilika conservation Chilika, for the most part, is a high quality environment and we think SUP could help to protect this by making more people aware of conservation issues and the need to the protect countryside from plastic waste. We found small amounts of debris on our relatively pristine sleeping area – so it would be good to encourage groups of SUP paddlers to clean up an area as part of their trip. In this way they would be contributing to the protection of this unique environment rather than adding to the environmental problem. We saw dolphins several times in different parts of the lake and it’s likely that paddlers would see more of them than visitors on powered craft. The variety of wild birds and fish at Chilika is abundant and apparent at all times. Our journey did not cover the main areas on the lake for this, however we still saw many species.