India February 2026

1 day ago
3 min read

Nearly three years on from my recent post and finally I have my diary back together again. This trip had been long in the planning. Two failed attempts but finally the bucket list trip in search of the Bengal Tiger was on. We were excited and a little aprehensive.

My memories of Indian airports from some 25 years ago were very outdated as arriving in Delhi airport I was shocked to see it was better than Heathrow, clean, efficient and no hassling. We were through in quick time and off in a taxi to our first destination, the famous bird reserve at Bharatpur - a five hour journey time. This allowed us to get used to the sights and sounds of Indian roads. Our taxi driver informed us that to successfuly drive in India you needed three things; good horn, good brakes and good luck ! The former was certainly working well.

Our itinery for this trip was failry full on, starting at Bharatpur for an afternoon and following morning, then two days at the Chambal River Lodge, a zip over to see the Taj Mahal at Agra then a flight down to Nagpur and onto Savassa Lodge near Tadoba for the final part of the trip with seven game drives booked.

After the five hour drive we arrived at Bharatpur city in Rajasthan and luckily were on our way out of this sprawling mass of chaos, pollution and noise. Not somewhere I'd recommend but a few miles out was the Sunbird Hotel which had been hosting birdwatchers for the past twenty years.

We had two electric rickshaws booked which are actually Tuk Tuks .The reserve enterance at Bharatpur was only a few hundred meters away, but an interesting ride as we headed straight into the oncoming traffic down a four lane highway.

Now known as the Keoladeo National Park it is recognised as one of the world's most important reserves. It originated as a royal hunting reserve in the 1850s and was a game reserve for Maharajas and the British. Keoladeo has also been listed as a World Heritage Site in 1985.

We were through the gates with appropriate permits, our bird guide and drivers. Sam and Tom in one rickshaw, myself plus the guide in the other.

The hazy India weather was just beginning to wear off as we started our birding.

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon were the fisrt sighting and that was rapidly added to by Babblers, Parakeets, Bulbuls, Storks, Ducks and Geese. We stopped in an area that was good for Indian Rock Python. I was amazed at how big they were and how quickly they moved when we got a bit too close.

The numbers of birds was truely impressive, this was a wetland stuffed full! While concentrating on the birds I managed to miss this Monitor Lizard which Sam and Tom found.

Keloeda is a key stronghold for the near threatened Painted Stork.

The list of birds was growing. White-breasted Kingfisher were plentiful

Tom was busy videoing the Macaques and Chittal ( Spotted Deer )

It's behind you .....

A great walk round the reserve and we left at dusk. Back to the hotel somewhat tired having left Bircham some 27 hours before. Tom was not entirely on board with the birdwatching but was busy editing his videos of Chittal and Macques, Sam was heading for a large G and T and I was busy counting up my list of birds for the day (also with a G and T ). The next day loomed and we prepared as many clothes as possible from our luggage as it was cold !

Day 2 the morning at Bharatpur - a cold and hazy start but lots of birds. A couple of Spotted Owlets posed nicely for us

We had a four hour visit this morning and a stand off with a Wild Boar

The Viceroy to India Lord Linlithgow recorded shooting 4273 birds on 12 November 1938 with 39 guns. I too was shooting birds but with my camera and here follows a few more images.......