Lucky enough to have a 2022
holiday to Goa in the diary already? Well we are mighty jealous we can tell you! You are probably planning to spend most of your time on Goa’s long sandy palm fringed beaches relaxing, reading a book, and soaking up the sun while taking in the amazing views with the soft whispering sounds of the swaying palms above you. Away from this idyll, with around a fifth of the land in Goa falling into the stunning Western Ghats of India, forests, and jungles packed with an abundance of exotic wildlife, Goa has incredible things for you to do and sites for you to visit that you may not have considered.
Spend a day in Panaji
Panaji, the state capital of Goa is situated on the banks of the Mandovi River, in southwest India. Here, the Portuguese influence will instantly take you back to colonial times when Portugal ruled, with its neat cobblestone streets, shops, cafes, galleries, churches, forts and red, green, blue and yellow roofed buildings built in Portuguese Baroque style. Be sure to visit the Latin Quarter, the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Fort Aguada and the Shri Mahalaxmi temple when on
Goa holidays.
Take a trip to Dudhsagar Waterfall
Experience a real force of nature. This 4 tiered waterfall is India’s second largest with a drop of some 320 metres and a width of 30 metres. Located in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park among the Western Ghats, during the rainy seasons, the falls are fed by rains to form a spectacular display that will astonish you. Plan ahead and arrange for extra time at this spectacular site if you plan to take a dip in one of the three naturally formed pools surrounded by lush green forests.
Visit Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary & Mollem National Park
Home to the Dudhsagar Waterfall and an abundance of flora and fauna, this is Goa’s largest National Park and where most of Goa’s wildlife species live and roam freely including Bengal tigers, black panthers, leopards, barking deer, bonnet macaque, civet cats and wild boar. And if bird watching is your passion, you will not be disappointed with over 100 different species for you to spot including three-toed kingfishers, wagtails, drongos and the great India hornbill.
Visit the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary
This is a must whether you are a keen ornithologist or not. You will be rewarded with the experience of witnessing the beautiful and rare eco system that this sanctuary set among the mangroves offers up. And there is no need to walk around, you can enjoy a leisurely dug-out canoe-trip around the sandy marshes of Chorao Island. With hundreds of species of birds, you can expect to see white egrets, purple herons, colourful kingfishers, eagles, cormorants, kites, woodpeckers, sandpipers, curlews, drongos and mynahs. Other, rarer, inhabitants of the sanctuary include the little bittern, black bittern, red knot, and jack snipe. Keen observers can us the three storeyed watchtower to watch bird life at three levels, below canopy level, at canopy level and above canopy level. In addition to birds there are species of reptile and crustaceans that make their home amongst the mangroves including mudskippers, fiddler crabs, crocodiles, otters, flying foxes and jackals.
Haggle at the Anjuna Flea Market
This market is open every week on Wednesdays from November through to April and is located 18km from the state capital of Panaji. This originally started in the 1960’s by hippies who all congregated on a small area of Anjuna beach, to raise funds to carry on with their travels. Today the vibrant and coulourful Anjuna Flea market sprawls from the beach all the way back to the paddy fields of Anjuna Village and bustles with liveliness and Goan Culture. You can haggle to your heart’s content and pick up all your souvenirs here ranging from hammocks, junk jewelry, handcrafted art pieces, a colourful array of sarongs, a wide variety of spices, T-shirts; richly colourful saris, bags, bedspreads from Rajasthan and some of the best Tibetan and Nepali goods.
Do you have tips on where to visit when on a
cheap holiday to Goa? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
