Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur

This blog post is simply so that I don't forget some of the things we saw during our trip to this National Park near Agra.

We entered the park fairly early in the morning at around 7am when it was still fairly cool and the birds were pretty active. The entrance fees have been recently doubled(!!), which for foreign tourists means Rs 400.- each, pretty steep considering the facilities inside the park (practically none), but probably justifiable for a day out for birders. You can hire indian bikes at the entrance for Rs 25.- a day and do the normal haggling to get some binoculars (the guy at the entrance told us they didn't have any, but then some helpful chap eventually went and got them from the same office). I paid Rs 100.- for the day.

In the park itself, we were practically alone the entire day and spent a relaxing and rewarding day spotting both waterbirds and other endemic species. Some of the larger storks and cranes were just arriving by all accounts, and we only saw pairs or singles of these birds, either flying overhead or fishing in the pools.

Note that some of the tracks off the main bitumen road aren't really suitable for bikes, and you're probably best to leave them somewhere and walk along those tracks for a little bit. We saw large numbers of spotted deer a little off the beaten path.

In Bharatpur we stayed at the Falcon Guest House (Rs 400.- for a double with bath), which I would recommend. The owners seemed a little put out by any request we had but to their credit they fulfilled every one.

None of these photos are mine, BTW; I don't have a decent enough zoom lens to take these. We did see these species though.

Black-necked stork and cormorants

Mating Sarus Cranes

Ring-necked Parakeet 

Rufous Tree-Pie

Indian Roller (yes they really are that spectacular colour)

Spotted Owlet

Grey Heron

White-breasted Water Hen

The bizarre-looking Nilgai (Blue bull)

Sambar Deer

Giant Turtle (these guys are big!)

The one we saw had a huge mound of mud on their back with plants growing out of it. It looked like it hadn't been the whole way under the water for a year or so...