INDIAN TRAINS ARE AN EXPERIENCE, even if you travel inside, not on the roof! After a 3:30 AM wake-up, Rob from Rockjumper and our local guide, Bablu, herded the eight of us to Delhi station in the dark and wrangled several porters to carry our bags up and over the tracks to our platform to Jaipur. Pierre and Elisabeth live in Geneva, Guy and Ricky come from the UK, Richard is a Yank and Anand is from Bangalore. We have birded with our guide Rob in Columbia and local guide Bablu is as personable as can be. Guy, it turns out, is not only a personal friend of Rob’s but was also a birding guide so we’ll be in good hands.
Bablu organized the porters to haul our luggage to the train
The train saved 300 km of traffic and bad roads but we still had another 355 km from Jaipur to Tal Chappar National Park. There is plenty of room in the thirty-person van, even if the seats aren’t overly comfy. With restroom stops, lunch and birding stops we didn’t arrive until seven. Parts of India may be semi-tropical but the desert nights in Rajasthan get colder than a whore’s heart and Laggar’s Nest doesn’t have heat—no freebie electric heaters, either. Even the spicy vegetarian dinner didn’t warm us up and we both slept in long-johns with polar-fleece tops. Thankfully there is plenty of hot water for showers.
Blackbuck pair
Nilgai from ancient stock
A seven o’clock cuppa and we were out birding this morning. Sweaters, jackets, hats and gloves fought the chill until the sun rose above the horizon. The thorn-scrub forest is home to Blackbuck antelope and aurochs-like Nilgai in addition to the birds we’ve come to see. Male Blackbucks carry long spiraling horns and have dozens of does in their harems. Nilgai or “blue cows” are the largest Asian antelope but remind me somewhat of the ancient aurochs. We recorded about 20 species before returning for breakfast and another 35 before lunch. The day’s total was 75 species but our target bird, the endemic Indian Spotted Creeper eluded us.
Sacred cows—and a camel—On to another incarnation
COWS ARE SACRED IN INDIA.They roam at will even in the largest cities, poop where they like and cause traffic jams. Even the most sacred of cows eventually die and when they expire in Tal Chappar their mortal remains are consigned to the cow graveyard, the the most macabre place we have ever birded—or visited for that matter. If you want to see vultures it is THE place to go.
Egyptian Vulture
Griffon Vulture
Steppe Eagle
Egyptian Vultures, Griffon Vultures, Indian Vultures and all manner of eagles perch on dead trees, rib cages and “fresh” carcasses along with songbirds gorging on the attendant flies and maggots.
