Why you should visit the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary even if you are not a bird-watcher

Let me get this straight - I am not a bird-watcher. I won't be able to tell one species from another even if my life depended on it. Yet I went to the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and thoroughly enjoyed it.
So the question is, should you do it if you're not a bird-watcher? Read on to know.

But first, the basics.

A bit about the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is among the top 10 birding places in India; infact some might even call it the top-most birding place in India. It is now known as Keoladeo National Park named after the ancient Keoladeo temple (a Shiv temple) situated within the sanctuary.
The priest in the temple was kind enough to give us the story behind this temple. The legend goes that there used to be a banana tree where this temple stands now. A villager once noticed that a cow came there everyday, stood under the tree and freely gave milk to anyone who wished to milk her. He noticed this for a couple of days and then reported it to the king. Intrigued, the king ordered the ground to be dug beneath the tree. Upon digging they found a Shiv Linga. They kept on digging but could not seem to find the end. The king then ordered a temple to be built around the Shiv Ling and since then it came to be known as the Keoledeo temple.

The Keoladeo temple dedicated to Lord Shiv

Can you do the trip to the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in one day?

Absolutely yes!
This place is perfect for a road trip if you live in Gurgaon. You're on the Expressway most of the time so the ride is excellent. We left at 6 in the evening by car and it took us 3.5 hours to reach the homestay that we had booked. Although it was late by the time we reached, but the ride did not feel unsafe at any point of time.
Needless to say, if you want to go and come back the same day, you will have to leave at dawn so you can reach back home by late evening.

Where can you stay?

While there is a lodge within the Bird Sanctuary, we chose a homestay which was 10 mins away from the place.
For every trip that I take, where I stay is as important to me as the trip itself. In that context, I am a fan of homestays as they provide you a window into the lives of the local people. The homestay that I booked was called the IbisHouse Farmstay. You can find them on Google or on AirBnb.
This homestay is owned by Mukesh who has aced the art of hospitality. He doesn't treat this place like a hotel. He treats it like guests are visiting his home. Chander is Mukesh's brother and is incharge of the kitchen. His cooking is exceptional!
The family is so warm and welcoming that they feel like your own. They even treated us to a surprise cake when they got to know that were there to celebrate our anniversary!
Once you stay there, you will certainly feel that you got more than what you bargained for.

Fun Fact: Mukesh's father, Ratan Singh, the top most bird guide in Bharatpur. You could watch a 10 minute documentary on him on YouTube "The Bird man of Bharatpur". It was made by one of the previous guests.

A few glimpses of the place:

The setting outside our room - it had been a while since I had seen these cots. One of these were placed at the entry and was handwoven by Mukesh's mother!

We were treated to homemade Desi Ghee at breakfast - exceptionally good!

Mukesh's mother preparing Daliya for her cattle

There were ducks at this home...

...and rabbits too!

The wonderful family - Mukesh is on the extreme right and Chander is standing next to him

Exploring the sanctuary

We reached the sanctuary at 8:00 am as we wanted an early head-start.

There are multiple options available to explore - you could take a walk, rent a bicycle, hire a rickshaw. The rickshaw pullers double up as a guide. So if you want some expert opinions on the birds that you see there, rickshaws might be your best bet. They know the spots, can identify birds for you, and are overall good company.

Aboard the rented bicycle

We, however, rented a bicycle. Like I said at the start of this post, we are not bird-watchers. Our objective to visit this place was just to enjoy nature in its untouched way - watching the birds in their natural habitat. Although, we did buy a book at the souvenir shop to help us identify birds later when we would be looking at the pictures.

Tip: I would strongly recommend having a camera at this place. Sometimes the birds are sitting so far off from you and are so tiny, that your phone camera will just not work. Binoculars are strongly recommended even if you are not clicking pictures. 

Trust me, it makes a world of difference when you are looking though the binoculars as compared to your naked eyes - you will be able to see the smallest of things - the flapping of wings, the dive in the water to grab food, the birds guarding their babies.. the entire experience is just surreal.

We rented a binocular from Mukesh at a mere INR 200.

After we came back from the trip, we matched some of the birds against the book we bought. I am sharing a few below. Please note the pictures are taken from mobile camera through a binocular, so might not be high quality. :)

The first thing we spotted was a Chital and it happily posed for us

The Great Egret

Solitary flight of the Painted Stork

The Little Black Cormorants

The Red-backed Shrike

American White Pelican

Painted Stork

Yellow-billed Stork

Indian Pond Heron

Common Coot

White-throated Kingfisher

The Lesser Whistling Duck diving for food

Last but not the least - we spotted two Pythons. The largest Python that was spotted here was 22 ft. It died a few days back. The largest now stands at 18 ft.

All in all, you must visit this place even if you are not a bird watcher. Keoladeo National Park is for everyone- bird watchers or commoners, adults, youngsters or kids; you will find everyone here. And it's okay even if you don't know the birds, not knowing is fine. You'll appreciate the natural surroundings and the birds' natural habitat.

If you have been here and are not a bird watcher, would love to hear from you about your experience in the comments section. 

See you soon at the next destination!