One of the finest bird parks in the world, Keoladeo Ghana National Park is a reserve that offers protection to faunal species as well, though there is no doubt that this is primarily a bird sanctuary. Once a shooting preserve of the royal family of Bharatpur, the marshy swamplands were created by a maharaja who diverted water from irrigation canals to flood the low depression, creating a permanent home for waterfowl.

Today, 120 species of birds nest at Keoladeo, and the heronry is believed to be the best in the world. Several more species are migratory visitors, journeying to the park in the winters from distances as far as Siberia.

The most famous of these winter migrants is the greatly endangered Siberian crane though its numbers have reduced drastically from a few hundreds a few decades ago to barely a few birds now.

Motorised vehicles are not encouraged within the park. and visitors navigate the narrow paths in between the artificially created lakes on bicycles, cycle rickshaws or on foot. They can observe birdlife from closer quarters in boats. Early mornings, there isn't jus' birdsong in the air, but a virtual orchestra of sounds.

Painted storks, easily identifiable by their long, pink legs, can be seen nesting on tree-tops. The entire park is a medley of sounds, fluttering hunting for fish, aquatic roots and other insects as spoonbills and ibises, geese and ducks, cranes, herons and egrets, storks, pelicans and flamingos, cormorants and darters, kingfishers, blue jays, shrikes, orioles, paradise flycatchers, parakeets, eagles and harriers take wing, settle down, or simply watch the rest of the winged denizens of the park go about their way.

In years in between, because of water shortage, or poaching, the park has been effected, but the eco-system and the variety of bird life is amazing in its ability to sustain itself even against occasional odds. But it isn't just birds that the park is noted for, though its species expectedly get short shrift.

These include wild boar and deer (chital. black-buck, nilgai), mongoose, otters, jack-als, fox, hyena, hare, porcupine, the rock python, and three feline species - leopard, jungle cat, and fishing cat.

Base - Bharatpur :
Though one of the country's most well- managed, and well-represented parks as far as the variety of wildlife and birdlife is concerned, it is astonishingly easily accessible, located close to the township of Bharatpur, and barely an hour's drive from Agra. and only a little more from Jaipur. Delhi too is reasonably close.