Velas Turtle Festival 2019 Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra, in joint collaboration with the Forest Department, Ratnagiri, Kasav Mitra Mandal Velas, and the Velas Gram Panchayat is organizing Turtle Festival. The event will be held until the emergence of hatchlings continues. The erratic climatic conditions, including the late onset of winter, have made it difficult to predict the exact dates on which the turtle hatchlings will emerge. Hence, tourists should check the website or the facebook page to get the latest updates on the dates of emergence before visiting. The sites will be updated twice daily. Once the hatchlings begin emerging from the nests, they do so for the subsequent two days, on which they may be viewed. Bankot This was the first residency of the British Raj in Southern Konkan. Although a very beautiful fort dotting the coastline of the Konkan strip, the fort of Himmatgad, now popularly known as Bankot (from the name of the nearby village) is not a destination th...