An Analytical Mind: The First Bird Watching Tale....

Its been a little over a year that I have taken liking to this new activity called bird-watching. Quite different from what it used to be in school days - this one takes you away from the urban centers into the less treaded paths – however, the excitement still remains the same. While one may argue how boring it is to be excited looking at birds rather than ‘chicks’, I’d say lets leave that discussion for a private meeting (after all my wife is usually the first one to read my blog!!).

Well, lets get back to the new hobby then. So, our (whats more fun than finding a company to bird-watch with!!) quest to watch the international beauties took us all the way up to the border of Rajasthan to a place called Bharatpur. Bharatpur is located on the Eastern border of Rajasthan, and lies between the Agra and Jaipur (although Agra is much closer, click here to veiw a map). In Bharatpur rests a less-known sanctuary called the Keoladeo National Park, commonly known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary (click here to view map).

The Keoladeo Temple at the heart of the park.

A World Heritage Site, the Keoladeo National Park is more than 200 years old, although it was recognized as a national park only in the latter half of the nineteenth century. For about hundred years prior to the recognition, this place was owned by the Maharajas of Bharatpur and was a famous hunting ground for them and the Brits. (As per official records, in one of the hunting expeditions, a British Governor hunted over 4000 birds in a single day - hard to believe, especially with the kind of rifles that had in those days!!). The park derives its name from the ancient Keoladeo Temple, devoted to lord Shiva, residing at the heart of the park.

Although small (spread over just 29kms), the park houses three different types of vegetations – dry grass-/wood-land, swamps/marshlands and wetlands. Therefore, the park has more than 350 species of birds - most being migratory - including the rare and famous Siberian Cranes. In addition to birds, the park is also home for animals like the Sambar, Nilgai, Black Buck, Jackals, reptiles like phythons and mammals like Mongoose and Monkeys. Since a large part of the birds in the park are migratory, winters usually is a good time for sighting as most birds start nesting post monsoon and fly off in the summers. Another intriguing aspect of the park is how it has been kept free from pollution so as to keep attracting the birds. Except for officers, no one is allowed to drive their vehicles into the park; the only modes of transport allowed inside are cycles and cycle-rickshaws.

...allowed inside the park

The only mode of transport...

Buland Darwaza @ Fatehpur Sikri

The Epic Taj Mahal

Apart from birding, one can look forward to indulge in a bit of history on a trip to Bharatpur. Around 30kms across the border into UP, is the famous city (or monument) of Fatehpur Sikri. 90kms further from Fatehpur is the famous city of Agra and the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal. A word of caution while going to these places: be prepared to bargain hard, and even walk off a few deals. At Fatehpur, our guide quoted Rs. 500 to take us around the whole, and finally settled for Rs.100. They also told us that is a long walk to the monument and one should take an autorickshaw, which will be another Rs.150. However, there are auto rickshaws that drop you to the bottom of the hill on which the monument is located for as much as 10-bucks-a-seat. The walk up the hill is hardly ten minutes, so don’t bother spending another 100 bucks over it. Inside fathepur, towards the end of the trip, the guide will lure you into buying a “chaadar” for the baba’s shrine, which costs a good 500 bucks if bought from within, so make sure that you carry your own in case you are the religiously inclined, or be prepared to walk off from there.

Battery Operated Carts @ the Taj

Even at the Taj, private vehicles are not allowed beyond a point. So you will have to take an auto/horsecart/camelcart from the parking lot to the gate of the Taj Mahal. Heavy bargaining can help, however a little further from the parking lot there is a Government Service available which will take you to the gate for as much as 5-10bucks a seat in battery operated carts or buses. Guides also tend to bargain heavily (and prefer talking in English even if you respond in Hindi), and generally will not settle for anything less than Rs.250-300. Also note that no sharp objects are allowed inside the Taj (bags are scanned), so make sure you leave most of your belongings in the car. Lastly, visitors are not allowed inside after 6p.m. so make sure you reach there well in advance, and account for a usually long queue to enter. Infact, if you can plan in advance, some 400 visitors (50 at a time for half an hour or so) a day are allowed to enter the Taj at nights when the sky is studded with the full-moon. They say this view is really breath-taking and must not be missed, so try and fit this into your itenary. Also not to miss is the famous ‘pehta’ form Agra (we picked ours from ‘Panchi Petha’ after some local enquiry – don’t miss their pan petha if you happen to be there).

While the place sounds quite far-off, our trip to Bharatpur was all of 4 days including travel. We boarded the Rajdhani Express on a Thursday evening post work, reaching Mathura on Friday morning. From Mathura, Bharatpur is about 40kms, which we traversed by road and took about two hours or so to get there as the roads were quite bad. Friday evening and Saturday morning we spent in the national park, and post breakfast, we left for Fatehpur Sikri and Agra, returning in time for dinner. Sunday morning, while the women rested and enjoyed at the spa, the two of us skipped our breakfast and rushed to the national park, returning at lunch. Finally at around 3, we check out of the hotel and went back to Mathura. We picked up the famous pedha & mathadi from Brijwasi near Mathura Station and boarded our trains back to reach Mumbai on Monday early morning and head to work.

We were helped in planning our trip by Kaustubh Upadhye and Gaurav Athalye of Junglelore. They also booked our entire trip including train tickets and local car hire and also helped us with some of the more knowledgeable guides in Bharatpur.

Some famous birds seen during our visit: