  Over the last couple of years, Keoladeo Ghana National Park – better known as Bharatpur was in danger. Water levels in the bunds of the Bird Sanctuary were so low that the park’s health was termed as disastrous and most serious bird watchers were discouraged to make a trip to this place which was once arguably India’s premier bird sanctuary. Bird watchers who frequented Bharatpur recall the golden years of the wetland where they could sight thousands of Greylag Goose and ducks amongst other winter visitors to the park. The precious Siberian Crane visited Bharatpur in winter which was probably found nowhere else in India then and now surely found nowhere in India including Bharatpur. Demands for water by the farmers and scarcity of water in the area had put Bharatpur in a sorrow state of affairs until recently.
  The influx of water was somehow managed this year by the government authorities and the park seems to have regained its lost glory just in time. This winter, the avian guests were not disappointed like the last few years it is believed. Adequate water in the wetlands and bunds of Bharatpur this winter has made sure hundreds of Goose, ducks, storks, pelicans and the likes has settled down in the national park.
  Situated on the Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh border, Bharatpur is spread over 29sq kms which is home to over 230 species of birds. Bharatpur was created at least 250 years ago by Maharaja Suraj Mal, the ruler of Bharatpur in the 1700s. The place was used by British Viceroys as a hunting ground and even today the inscriptions of the hunting statistics are seen in the park. In one shoot alone in 1938, over 4,273 birds such as mallards and teals were killed by Lord Linlithgow, the then Governor-General of India. After India's independence, the rulers of the princely states were allowed shooting rights until 1972. In 1982 the bird sanctuary attained the status of a National park and hunting and grazing of cattle was banned inside the park.
  During the winter, I was supposed to go to the Greater Rann of Kutch after which I was scheduled to arrive at Bharatpur. But an unexpected cloud cover over Rann and downpour forced me to take a detour towards central India. I decided to spend a few days in Pench National park and Bandhavgarh National Park where I had some decent Tiger and leopard sightings. I tried hard to convince myself that I should not write a trip report of experiences here for various reasons. After my stint in the Central Indian jungles, I arrived at the Agra railway station and took a road transport to Bharatpur. Torn lips, skin peeling off from the cheeks and nose, tremendous cold in Bandhavgarh only scared me of the situation in Bharatpur which is known to be exceptionally cold as well.
 Visibility on day one was quite low and I was truly disappointed to realize that I couldn't even unpack my camera as it was completely foggy even at 4 in the evening since dawn. However, it seemed quite a boon as I got an opportunity to roam around the huge bird sanctuary and understand different locations and what kinds of species hung around what kind of terrain and what part of the park. I spent most of my time near the Sarus point and closer to the python point of the park observing the guests from abroad – Greylag goose. The day ended without much camera activity but was a great bird watching day. I could hear the huge flutter of the Northern Pintail in the middle of the wetland which would take off and land occasionally. But I could seldom see the aerial stampede due to fog.
  I caught up with some Bangalore folks who were at the park a couple of days before and heard stories of various species that were photographed and sighted by them. It was handy information that Sriharsha Ganjam and Santosh Saligram shared with me which helped reduce the struggle of finding species as I had first hand information of where to find what birds. The next morning was equally as bad as the previous day and the bird watching continued. At one point all of us started chatting about our experiences that we didn’t realize the proximity to a pair of Sarus Cranes that was sighted by our respective rickshaw drivers. Sarus cranes in fog were a nice to watch scene but not necessarily the best of opportunities for the camera. It was lunch time and my Bangalore friends had to get back. Post lunch I caught up with Mr. N.C Dhingra and Jagdeep Rajput, one of India’s better known wildlife photographers from Delhi.
 We exchanged notes while gradually the sun started making inroads through the fog and touched the ground. The sky started getting clear and i was assured of an action packed evening as the Greylag and Bar-headed Goose were at a very close distance. It was interesting to observe the Greylag split in to two gangs, a few hundred yards from each other. Every few minutes members inter-changed their team and while doing so amazing flight and landing photographic opportunities were presented. I installed myself in a nice place and decided not to move for the rest of the day. Not far away from the cacophony of the goose and the pintails, a pair of Sarus stood tall observing every direction, checking for threat and kept on feeding nearer to the bund area. After capturing some decent pictures of the tallest bird in India, I got back to my open-air bunker back to the usual business of clicking Greylag taking off and landing.
 Bharatpur demanded a great amount of effort as we most of the times are on foot or travelling by a cycle rickshaw. Harish, my rickshaw driver was good enough for me to refrain from hiring a “guide” in the park. Harish was a rickshaw driver-cum guide with tremendous knowledge about the birds over here and most importantly knowledge about their whereabouts. Being fluent in hindi, it took me very less time to be-friend other rickshaw drivers and quite a few sardar’s in the park. The friendly rickshaw drivers would always give me a tip or two about the birds I wanted to see and on one particular day, I could spend an hour with a Black-necked Stork only because of the information I got from one such rickshaw driver who informed me of a sighting. Since it is not possible to be present everywhere at the same time, this networking helped me a great deal.
  Apart from the Ducks and Goose, the Black-necked Stork and the Sarus cranes were my prime targets in Bharatpur. Keeping that in mind, I decided to work on one species at a time and on one morning, I didn’t enter the park. Harish borrowed his friend’s motorbike and we took off towards a village near the Ajan Bund – outside the park in search of the Sarus Cranes. Going by my experience, these cranes are quite friendly when they are in the fields as they are used to people. But inside the park, they seemed quite shy and reluctant to human presence. Like a fairy tale setup, I reached a spot where a pair of cranes was busy feeding on the shallow water hole next to the fields. I spent nearly two hours with the gorgeous birds and at one point almost got as close as 25 feet which helped me photograph just the face of the bird which was incredible to look through the lens. After posing for the camera for nearly two hours, the cranes took off making loud calls. I was quite happy with a flight shot of the Sarus – especially at eye level and also seen making a call. I believe the frequency of photographing them in flight is less and especially rarely with a background that is not the sky.
 While entering the park on a particular day, a cycle rickshaw driver started chatting with me telling stories about his favourite photographer (whose name he didn’t know) who would pay 100/- as a token of appreciation to anyone who showed him a woolly-necked stork. Having experienced Wooly-necked Storks so often around Kabini, Ranganathittu and around, I was not excited by the stork and I offered to do the same kind of appreciation if anyone showed me Black-necked Storks.
 I was sure that Bharatpur was one of the few places where this particular stork can be appreciated for a long time from quite a short distance. The cycle rickshaw sardar assured me that he will earn a few hundred bucks from me. Though I was actually kidding when I said that, I told myself that I should maintain what I have said and I would surely reward anyone who showed me that bird. I moved on towards my favourite spot in the park where I was 25 feet away from frequently visiting Comb Ducks and Lesser-whistling ducks. Whenever I didn’t know where to go and what to do, the Lesser-whistling ducks were the obvious choice for a couple of reasons.
 One they were usually active and would land and take off very frequently, they were quite close to the camera enabling great DOF photographs at eye level. Secondly they are one of my favourite birds and I am a great fan of their body’s color combination. I must have spent at least 16 hours near them in the whole trip. On quite a few occasions, I was rewarded with very interesting perspectives of them and one photo that I was very impressed with. I was observing the ducks while two of them started lifting their head from the flock and started abusing each other. I peeped through the view finder, framed the couple and changed the AF point to the bird on the right. I focused them and kept viewing the couple through the view finder for nearly two minutes. Out of the blue the argument heated up and one of the birds jumped up from the surface of the water and screamed at the other bird which was haplessly taking all the abuses from the vocal bird. The finger was on the trigger and a couple of instinctive shots were recorded in the camera. I immediately reviewed the photos and I was thrilled to see a photo which was unique. By the way – this photo won an Honourable Mention in the recently concluded Wildlife Contest of Better Photography Magazine’s Photographer of the Year series.
  While I was at my favourite spot near the teals, a rickshaw driver demanded 100/- as he was about to tell me where I could spot the Black-necked Stork. I was thrilled to know that a bold male had ventured very close to the path and was harldy 40 feet away when he had seen it. I wasted no time in reaching the spot near Sapan Mori and was fortunate enough to have got an opportunity to shoot the bird at a very close distance. I sat below the foliage and spend nearly fifteen minutes photographing one of the most beautiful storks on planet earth. How ever, it seems to be a perfect example of a Misnomer as there is nothing Black about its colorful neck.
 Bharatpur played a perfect host for non-stop action photography and my dream of seeing the place was fulfilled nearly after three years. I was so inspired by the place that I am conducting yet another photo-tour starting the 4th of February and I am leaving tomorrow. The team this time is small as we have quite a few weekdays that we have chosen for this trip but some of the participants are coming again to Bharatpur II. I hope to make an audio visual of Bharatpur soon after I come back merging the pictures of both expeditions. I don’t think I would have much to report on the second expedition as I don’t expect any new species that I haven’t seen last time, but I hope to better some shots as the advantage of knowing the place, people and the subjects can play an important role. One good thing about the first expedition is the amount of Action Photographs that I could capture, the amount of learning we have had.
By the way, some of you have asked me how did the learning/participants experience go. Here is a testimonial I'd like to share with you people.
| Prakash Subanna wrote: | It would be rather understated if I say, I got to experience more than what I expected...
Being with Jayanth is a Golden opportunity to learn the A,B,C, OF PHOTOGRAPHY.... He makes you feel one among the fraternity and let you know the Do's and Dont's of it.
His forethought & Anticipation of things to happen next in the field is unprecedented....and on target most of the time....The Entire tour is well planned with good comfort levels...and backed with up to date knowledge of wildlife, weather and other aspects..& You just have to concentrate on PHOTOGRAPHY.
I have no doubts of hopping on other Photo Tours .. organized by WLT....henceforth....In fact I am on their next Bharathpur trip in February...
prakash.subanna@gmail.com
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Cheers,
Jayanth Sharma
jay@wildlifetimes.com |
