Agra and Bharatpur while being in different states are just
60kms from each other and make for a good weekend trip. Three of us did just
that and left for Agra from Delhi on Saturday (26th) morning. This post is titled wrt Bharatpur because that is where the main focus of this post lies.
AGRA
We reached Agra in the midst of a traffic jam to reach Taj
Mahal around 12 noon when it occurred to us – on account of being Republic Day;
we weren’t the only ones who had the same idea of visiting Taj Mahal.
The queue to enter was minimum two-three hours long. Then we
realized that there were other gates via which one could enter the premises
however all queues were still long enough. After standing in one queue for an
hour; and no likelihood of entering for another few hours; we entrusted the
help of a “guide” who got us through somehow in half an hour thus enabling us
to enter the Taj Mahal by 3pm.
The sight of Taj Mahal is a beautiful one; there is not much
more that can be said here describing the beauty and architectural symmetry of
Taj Mahal that has already not been said; hence I won’t attempt to do that.
Suffice to say, in one of the pictures taken with us and the Taj Mahal in the
background; the sun glint brightly enough on the beautiful white structure such
that the camera completely missed the pure whiteness in the background with
only us left in the picture.
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| Taj Mahal |
The sight of Yamuna on the backdrop is a pleasing one
especially as it seemed a bit clean there in contrast to what is visible from
Delhi. We left the premises around 5pm – in a way glad to be a bit away from
the tens of thousands of people who seemed to have thronged there. Since it was
already late, we dropped Agra fort from our agenda and went off to Bharatpur.
BHARATPUR
It is a bit hard to explain the beauty and serenity that we
enjoyed amidst the company of exquisite birds in the sanctuary. All that can be
said is we planned to spend around 3-4 hours in the sanctuary, have a meal and
go off to visit Fatehpur Sikri. We ended up (without realizing) spending eight
hours in the sanctuary and eventually cancelling our Fatehpur plans without any
regrets.
The bird sanctuary which spans across kilometers opens at
6.30am. Car and bikes are also allowed only up to a km or so inside the
sanctuary. There are two modes of transport possible - one, the cycle rickshaw
which is the preferred mode of transport for most travelers; the other being a
handful of cycles available for rent which can be acquired if one reaches early
enough. We were up early and were successful in acquiring cycles for ourselves
(Rs 80 for 8 hours).
On such trips, a lot depends on the awareness, knowledge and
sharpness of your guide. We were fortunate to get an excellent guide who took
us off beaten paths with lesser humans. His sharpness was also superb as he was
able to identify birds with naked eye which we realized only after looking
through a pair of powerful binoculars (which also belonged to him).
We saw a number of birds which our guide identified for us;
since all of us are amateurs in bird-watching we attempted to retain as much
information as was imparted to us. Many of the birds were local residents and
there were also many which were migratory birds from different parts of the
globe. On a personal note, since I am an amateur; I tend to get as excited
while spotting a beautiful peacock or parakeet or egret (which are also common
in cities) as spotting any other rarer migratory species. Why condescend to not
react for some just because they are more common!
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| A beautiful peacock offering a clear shot |
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| A couple of loving parakeets |
In the early morning mist, we spotted a number of peacocks
and peahens which were just getting up (or rather down) from the trees where
they were perched. As we went ahead on the beaten paths (where rickshaws
couldn’t venture), we saw a number of other birds starting their day. A couple
of owls – the spotted owl and the eagle owl were spotted by our guide which
were most settling in for the day.
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| The spotted owl |
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| The eagle owl |
Huge number of birds graced us with their presence in and
around the big water body that lies in the park. We saw a number of egrets, the
grey heron, the night heron, the purple heron, the pond heron, large numbers of Indian More Duck, the Comb Duck, the Black-Headed Ibis,
the Bar Geese. These birds were present in large
numbers around the water body.
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| The Grey Heron |
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| The Comb Duck |
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| Black headed Ibis |
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| The Purple Heron |
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| Pond Heron |
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| Egret |
We were also lucky to spot a few jackals and wild boars
along with a number of sambhars and neelgai. However, jackals were too swift to
be captured on camera; they mostly gave us a fleeting glance and scornfully
walked into the bushes even before we could react.
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| A number of neelgai grazing near the water |
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| Magpie Robin |
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| Coot |
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| Hawk |
At one point, our guide asked us to get off the cycles and
we walked into the jungle in search of pythons which are known to exist in
numbers there. We walked off the tracks with a feeling of trepidation as to
what if the python found us rather than us finding it. We went to a couple of
porcupine holes known to the guide where the pythons are supposed to make
themselves home; but both were empty. Whilst our quest was unsuccessful; even
the idea of walking in the jungle hunting for a python on feet gave us a thrill
and the closest probably any of us could ever get to Steve Irwin.
As the day wore on; we got onto the main track with lots of other people and saw hordes of other birds camped in huge numbers.
Pelicans, with all their grace and beauty and long beaks
were visible in good numbers. We saw a number of Cormorants hanging by on the
bushes drying themselves up after completing a fish catch. A bunch of unique
looking snake-birds (Darter) were also visible with their
snake-like heads hanging out of the water. A couple of turtles were spotted
basking in the sunshine.
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| Pelicans |
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| Cormorants (drying), egret (white), and snakebird (right) |
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| Tortoise |
Most of all, we saw hordes and hordes of Painted Storks
sitting and making ridiculous noises. We saw around few hundreds of these birds
directly within a span of 100 metres.
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| Hordes of Painted Storks |
As we reflected on our day, we were delighted with our visit
to Bharatpur and I could have easily sat for the entire day or more without any
signs of boredom.
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| Reflections |
PS: since my camera is a humble one, all the above pics are
taken using the guide’s binoculars put ahead of the camera lens which allowed
for better visibility and clarity.
