Chilika Lake

Chilika is a lagoon rather than a lake, separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sand bar and connected to it by a narrow, shifting mouth. That mix of river water from the Mahanadi delta and salt water from the sea makes it exceptionally productive, and around 150,000 fisherfolk work it for prawn, crab and mullet. It is a Ramsar site, and its two great draws divide the lagoon in half.

In the south-east, off Satapada, lives one of the world's few resident populations of Irrawaddy dolphins, snub-nosed and shy, best seen on the first boats of the morning before the water gets busy. In the north, at Mangalajodi, thousands of hectares of reed marsh fill each winter with waders and waterfowl; the village once made its living shooting them and now makes it rowing birdwatchers silently through the channels, a conservation turnaround worth supporting. Nalabana Island in the middle, submerged for much of the year, emerges in winter as a bird sanctuary where pintails, flamingos and the rare spot-billed pelican gather.

Elsewhere the lagoon simply invites drifting: to the tiny hilltop shrine of Kalijai on its island, out to Rambha Bay's cluster of rocky islets at the southern end, or across the water from Barkul at the hour when the fishing sails come home against a flat orange sky.