29) Barathpur and the Keoladeo National Park

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We badly needed a break from big cities and hoped to catch a bus to a place where we would again be surrounded by nature, and we were lucky. It was already after 10 p.m., we did not see anything of Barathpur except the bus stand and took a rickshaw to a place close to the entrance of the National Park. Thank God, the family-run Falcon Guesthouse was still open and we were even served a meal.

Next morning, we were up early (around 6 a.m.), hired two bicycles in the guesthouse and cycled to the Keoladeo National Park. We had already experienced Rajasthan’s water problems in other places (mainly Udaipur) and here it was no different. Half of the park should be wetland area and attract a huge variety and number of water birds, but unfortunately there is hardly any water left. To us, it did not matter so much, we were pleased to pedal in the (still) cool and fresh air and to enjoy nature once again. We cycled along rather slowly, frequently stopped to watch the birds or other animals and to take pictures. On several places, huge and noisy pumps were used to reach the ground water and to fill puddles of water, so that there were at least some birds to be seen. First we wanted to stay only a couple of hours and move to our next destination already in the afternoon, but then we liked it a lot and decided to spend the whole day in the park. We went until an old temple, where a canteen is nearby and spent some time in the shade there. In the park itself is also one hotel and we had lunch there, as we had already skipped breakfast.

Wherever possible, we stopped and sat down in order to watch the birds with ease. Once they had got used to our presence, they calmed down and stopped fluttering around nervously. Apart from birds we saw a jackal sneaking around eventual prey (i.e. birds), some wild boar, a rabbit, a mongoose, several turtles of all sizes in the water, a lot of spotted and sambhar deer and a big water snake. We got especially close to a female sambhar deer and her young, they were not shy at all, we were watching them, they were watching us and when the female came onto the road, we could almost have touched her. Another time, we were sitting on a bench at the edge of a pond, when Klaudia saw a big snake (around 150 cm long) glide into the water at the other side and swim directly at us. She was so excited, because she loves snakes and up to now we have only seen one very far away. Unfortunately the snake smelled us and rapidly changed direction. So we could not watch it glide out of the water and only saw it later curled up in the shade inside a shrub close to the pond. Concerning the birds, there were egrets and herons fishing, spoonbills with their peculiar beaks sifting through the water for something edible, ducks in copper coloured feathers, big storks and marabous, a couple of sarus cranes with their nice red heads, parakeets as everywhere, kingfishers with their metallic blue wings, different species of wild pigeons, and many kinds of birds whose names we could not say. Bleached bones were lying around everywhere and we also spotted a recently dead sambhar deer on which the crows were feasting. Soon afterwards we met a ranger, that the animal had been killed by the only tiger living in Keoladeo National Park. Considering the sheer number of deer we had seen, this tiger must lead a wonderful life. Unfortunately we had not seen the animal itself, but only its breakfast. Before we left, we could also watch a vulture, which was tearing an upside down turtle from its shell and the crows awaiting their turn once the vulture would have eaten its full. In the early evening, we also spotted several owls in trees waiting for the night to come so that they could go hunting. We spent a very nice day in the park and ate good food in our guesthouse before going to sleep rather early.

Next day Klaudia fell ill, she had very strong diarrhoea and vomited heavily so that the normal pills could not be used. At the end of the day she was so weak that Stephan had to support her, otherwise she would not have got to the bathroom. When it did not really get better and she developed high temperature (38,9 degrees), Stephan almost took her to hospital. But the morning after the temperature had gone and she slowly recovered. Due to Stephan’s loving care and the landlady’s attention, she was ready for another visit in the park, but on a bicycle rickshaw this time. On the fourth day, she was feeling good enough to take the next step in our programme, not very far away from Barathpur, the Moghul city of Fatehpur Sikri.

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