Velas Turtle Festival - Part 2/5 - The Walk

As in any other trip, our first visit to the beach was exciting. Since it was already 5 PM by the time we reached Velas, we were told to proceed to the beach to see the evening sessionof turtle release. We left our baggage in the bus and headed towards the beach carrying our cameras. We walked throught the narrow lanes in the villages, passing by tatched roofed houses neatly lined up, beautiful plantations, enquiring the way to the beach. Although some of the villagers responded in Marathi, we managed to go in the right direction. 

Finally we hit a road after walking for about 2 kms and then realized that vehicles could come to this point. This helped us in the next 3 visits where we managed to come by our mini bus till this point. 

We could see hoarding lined up all the way to the coast from this point. They were lot informative and you can read them for yourselves.

I was surprised to see TCS's name in few hoardings and no wonder it was sponsored by the Maitree team in their last visit. There were other hoardings which contained logos of the NGO and Maharashtra Tourism Department. At one point we could a channel constructed on both the ends of the path way clearly indicating that it is to prevent vehicular movement in this area.  

on the way to the beach

on the way to the beach

small bridge that we had to cross on our way

One the first visit, It took us 45 mins to get close to the enclosure where the nests are protected. It was nearing sunset and the time was perfect. Click here to read about the turtle release.

We got back to the village to rest after long journey and witnessing 7 baby turtles released on our first visit. Rest of the visits were as good as the first one, some preferring to walk and others took the bus to the half way point.