One of the world's best bird parks - Keoladeo National Park 340
What and Why
Keoladeo National Park (Hindi: केवलादेव राष्ट्रीय उद्यान, Kevalaadev Raashtreey Udyaan) is a famous migratory bird sanctuary that hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season. Over 300 species of birds are known to be residents. Keoladeo National Park is a man-made and man-managed wetland and is one of the richest bird areas in the world. It is especially well-known for nesting of resident birds and visiting migratory birds including water birds. According to the World Wildlife Fund, Keoladeo National Park is one of the world’s best bird areas.
Ironically the park was actually designed to create a private duck reserve to conduct shooting parties during the British Raj (ब्रिटिश राज) days, and a large number of birds were shot.
Toponymy
Keoladeo is a local name for destroyer God Shiva (Sanskrit: शिव, Śiva) which means 'nothingness'. Bhārat (भारत) is the Hindi word for India and derives from the legendary emperor of India Bhārata (भरत) in Jainism (Sanskrit: जैनधर्म Jainadharma), which in turn means 'cherished'.
The park is sometimes referred to as Ghana as it contains grasslands, woodlands and wetlands as it reminds people of Africa.
See
The park is massive and unless you are a bird freak or ornithologist, it might be quite a bland park, in spite of its celebrated status. To see the birds, the best way is to take the boat ride along the river swamp, when the boatsman could identify pretty much everything inside the park. The boat ride was actually very serene and the calm journey and was very relaxing, although my troop of girls seemed slightly concerned about their personal safety and security. The boatsmen are quite expert in the navigation and articulate in the explanations of the birds. I would also commend on their good command and pronunciation of English!
Keoladeo National Park assumes its significant status in two respects: One because of its strategic location as a staging ground for migratory waterfowl arriving in the Indian subcontinent before dispersing to various regions. Further waterfowls converge here before departing to breeding grounds in the western Palearctic region. It is also the only regular wintering area in India for a good number of bird species.
Birds and more birds.
Apart from birds, we witnessed a large herd of buffalos crossing the river and we had to abide to the animal traffic rules.
Travel Suggestions and Logistics
I do not see any other way other than to drive there, as the park is not located near any major city. We came from Agra (आगरा) and it is around an hour drive.
After entering the park, you need to walk around 1 km to reach the boating area. While it is stated that the entry fee of the park is INR 550₹ for foreigners, there is no one at the gate, from morning to evening. We only paid for the boat ride at 1,000₹ for the entire boat. If you are not interested in bird, the site is uninteresting and probably would take you an hour for the boat-trip only.
Other than the park, Bharatpur does have a few other sites like the Lohagarh Fort (लोहागढ़ दुर्ग, Lohaagadh Durg) or other temples for visit. Personally the city is a good day trip only.
UNESCO Inscription
This former duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajas is one of the major wintering areas for large numbers of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. Some 364 species of birds, including the rare Siberian crane, have been recorded in the park.
References
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Please share your thoughts and comments about the blog. If you need suggestions to build a travel itinerary, please let me know. More than willing to help. I would also like to build a bespoke-travel community around UNESCO WHS and ICH.
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