Nandankanan : Through my pen & pictures

What do the writers do? They observe, think and write.

                   (in evolution garden)

Getting to a site without any crowd, full of nature and peace has become so difficult now. And when you live in a city like Bhubaneswar, it's almost impossible. 

 Last year after the pandemic, I like to visit less chaotic places. So since few months we have been exploring new places here in bhubaneswar. Do you want to be in nature that too in town? Here is one- Nandankanan botanical garden. I have been hearing about Nandankanan since I was a child and kind of feeling ashamed that I have never been to this place even after staying this close. It's situated in Patia, spread over 75 ha, nearly 20 kms away from town. We can call it every traveler's destination, photographer's bliss and writer's heaven. If you live in Odisha, this place is a must visit. So buy some time and be into the place for a while is all I want to say .

(I don't know the name of the flower but it looked cute to me, icecream stick like cute)

If you plan to go, I would say visit in morning because it's huge enough to take your whole day. Once you enter, the ticket costs some 20 bucks per person. There is another ticket available for mopeds which is great because you don't want to walk over acres in a day. There would be two lanes after the main gate (gate no. 2). One leading to the zoological park and other to the botanical garden. The second one is our destination:) 

For making you more particular, there are maps( easily accessible) written 'you are here!' in every 10 minutes of interval. 

 

                       (In glass house)

It starts from the evolution garden containing various plants I have never even heard the names before. Then there is a heritage garden full of ancient herbal plants and scriptures of monks in between. After that, a park named 'Budha park' is what we crave so often. It's actually a park in water full of different fishes and water lilies and really cute bridges connecting to the land area. The kanijia lake has covered most of the park having a giant budha statue in the middle and other sit-outs. There are a total of 3 lakes to be precise each providing boating services. There is a children's park too containing various swings, merry-go-round, sliders etc. So in case, you got children with you, DON'T LET THEM OUT anywhere near the lakes. Better they fall from slides than in water right!

(they have built the roads beside lakes so you can have a good view of who doing what, I mean the water, come on!)

An artificial zoo is being constructed for simple understanding of animals and their behaviours among children. In my opinion, just go to the zoo no! It's nearer and realer I mean.

                      (the cacti house)

The whole place is shadowy being surrounded with large trees in weird size and shapes. We get to see more parks like parks for dry plants, parks for orchids, parks for water plants. There is also a glass house consisting of plants from different countries. The environment and temperature of the room is being managed as per the need of the plants, succulents from various parts. A cacti garden is being made, housing more than 1000 types of cactus. Honestly, I was there for the aesthetic! Period! Technically, it's a dream place to those who are in botany and stuff. To the wonder, we also found the butterfly garden where they do breedings of numerous butterflies. Now they have opened a butterfly interpretation center for basic knowledge about them.  I literally jumped into the bushes to catch them. Sometimes I wish I was a butterfly. Other times, a cat. Also, it has a human made waterfall perfect for your insta story.

  (In the butterfly garden. I want to be a                               butterfly. I repeat.)

There is a Rose garden and a bougainvillea garden which are my favourites. The creepers with colourful flowers are what made me stop and go Gaga.

 (A lavender flower from the bougainvillea garden. The garden was closed and we entered forcefully because girl gotta watch flowers 😼)

Japanese garden and Mughal garden are also there contributing to the natural scenic.

(In Mughal garden. The huge boundaries adding an aesthetic look yet the only Mughal thing I remember is, Akbar was born in 1542, just for the GK )

Also, the road back to the place is a lake with a narrow road I am in awe with.

There are so many flowers that I can literally write a poem about. The beauty is highly breathtaking.

We had to return by 3 pm, I wish could spend some more hours though:(

On the way back we had Turkish icecream( blueberry gelato to be precise) which recently got opened in Bhubaneswar. I would suggest to go try it. Well, there are many more things I  would suggest so...let's keep that for another blog. 

If I ever get mad, hand me an icecream. I will give you my world.

Follow my Instagram account @madhumalati if you like my write-ups. Just saying. If you don't, I have another account @ali_a_namika as well so never mind. Just saying again. Teehee <3