Bharatpur Trip Report

Hello lovely readers, I am sure you all are doing well. To start with let me convey a sincere apology for keeping on a long wait for the new post, I was traveling to search for something best for you and yes best is here. So now, let me fulfill the delay by one of the best blogs of the year. Yes, one of the best because it is the first trip report of the year and that is to directly from the World’s Heritage site. It is none other than “The Keoladeo National Park” formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary; this is close to my heart and in the top 5 in my favorite list. So without taking more time, let’s take a Rickshaw ride to enter the sanctuary.

The journey begins

Four of us (Amish, Ashwini, Vishnu, and me) started the journey from Mumbai central to Mathura by discussing various topics like birding, photography, the major attractions of the place, etc.. and preparing accordingly preparing wishlist of what all we want to target. The start of the journey was near to spoilage due to one “Kesto” person fully drunk joined the same boggy but fortunately, I and Vishnu managed to shift him to other boggy, his expression and walk reminded us the famous “Bevda” of old-time “Kesto”, somehow we managed to escape from spoilage. This is just trailer to the excitement of the journey now let us see what happened when we reached Bharatpur.

From Mathura to Bharatpur we started at 9.am and enjoyed local food like Jalebi, Samosa, Pyaj Kachori and to compensate oily food we had healthy juice of carrot, palak, orange, etc. After taking the taste of local food we reached IBIS Farmhouse, a well maintained rather I must say the best place managed by best guide Mr. Ratan Singh (award winner guide). The moment we stepped in we realized that not even a four-star hotel will give such a wonderful feeling for stay and food. Now we were very sure that our time in the sanctuary would also be the best, let me tell you why.

The arrangements were so well planned by Mumbai Travelers that there was no scope for complaint. Experts were placed for perfect execution. So now, the time came for us to start our mission “Birding” and we started with a prayer to get the best from Bharatpur. To get best out of it we had another expert “Jaivinder” Rickshaw puller cum guide, he knows the forest like resident birds. Now the real journey started for action and drama, let us see what happened when we crazy people entered the sanctuary. Since we sighted more than 80 species I will update you with exciting sightings but will help you many other pictures in the DSLR section so as you can take a feel of the trip sitting at home.

Entry to heaven

Owlet ki Prem Gatha

We entered the heaven and Jaivinder welcome us with a super sighting of spotted owlets, there were 3 at the same place, two were busy in romancing and another was sitting sadly since it was without any company. We got lovely shots of romancing owlets; it was just fun to see cute birds enjoying the activity without bothering human presence.

Pythagoras oops Rock python

Meanwhile, we were enjoying the lunch we got the news that Indian rock python is out there in open, in excitement, we immediately reached the place to try our luck. 10 ft long python in front of you laying in open with open eyes and taking feel with tongue, it was just awesome feeling to see big one so close in front of you. (Taori you called me or trying to reach python through call, please clarify😆😆)

Husky Dusky Eagle Owl

When you visit Bharatpur you always wish to see Dusky Eagle Owl but not many turn lucky as we were. it is very difficult to sight Dusky but here with the help of Jaivinder the expert, we could sight 3 at a time. It was a small family of Dusky, Male was sitting on one tree keeping eye on family, a female dusky was there with the little one on another tree. The male was keeping an eye to ensure that both are safe from any danger. Small dusky with its orange eyes and the white fluffy body was very cute. It is a lottery for us because we got 3 at a time including the little one.

Great Indian spotted eagle

Now we were reaching the sunset time where we wanted to take Bharatpur special shots but during that time we found Great Indian spotted Eagle feasting on something, it was a sign of luck because it is not easy to find rare species like Eagle, Python, Dusky in a row. After this, we tried our hands on some sunset shots to practice for next day especially for sunrise.

Day 2 begins

Rising star kingfisher

The day started with sunrise with lovely cold morning and no fog as well, beautiful weather with sunrise what else you can demand. You can only demand Kingfisher sitting on a tree in the range of rising sun. we were just praying for this moment and it happened, Kingfisher came exactly in the range of sun and gave us the moment of life. We just grabbed it with two hands to get trademark shot, please visit DSLR section and share your comments on pictures, it will help me to improve.

Lovebirds Sarus Cranes

Now it was time for the main attraction of Keoladeo Park, it is like the attraction of a tiger for the forest. I had seen Sarus during the last visit as well but dance performance was yet to be captured and this time the luck knock the door again. The lovebird couple came in the center and displayed the dance performance; it includes loud trumpeting, leaps, and dance-like movements. It is difficult to describe in words, you need to visit DSLR to understand the kind of experience we had.

Steppe Eagle

Now Eagle came as a blessing to make our trip memorable, you will not believe that we spent at least 30-35 minutes to enjoy the complete cycle of how eagle kill and eat its food. We were heading to watchtower area for Spotted Eagle but suddenly Amish Sir saw Steppe Eagle snatching water snake, he immediately asked me to check on it, I too notice the same and observed that Eagle with kill landed in near the area. The landing was on the road, Eagle was searching for a safe place for lunch. Somehow we managed to hide from Eagle's eye contact and enjoyed the beauty very closely but after some time Vishnu entered the area in search of something else but shocked to saw an eagle on road. Now it was enough for the Eagle to stay long on the road so it took flight with a kill and found a place on top of the tree, it started eating snake without waiting and bothering about anything. The way raptor eats the kill is just ruthless, no mercy for the poisonous snake as well, apart from all other sightings, trust me this was the BEST.

Bull NE Kar di Batti GUL

The best sighting we enjoyed a lot but at the same time it gave us a little experience of wilderness, I describe the same as the "Batti Gul" experience.

This sighting we will not forget for two reasons, one for the way we got Eagle with a kill and the other is Big Bull. Suddenly it came from nowhere and we came directly in its range. We realize that due to fear Bull may charge towards us so we took the precaution to keep a distance from the bull. After 5 minutes bull ran away at high speed which was threatening and scary for the moment but no damage was done as we were on alert and cautious of bulls' fear so we kept some distance and allowed a clear path to pass by without any hurdle.

COUNT DOWN

Now let me give you to count of sightings to end the Trip report.

Spotted owlets (12 in total), Golden Jackal, White-throated KF, Pied KF, Common KF, Indian Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Indian Rock Python, Dusky Eagle Owl (3), Sarus Cranes, Wooly neck, Painted Stork, Black Neck Stork, Pelicans, Darter, Cormorants, The greater coucal (Bharadwaj), Turtle, Black-headed IBIS, Black Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Common Teal, Northern shoveler, Red Crested Pochard, Shikra, Golden Jackals, Spotted bill duck, Bar-headed Geese, Yellow-footed green pigeon, Pintail. Francolin, Deer, Blue bull, Languor, Golden Oriole and many more.

Jhalana

Now let me add another surprise here, we did one safari at Jhalana for leopard/hyena but this time luck was not in our favor so we could not manage leopard/hyena. Overall experience to chase a big cat was just superb, Very good effort made by Chitter Bhai to show leopard but we missed it by a minute, better luck next time. We saw Eurasia Sparrow hawk picking up a kill and running away and many other birds such as Francolin, Black shoulder Kite, Owlets, Black Red Start, Shrike, Peacock, Blue bull, languor, Rose Ring Parakeet and many more. This was my 4^th visit and will keep visiting this small lovely forest on every opportunity of Jaipur travel.

I hope you enjoy the trip report, request you to post your feedback and help me to improve to provide unique content.

New Year Calendar

Let me know if you are interested in buying wildlife calendars for the cost of Rs. 300 per calendar, based on request will arrange the same. You can select images as well, do let me know your choice and interest on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a vote of thanks the contribution of each one is crucial without which the journey is incomplete

The Team –

Amish, Ashwini, Vishnu and Bhavesh (BT Wild Art)

Expert Guide

Jaivinder and his partner – Your knowledge and efforts are commendable, your love and passion for wildlife is just unmatched, thank you so much

Stay and Food – IBIS Farmhouse

Special thanks to Ratan Singh Ji and his son MukeshJi and ChanderJI

Travel Management - As usual Mumbai Travelers, Saurabh/Jogi and Prathamesh

Jhalana Safari – Sumeet Juneja, ChhitarJI (Gypsy Driver) and young cameraman Lucky Juneja

A Message of the Day –

No life without Wildlife – Preserve it – Respect it – Enjoy it

Wildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure; to protect it we must take every measure