National Parks in India
Wildlife Sanctuaries in India
Indian Wildlife Tour Packages
Welcome to Wildlife India!
Experience a wildlife odyssey in India with India Wildlife Tours. India is reputed to be the home to the finest game parks and tiger reserves, which offer a stunning array of wildlife. India Wildlife Tours presents tours, which have been specially designed to take you to discover some of India's well-known national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The highlights of these wildlife tours are the exciting jeep safari and elephant rides in "Project Tiger" wildlife reserves at World famous Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks. As a result of initiatives taken in the field of conservation, these parks have seen a significant increase in the number of tigers, which were once on the verge of extinction.
Situated in eastern Rajasthan, about 176 kms away from Delhi, and 50 km west of Agra, is the Keoladeo Ghana or Bharatpur National Park, one of the most spectacular bird sanctuaries in India, nesting indigenous water- birds as well as migratory water birds and water side birds. It is also inhabited by sambar, chital, nilgai and boar. More than 300 species of birds are found in this small park of 29 sq. km. of which 11 sq. km. are marshes and the rest scrubland and grassland.
Keoladeo, the name derives from an ancient Hindu temple, devoted to Lord Shiva, which stands at the centre of the park. 'Ghana' means dense, referring to the thick forest, which used to cover the area. While many of India's parks have been developed from the hunting preserves of princely India, Keoladeo Ghana is perhaps the only case where the habitat has been created by a maharaja.
In earlier times, Bharatpur town used to be flooded regularly every monsoon. In 1760, an earthern dam (Ajan Dam) was constructed, to save the town, from this annual vagary of nature. The depression created by extraction of soil for the dam was cleared and this became the Keoladeo lake. At the beginning of this century, this lake was developed, and was divided into several portions. A system of small dams, dykes, sluice gates, etc., was created to control water level in different sections. This became the hunting preserve of the Bharatpur royalty, and one of the best duck - shooting wetlands in the world. Hunting was prohibited by mid-60s. The area was declared a national park on 10 March 1982, and accepted as a World Heritage Site in December 1985.
Siberian Crane
Over 350 species of birds find a refuge in the 29 sq km of shallow lakes and woodland, which makes up the park. A third of them are migrants, many of whom spend their winters in Bharatpur, before returning to their breeding grounds, as far away as Siberia and Central Asia. Migratory birds at Keoladeo include, as large a bird as Dalmatian pelican, which is slightly less than two meters, and as small a bird as Siberian disky leaf warbler, which is the size of a finger. Other migrants include several species of cranes, pelicans, geese, ducks, eagles, hawks, shanks, stints, wagtails, warblers, wheatears, flycatchers, buntings, larks and pipits, etc.
But of all the migrants, the most sought after is the Siberian Crane or the great white crane, which migrates to this site every year, covering a distance of more than half the globe. These birds, numbering only a few hundred, are on the verge of extinction. It is birds from the western race of the species, that visit Keoladeo, migrating from the Ob river basin region, in the Aral mountains, in Siberia via Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are only two wintering places, left for this extremely rare species.One is in Feredunkenar in Iran, and the other is Keoladeo Ghana. The journey to Bharatpur takes them 6,400 kms from their breeding grounds, in Siberia. They arrive in December and stay till early March. Unlike Indian cranes, the Siberian crane is entirely vegetarian. It feeds on underground aquatic roots and tubers in loose flocks of five or six.
Spoonbill
Seventeen species of birds, namely, grey heron, purple heron, night heron, large egret, median egret, little egret, cattle egret, large cormorant, Indian shag, little cormorant, darter, painted stork, open-billed stork, black-necked stork, white-necked stork, white ibis and spoonbill are known to breed at Keoladeo heronry and the heronry here, is said to be one of the finest in the world. Talking about the heronries of the world, Roger Tony Peterson wrote, "Perhaps the most impressive spectacle of all is the great assemblage at Bharatpur, near Agra, India, where half a dozen species of herons and egrets nest in association with painted storks, spoonbills, ibises and cormorants..."
What is peculiar to Bharatpur, is that many of the species are specialist feeders, like the Siberian crane. Each helps itself to one ingredient of the wetland soup. Flamingos sieve the water for plankton, spoonbills rake the mud with their lower mandibles for mollusks, tadpoles and weed, while egrets and herons spear their prey, and geese and brahminy ducks graze at the water's edge.
The Keoladeo heronry is full of fervent activity. Besides the avian fauna, a large variety of mammals and reptiles are also common in the park.These include the nilgai, sambar, chital, leopard and the wild boar. A bonus to reptile-lovers are the large rock pythons which can be spotted, sunning themselves, especially at Python Point, beyond the Keoladeo Temple.
The unique mix of marshes, pastures and woodland and the floral communities at Keoladeo is the key to the high density and diversity of flora and fauna.
The terrain is rugged and there are rocky ridges, hills and open valleys with lakes and pools. Ranthambhore is an oasis of dense dry deciduous forests amidst a vast tract of semi arid scrub and thorny desert vegetation surrounded by the hills of the Vindhyas and the Aravalis. Although latest reports show that the tiger population of Ranthambhore is on the decline, it’s still one of India’s best places to see the great cat in all its glory.
Keoladeo, the name derives from an ancient Hindu temple, devoted to Lord Shiva, which stands at the centre of the park. 'Ghana' means dense, referring to the thick forest, which used to cover the area. While many of India's parks have been developed from the hunting preserves of princely India, Keoladeo Ghana is perhaps the only case where the habitat has been created by a maharaja.
In earlier times, Bharatpur town used to be flooded regularly every monsoon. In 1760, an earthern dam (Ajan Dam) was constructed, to save the town, from this annual vagary of nature. The depression created by extraction of soil for the dam was cleared and this became the Keoladeo lake. At the beginning of this century, this lake was developed, and was divided into several portions. A system of small dams, dykes, sluice gates, etc., was created to control water level in different sections. This became the hunting preserve of the Bharatpur royalty, and one of the best duck - shooting wetlands in the world. Hunting was prohibited by mid-60s. The area was declared a national park on 10 March 1982, and accepted as a World Heritage Site in December 1985.
Siberian Crane
Over 350 species of birds find a refuge in the 29 sq km of shallow lakes and woodland, which makes up the park. A third of them are migrants, many of whom spend their winters in Bharatpur, before returning to their breeding grounds, as far away as Siberia and Central Asia. Migratory birds at Keoladeo include, as large a bird as Dalmatian pelican, which is slightly less than two meters, and as small a bird as Siberian disky leaf warbler, which is the size of a finger. Other migrants include several species of cranes, pelicans, geese, ducks, eagles, hawks, shanks, stints, wagtails, warblers, wheatears, flycatchers, buntings, larks and pipits, etc.
But of all the migrants, the most sought after is the Siberian Crane or the great white crane, which migrates to this site every year, covering a distance of more than half the globe. These birds, numbering only a few hundred, are on the verge of extinction. It is birds from the western race of the species, that visit Keoladeo, migrating from the Ob river basin region, in the Aral mountains, in Siberia via Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are only two wintering places, left for this extremely rare species.One is in Feredunkenar in Iran, and the other is Keoladeo Ghana. The journey to Bharatpur takes them 6,400 kms from their breeding grounds, in Siberia. They arrive in December and stay till early March. Unlike Indian cranes, the Siberian crane is entirely vegetarian. It feeds on underground aquatic roots and tubers in loose flocks of five or six.
Spoonbill
Seventeen species of birds, namely, grey heron, purple heron, night heron, large egret, median egret, little egret, cattle egret, large cormorant, Indian shag, little cormorant, darter, painted stork, open-billed stork, black-necked stork, white-necked stork, white ibis and spoonbill are known to breed at Keoladeo heronry and the heronry here, is said to be one of the finest in the world. Talking about the heronries of the world, Roger Tony Peterson wrote, "Perhaps the most impressive spectacle of all is the great assemblage at Bharatpur, near Agra, India, where half a dozen species of herons and egrets nest in association with painted storks, spoonbills, ibises and cormorants..."
What is peculiar to Bharatpur, is that many of the species are specialist feeders, like the Siberian crane. Each helps itself to one ingredient of the wetland soup. Flamingos sieve the water for plankton, spoonbills rake the mud with their lower mandibles for mollusks, tadpoles and weed, while egrets and herons spear their prey, and geese and brahminy ducks graze at the water's edge.
The Keoladeo heronry is full of fervent activity. Besides the avian fauna, a large variety of mammals and reptiles are also common in the park.These include the nilgai, sambar, chital, leopard and the wild boar. A bonus to reptile-lovers are the large rock pythons which can be spotted, sunning themselves, especially at Python Point, beyond the Keoladeo Temple.
The unique mix of marshes, pastures and woodland and the floral communities at Keoladeo is the key to the high density and diversity of flora and fauna.
The terrain is rugged and there are rocky ridges, hills and open valleys with lakes and pools. Ranthambhore is an oasis of dense dry deciduous forests amidst a vast tract of semi arid scrub and thorny desert vegetation surrounded by the hills of the Vindhyas and the Aravalis. Although latest reports show that the tiger population of Ranthambhore is on the decline, it’s still one of India’s best places to see the great cat in all its glory.
| --»- Bandhavgarh National Park | --»- Bandipur National Park |
| --»- Bharatpur National Park | --»- Corbett National Park |
| --»- Dachigam National Park | --»- Dudhwa National Park |
| --»- Sunderban National Park | --»- Kanha National Park |
| --»- Kaziranga National Park | --»- Simlipal National Park |
| --»- Sariska National Park | --»- Ranthambore National Park |