After our fulfilling visit to the Taj Mahal, we boarded an early afternoon bus for the ride to the town of Bharatpur.  The principal reason to travel to Bharatpur is the Keoladeo Ghana National Park and Bird Sanctuary.  Consisting of miles of undisturbed forests and shallow lakes, it provides the perfect setting for birds of all types, including migratory birds that make their way here as far away as Siberia including the endangered Siberian Crane).

Our first day there was spectacular.  We entered the park at about 3:00pm, hired some bikes and a guide (for less than $1usd an hour), and explored the sanctuary.  The abundance of bird life was overwhelming; there were so many of so many different species and colors.  Definitely a highlight of our trip.  We stayed past sunset, having a great time.

We returned the next morning at dawn for several more hours of bird watching before heading back towards Agra.  On our way back, we stopped at the impressive deserted city, fort and palace of Fatehpur Sikri, before continuing on to Agra and then on to Tundla for our night train (which left at 11:00pm) to Varanasi.

What was also nice is that the sanctuary provide refuge from the madness that is India.  It was calm, peaceful, serene, quiet, and unpolluted....all the things India typically is not.

A parakeet peers from its nest.

One of our favorite birds in the Sanctuary was the brilliant White Breasted Kingfisher.  With a white breast, long orange beak, bright turquoise colored back, and brown feathers elsewhere, the bird was always an amazing sight.

Egret of some sort (we're not ornithologists.)

Painted storks (so named for the splashes of colors that appear on their body as though painted on) hanging out in the tree-tops.

One of 80 species of ducks that call the sanctuary home, this was our favorite with its rich, dark green head, and white and brown body.  A mallard?

The sanctuary is also home to a number of Indian pythons.  We were lucky to be with a guide our first night, as he pointed this python out to us hidden within a tree.  Pretty cool.

At the edge of one of the many marshes.  Don't we look like birders?

Duck in flight.

Whle we could have stayed in Bharatpur for days, we had things to do and places to see.  

Continue with us as we travel to the sacred city of Varanasi, India on the Ganges River.

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