Kendrapara Bhitarkanika Mangrove Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

Kendrapara district on Odisha's central coast encompasses the Bhitarkanika National Park — India's second-largest mangrove forest (670 sq km) and home to the world's largest concentration of saltwater crocodiles, as well as monitor lizards, fishing cats, and over 170 bird species. Gahirmatha beach, adjacent to Bhitarkanika, is the world's largest rookery of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), where millions of turtles mass-nest (arribada) each February-March in one of nature's most spectacular events. Kendrapara's fishing communities in the Mahanadi delta mouth — the "mouth of seven rivers" (Saat Mukha) — catch prawn, fish, and crab in the mangrove creek system and face ongoing conflict with conservation restrictions protecting turtle nesting habitat.