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Keoladeo Ghana National Park,
Bharatpur
One of the finest bird parks in the world,
Keoladeo Ghana National Park is a reserve that
offers protection to faunal species as well,
though there is no doubt that this is primarily
a bird sanctuary. Once a shooting preserve of
the royal family of Bharatpur, the marshy swamplands
were created by a maharaja who diverted water
from irrigation canals to flood the low depression,
creating a permanent home for waterfowl. Today,
120 species of birds nest at Kaoladeo, and the
heronry is believed to be the best in the world.
Several more species are migratory visitors,
journeying to the park in the winters from distances
as far as Siberia.
The most famous of these winter migrants is
the greatly endangered Siberian crane though
its numbers have reduced drastically from a
few hundreds a few decades ago to barely a few
birds now. Motorised vehicles are not encouraged
within the park, and visitors navigate the narrow
paths in between the artificially created lakes
on bicycles, cycle rickshaws or on foot. They
can observe birdlife from closer quarters in
boats. Early mornings, there isn't just birdsong
in the air, but a virtual orchestra of sounds.
Painted storks, easily identifiable by their
long, pink legs, can be seen nesting on tree-tops.
The entire park is a medley of sounds, fluttering
wings, and a great to-do about hunting for fish,
aquatic roots and other insects as spoonbills
and ibises, geese and ducks, cranes, herons
and egrets, storks, pelicans and flamingos,
cormorants and darters, kingfishers, blue jays,
shrikes, orioles, paradise flycatchers, parakeets,
eagles and harriers take wing, settle down,
or simply watch the rest of the winged denizens
of the park go about their way.
In years in between, because of water shortage,
or poaching, the park has been effected, but
the eco-system and the variety of bird life
is amazing in its ability to sustain itself
even against occasional odds. But it isn't just
birds that the park is noted for, though its
mammalian and reptilian species expectedly get
short shrift. These include wild boar and deer
(chital, black-buck, nilgai), mongoose, otters,
jack-als, fox, hyena, hare, porcupine, the rock
python, and three feline species - leopard,
jungle cat, and fishing cat.
Base: Bharatpur: Tough one of the country's
most well-managed, and well-represented parks
as far as the variety of wildlife and birdlife
is concerned, it is astonishingly easily accessible,
located close to the township of Bharatpur,
and barely an hour's drive from Agra, and only
a little more from Jaipur. Delhi too is reasonably
close.
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