Pulicat Lake

Bird Watching and Photography

I decided to write about Pulicat Lake since there are lot of confusions about reaching the exact place and lot of blogs telling you different routes. This same confusion is what delayed our visit to this place. At last on a Republic Day, Jan 26, 2013, we decided to hit on the road with GPS as our navigator. 

We started from porur junction and proceeded on the Tada Highway. There are more than one entry points to Pulicat Lake since it is a long stretch spanning across TamilNadu and AndraPradesh

• On TN side: Take right from Ponneri and enter into Pulicat Lake

• On AP side: After crossing Tada take right from Sullurpeta towards Sriharikota

The Sullurpeta-Sriharikota is the main Pulicat viewing area. Do not expect any enclosed area of something similar to any other bird sanctuary. The lake is on both sides of the Sullurpeta-Sriharikota road. You have to visit the place right after the rains so the lake is has water to take a boat ride. When the waters are low the birds are pushed inside the lake and you cannot reach them through your telephoto lens to binoculors. So do visit on right time and ask the local for a boat ride.

On the day of our visit was the "Pulicat Day 2013" which is organized by AARDE foundation. We saw many posted on the way and expecting to see some events organized by them. But unfortunately we reached the AP side of the lake and the event was organized on the TN side. The event organizers were kind enough to explain us the route. But we were not able to make it.

There are also other areas of Pulicat Lake famous for Flamingos which is greatly explained in this blog.