Jackson Brown (Scotland)
Visited: October, 15th, 03.
After the magnificent sight of tiger in Corbett National Park- my wife and
me drove towards Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary one of the largest bird reserve in
whole Asia. Besides wild life we both have a deep lure for the bird
population.
The bird sanctuary was an hour drive from Delhi, the journey was quite
smooth and comfortable as the highways are properly constructed. We took a
guide from the park itself- Pati, we were calling him although his name was
some thing else- I don't remember. He was a smart and educated guy with
sufficient knowledge about the bird population.
He told us that Bharatpur National Park is a home to around 300 species of
birds, it was once the shooting reserve of royal family but now is eminent
for its migratory bird population. I shoot numerous varieties of bird
species through my video-cam, I still remember some of the names like red
wattle, egrets, and gray herons, sarus cranes and rosy headed pelican. There
are almost 353 species of bird that breed within the park.
Wandering through the narrow paths in between the
artificially created lake was little exhausting, since motor-driven vehicles
are not encouraged in the park, it could be only accessed through rickshaw
ride or on foot. Our all fatigue vanishes away as we reached the pond- a
home to more rare specie the exquisite Siberian Crane (migratory bird) from
Siberia. It was breathtaking sight, birds flying low over the pond in a
massive group flapping their wings, attracting the complete environ.
The park enjoyed the lush green vegetation echoing with numerous birds
inhabiting the wild forest. Pati acquainted us with many facts about the
park, that Bharatpur National Park is listed in World Heritage Site, and was
declared a National Park in 1982.
Later in after noon he took us to the Lohagarh palace, Bharatpur Government
Museum, Bharatpur Palace and Deeg palace. I was overwhelmed to see that such
a small town also enjoys the treasures of royalty and splendor.
Experiencing the great wilds of Rajasthan was an out of the world zest. We
came back to our forest lodge (ITDC) with some sumptuous reminiscences of
migratory birds and with the legacy of the city, to be treasured throughout
our life.
