Keoladeo Ghana National Park is a maze of trails, lakes, and ponds and a guide seemed like the best way to discover its treasure of birds. All of the other guides pointed to Govind when we said we wanted a bird guide; he is undisputedly the tops. But we should have made it clear we wanted only a half day. Eight hours and ten miles later – the last hour in a downpour – found us slogging along, still two kilometers from the gate. We commandeered a bicycle rickshaw to take us all the way back to Swaraj Resorts where we tried to dry off and warm up with hot tea.
Govind and Connie before the rain
The birding was really pretty good (up until the rain started) with thousands of ducks, herons, egrets, bitterns, storks and even a couple of owls, maybe 60 species in all. Some are indigenous to Keoladeo Ghana while many more stop on their migratory routes from Northern India and the steppes to sites in Africa. We saw eight new species including our target, the beautiful and well-named painted stork. We also saw several deer and antelope and a pair of jackals. But no pithons!
