Khali Kotrakhali Tour ! (in brief)

 05.02.2022 (Saturday) Kolkata – Canning  – Kotrakhali – Canning- Kolkata

 06.02.2022 (Sunday)  Kotrakhali - Canning  –  Kolkata

We were planning for quite time to go to Kotrakhali . 

Itinerary

Day 1: Kolkata (0640 hrs by Local Train)- Canning (750 hrs) - Kotrakhali  (45 minutes) 

Day 2: Kotrakhali (13010 hrs) - Kolkata

There are various ways you can reach Kotrakhali.

By Train : Catch any train which goes to Canning. From Canning Bus stop, share Trekker goes to Kotrakkhali in around 1 hour for Rs 40. If you hire an Trekker/auto (which resort Manager, Debashish Sen, can arrange for Rs 300. It takes 45 minutes). There are train every 30 -40 minutes in the morning.

https://erail.in

The Canning Bus stand is adjacent to the railway Station.

 

By Road: From Science City, go to Malancha via Ghatakpukur. From Malancha take a right turn towards Sonakhali / Gadkhali, taking Basanti Malancha highway. To go to Gadkhali, you have to cross Basanti Bridge from Sonakhali and after another 20-25 Km you will reach Gadkhali - from where most of the steamers for Sundarban leave. If you cross the river at Gadkhali, you will reach Gosaba.

But for Kotrakhali, you need not go upto Sonakhali, you have to take left turn from Atharo Banki Post office / Bangiya Gramin Vikash Bank and take another left turn from Pani-khali Bazar. 

Or you can also take left turn from Sonakhali - but then you have to driver longer. 

It will take around 2.30 hours from Science city, I am told.

04.02.2022 (Saturday) 

We finally reached the resort at 900 hours. It was the house of Lawyer from Kolkata - who died in 2019. His wife is looking after the resort. There is a pond / bheri nearby. The whole area was developed by the lawyer family. We were told, they spent lot of money to develop this place. But they incurred huge loss during cyclone. It is a quite a big property with 3 ponds and lot of place for gardening/farming. There are many birds inside the complex. Especially Pied Kingfisher. I would highly recommend this place.

It is managed by http://www.getlost.net.in/. A one day package costs Rs 1250 with accommodation and food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) per person. You can contact Subhangshu or Sintu. They have a knack for finding out completely unknown places and start eco tourism in truest sense of the term. Their website is testimony of that fact. 

There are 2 rooms in the resort. It is ideal for 6 people, in total. We were 5 (Subir da and his wife, Sabyasachi da and my family).

Orientation

The resort is just on the bank of Dana river. There is a jetty nearby (250 Metres from the resort) to go to the other side - which falls under Gosaba block. Kotrakhali is in Basanti block. 

After taking sumptuous breakfast (it was not part of the package , we paid extra [Rs 50] for this) , we walked along the bank of Dana to reach the Bheri . Then we went to Auto Stand/Bazar/Ferry ghat to spend some time.  It is a very quaint place. There are no other resorts there. 

In the lunch, we had fish and in the dinner we had chicken. In the evening, snacks were also served. The behaviour of the Manager (who is also a teacher in the local school) and caretaker is very courteous. We chatted quite some time in the evening sitting in the balcony. I bought some Rosogolla fresh from Chulla.

They can arrange Berbeque Chicken for an extra cost.

 05.02.2022 (Sunday) 

After spending some time near the river, we were back to the resort. In fact we bought some crab from the bheri for Rs 50 from Hannan Dhali (80018 53373). They told me to call before coming, then they can set aside fish for us. It is better to come during "Kotal". 

After having our breakfast, we left for Canning. The same auto picked us from the resort. We paid Rs 600 (300+300) for the total trip.