Bharatpur & The Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary!

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We arrived in Bharatpur by bus (only an hour anf a half of the usual mayhem!) and discovered that the town of Bharatpur is not particulary nice and, is a bit of a no-mans-land. It's very dusty, very hot and has very little to offer besides the bird sanctuary. There are also camals and wild pigs (which fight constantly with the wild dogs) EVERYWHERE.

We made our way to a gorgeous little hotel called The Jungle Lodge and checked in to a really nice room looking out onto a veranda and a lovely garden. The only drawback, we soon found out, was the ridiculous abundance of mosquitos and, we all learned that the hard way i.e after getting 42 bites on my legs (im still confined to my one pair of long trousers!). The hotel was run by a man and his wife and everything we ordered was made from scratch on the spot and the food was great. This was very well received after the muck we'd been eating in Agra.

That night we met a few other travellers- an Isreali man and three lads from Italy and we decided to head to the bird sanctuary the following morning together. Unfortunately Sarah wasnt feeling well, so myself and Declan set off at 6am and the six of us rented bikes, binoculars and a guide and headed off.

The park itself is really scenic and because it's quite cool in the morning, the cycle alone was great craic. Better still was the wildlife that greeted us only a few hundred metres into the sanctuary. We cycled around the park for nearly five hours (until in got too hot and dusty) and we saw: antelope, deer, monkeys, jackals, massive turtles and a huge variety of birds. The Isreali man was really into his birds, so his enthusiasm spread through the group and we were all excited to see a couple of species of birds that are very rare (including two different kinds of vultures feeding on antelope carcasses and some 6ft tall cranes).

The following morning Sarah joined Declan and I and we set out again, this time visiting two Hindu temples within the park and very nearly seeing a huge cobra that managed to elude us, despite the guide's excellent tracking skills.

Because Sarah wasnt well, we ended up spending a number of nights in the town and really just relaxed and ate the whole time! Because it is so warm and so dusty, it wasnt even possible to go for walks or sight-see during the day, so the hotel garden became our refuge for our time spent there.

After a few days and when Sarah was feeling better, we said goodbye to the hotel owner and his family and set off for the train station.

Next stop: Ranthambore Tiger Reserve!!...

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Photos

Bharatpur
A langur monkey. Cute.

Bharatpur
Us petting an antelope!!

Bharatpur
Turtles. Ugh.

Bharatpur
King Vultures. Cool.