Rajaji and Rishikesh

It was a bit too cold for Rajaji in December but we still decided to go ahead and explore. The park has one route running through it which takes a minimum of 2 to 3 hours to cover. Our 2 safaris took over 3 hours each time. After the crowds of Ranthambore, the peace of Rajaji felt very welcome. In all we did not see more than 2 jeeps in either of the safaris. The cost too was much lower with a 3 hour safari costing just about Rs. 2400 for four of us. The place itself has not changed much although the government guest house now has lavish log houses to stay as well.

The safaris were mostly lazy with sightings extremely spread out. There were lots of black shouldered kites, changeable hawk eagles, a lone jungle owlet, crested serpent eagles, cinerous, red necked and griffon vultures, pin tailed green pigeons and possibly a juvenile rufous bellied eagle. Mammals though were far fewer. Lack of more pathways meant we could only hope for a something to cross but despite multiple calls that we heard, the tiger kept to its kill hidden away at a distance with vultures marking the spot. A lone elephant crossed our path late in the evening while even deer were hard to spot in the landscape.

Another trip was made to a nearby temple nestled away in the forest hills in a place called Binduvasini. With the hills on either side, we had to cross a few stream to reach there. Plumbous water redstarts and white capped redstarts were plentiful in the region but the real deal was the great crested kingfisher which kept moving around. The wooded areas contained some warblers and minivets with an occasional shrike making an appearance.

We decided to head out to more populated areas for other sights as we found Chaurasi kutia where Beatles had spent some time. The unique architecture and graffiti attracts more of foreign crowds than Indian with quite a few of them choosing to have their earphones on for a live soundtrack while touring. We spent some Jtime in Rishikesh as well watching the Ganga aarti, walking along the shores of the Ganges and crossing Ram and Lakshman jhula to wrap up the trip. Managed to spot a few birds in the city as well - oriental pied and grey hornbills, black headed bulbuls, more redstarts and a crimson sunbird.