Chambal - From different angles

After looking for a change in Ranthambore, the hotel owner had suggested a trip down to Chambal river for a boat ride. This would be at the banks of a village - Palighat which was about 40 km which would take about an hour. The ride took us through the town of Savoi Madhopur and then along the gates for zone 6 and through a number of smaller towns along the road.

The boat ride was a short one in the evening but we were fortunate to spot gharials and crocodiles basking on the shores, a few ruddy shelducks, other ducks and waders. Pied kingfishers and great thick-knees were also present along the shore. The area had a few tents for the overnight tourists, but most of the area seemed largely undisturbed except the occasional farmer. We were hoping for skimmers however they had not come that far downstream yet. A lone osprey flew by as we watched the sunset.

The next trip to Chambal was from Bharatpur to Dholpur with a much longer drive of over 120 kms taking almost three hours. On reaching there, we learned that due to disturbances, skimmers had gone further upstream, requiring us to take a boat ride which took about an hour and a half just to get to the area. Despite a lot of farming and mining on the banks, this area was much richer in bird-life. On the way to the skimmers, we saw quite a few bar-headed geese, gharials, crocs, spot billed ducks, ruddy shelducks, thick-knees and other waders. On reaching the skimmers, we spent some time watching them and also trying to photograph the flying fish. This proved a lot harder than expected even though we knew the area they would leap out as the boat got close. Just before we started back, hyena disturbed the nearby shelducks but got away just as quickly and quietly as it had come.

Agra and Dholpur

While staying in Bharatpur, on the second day morning Sandeep and I went down to Agra early in the morning. After an unexpected stop by the cops and a little bribe, we got to Agra. Going around the Yamuna on to the opposite side of the Taj Mahal. There is a park there but a fence is in place to make sure we don't get too close to the river. It is a lot less crowded than the main entrance in the early morning but being a park, the boards suggested it was very popular with the locals couples.

Later we spent some more time getting photos of the Taj. Despite the security and the distance from the parking lot and the pesky guides and rickshaws, we managed to get out of there in pretty good time. We did come back to the spot across Yamuna later for night shots but during the day we decided to go further south to Dholpur on the banks of river Chambal. A special mention for google maps without which we would probably still be looking for directions in Agra. The city is a maze made worse by the fact that there were protests going on in there that day.

The banks of river Chambal are great for birdwatching. We came there looking for Indian skimmers and gharials. Since there were a few higher officials visiting the area, the boats were not being given out to visitors. Fortunately when we had arrived, they had gone for lunch and a few requests later we were down at the river. Without tourists the fauna was also very visible. We found 31 skimmers, few gharials, crocs, tortoises, loads of Ruddy shelducks, comb ducks, whistling teals, lapwings, herons and bar headed gueese. Also glimpsed some ganges dolphins. Further on we were also shown a gharial breeding centre which also had crocs and turtles. Bringing gharials back from near extinction was a tough job and they had been doing pretty well as now their number had gone to a couple of thousands.