India - An impressively beautiful, so different world

[Botswanadreams]

Hi Safaritalkers

 

We would like to invite you to come with us to an impressive journey to India. After a lot of safris to the African Continent we traveled the first time out of our beloved destination. What can you expect from India and our art of discovering a new country? Of course it'll be a mix of culture and nature. We were looking for the big6 of India and we found much more. We were looking for historical and cultural highlights and we found a lot.

 

A short list about the Destinations we covered between mid January and mid March 2018 will give you an overview what you can expect over the next weeks or better month: Delhi, Jaipur, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Rohet, Siana, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Velavadar, Gir, Rajkot and Little Rann of Kutch, Guwahati, Kaziranga, Gibbon Sanctuary, Pench, Satpura, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Khajuraho, Orchha, Agra, Chambal, Bharatpur, Ranthambore and Corbett.

 

It is a long list I know and a lot of pics I have to look through.

After a long struggle to plan this trip we ended up to book with "Wild World India" the whole trip. Now we can say it was a perfect decision for us. More than half of the time we had CB Singh as our Guide with us - a piece of luck for us. He is not only a great birder we met him as strangers and left him as friends. 

 

I hope next week we can start with part one.

 

  

 

   

[janzin]

I am really looking forward to your report! It will be awhile until I get to mine. We were following in some of your footsteps, and heard quite a bit about your trip from CB

[Chakra]

Wow !! That's a marathon trip.  Glad that you visited the Gibbon sanctuary. The more foreigners visit the place the better it is.  Chambal  : I'd be really interested in that part. When I was young Chambal was synonymous with lawless Badlands where bullets had the last say. Hope you did not meet the Bandit Queen. 

[Treepol]

@Botswanadreams I'm really looking forward to your TR!

[Botswanadreams]

Thanks very much for all your interest to follow us through India. 

 

@janzin I hope we can see your best pics from your trip soon. It is always interesting to see the differend what nature offered on the same place.

@Chakra Yes it was like a marathon but only a small piece of India. Chambal was one of the peacefullest places throughout our whole journey and a very interesting too with the Gharials, Mugger Crocodiles, South Asian river dolphin and a lot of birds.

@Treepol As first I have to say thank you very much for your help in the beginning of our planing. Your planned trip two years ago but unfortunately unfilled was my starting point to get an idea what India had on offer. I hope one day you can do it by your own.     

[Chakra]

Of course, that's just scratching the surface of the vast landscape. Hope you are now afflicted with the India bug and will return to visit the off the beaten path places in India. And looks like your stomach enjoyed the entire journey without any upset ! That's an achievement to be proud of. Cheers. 

[Caracal]

I'm on board and looking forward to another @Botswanadreams report.

 

I've had thoughts of a trip to India floating around for a while now so I know there will be much of interest.

[Zubbie15]

I'm looking forward to this as well @Botswanadreams, I just emailed WWI last week to inquire about a much shorter trip for next year so this should be very interesting.

[Botswanadreams]

@Chakra An India bug I'm not sure in the moment. OK, off the beaten path places in India sounds good. I'm coming back to you when I really think about it. Our stomach enjoyed the entire journey without any upset except one day. But to be honest after this long time we were very happy to get our usual meals again at home. 

 

Welcome on board @Caracal and @Zubbie15. It tooks me a long time to take the decision not to go to Africa but ones in my live I wanted to see the amazing Indian wildlife and the beautiful culture sites too. The old BBC Documentary "Land of the Tiger" presented by Valmik Thapar gave me so much ideas that I had to visit a lot of the places by myself.    

 

 

What will be in part 1 of our trip report. 

 

 

City sightseeing in Delhi

 

Humayuns Tomb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaipur and its historical heritage

 

Hawa Mahal or "Palace of Winds"

 

 

Nagaur Cattle Fair

 

A beautiful decorated camel

 

 

 

I'm still busy to get it done. Thanks for your patient.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Botswanadreams]

Welcome to India, welcome to Delhi

 

We started our trip in Delhi. So we got one and a half day time to get a bit used to the big amount of people, the chaotic traffic and all the noises. Ok, Delhi also has a few historical places and World Heritage Sites we wanted to visit.

 

Part 1 is ready and online.

 

It'll be like usual on our homepage. Sorry for the struggle with Google English again but this time it's more a journey with pics than longer writings. For all parts I'm posting here a few pics to wake up appetite.

 

 

The new Government District from 1931

 

 

 

The Red Fort built from 1639 to 1648

 

 

Ready to discover in an easy way Chandni Chowk one of the oldest, largest and busiest markets in India

 

 

Jama Masjid Mosque

 

 

Raj Ghat is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

Qutb Minar and its monuments

 

 

 

Lotus Temple is the second youngest of the world's eight continental Bahai Temple

 

 

Humayun's Tomb built in 1564-1572

 

 

 

It'll be continued ...   

 

  

Edited April 3, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Botswanadreams]

Jaipur - The capital of Rajasthan

 

 

The "Pink City" - the old town of Jaipur - founded 1727

 

 

Hawa Mahal or "Palace of Winds" a bit closer

 

 

Amber Fort outside of Jaipur

 

 

 

 

The public courtyard with the audience hall (Diwan-i-Aam)

 

 

Sheesh Mahal, the palace of mirrors, in the private palace area 

 

 

 

Jantar Mantar is the largest historic observatory built 1727-1737

 

 

City Palace with different museums

Edited April 3, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Botswanadreams]

Nagaur Cattle Fair

 

The headline says it. The Nagaur Cattle Fair, Rajasthan's second largest animal fair after Pushkar was the reason to include Nagaur in our trip. It was a big job for WWI because after bocking our trip including our flights the date of the fair was brought forward from February to January. That means our whole trip had to be reorganised. They did it very well.  

 

 

Ahhichatragarh Fort

 

 

Our Cottage Tents inside the fort - a wonderful place

 

 

Impressions from the Cattle Fair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faces of Rajasthanies

 

 

 

 

Beard competition

 

 

Camel competision

 

 

 

This all with much more pics you can find the first part on our homepage. 

 

Have fun.

Cheers Christa

Edited April 3, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Chakra]

Enjoyed your pics of the Nagaur Cattle market very much. Never been to any of those. Google translate worked fine in your site.  I love travelling to Rajasthan just to photograph those amazing people with colourful dresses, weather beaten wrinkled faces, huge turbans and the most impressive moustaches.  Did you know world's longest moustache measuring 18.5 feet belongs to Shri Ram Sing Chauhan from Jaipur, Rajasthan ? 

[janzin]

wow the camel fair looks fantastic...and your photos on your home page are wonderful. Might have to plan around that next time we visit Rajasthan!

[michael-ibk]

Really enjoyed this opening chapter - visited most of these places in 2012, and this brought back lovely memories. I´m glad you were happy with Wild World India services, and I am looking forward to explore the many lesser-known places you have visited.

[Botswanadreams]

Oh, many thanks for the flowers. 

 

I heard about this imens long moustaches @Chakra. It's unbelievable how long this guys have to wait to win a competition. We were told that this year it was all a bit less than usual because of the changing dates. Our nice camp was also not good booked because of this. Other years you struggle to get a single tent during the fair because of a lot of bigger groups.

 

@janzin For us it was absolut worth to go to Nagaur and as an addition this camp in the fort with an excellent service - perfect. 

 

@michael-ibk You have the big plus without struggling with the language like many others. I can say the whole trip works perfect except Kanha was a bit disappointing with the guiding and the service in the lodge. But for such a long trip it's forgotten. Please don't push me. It'll be a long way to arrive in Corbett.  

 

A big thanks for the "likes" too. 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Let's continue with a bit more Rajasthan.

 

Part II of our journey is online. 

 

 

Khichan and it's Demoiselle Cranes

 

We stopped in Khichan, a small village in the northern part of the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, to see this amazing place with a big friendship between people and birds.   

We missed the feeding in the morning. It would be necessary to stay nearby but we only planned it as a stop on the way to Jaisalmer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert National Park in search of the Great Indian Bustard 

 

 

The typical habitat for this critical endangered National Bird of Radjasthan

 

Great Indian Bustard - a beautiful but very shy bird

 

Black-crowned Sparrow Lark

 

 

It'll be continued ...

[Botswanadreams]

Jaisalmer

 

 

Sonar Kila, the living Fort in Jaisalmer from the 12. Century

 

 

 

In the old town Jaisalmer

 

Patwon ki Haveli in the old town

 

 

Lake Gadisar in Jaisalmer

 

 

 

 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Jodhpur

 

 

Ghanta Ghar, the Clock Tower

 

Sandar Market in the walled old town of Jodhpur

 

 

View of the Mehrangarh Fort from Jaswant Thada

 

Jaswant Thada, the white marble mausoleum was built in 1899 in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II

 

View of Jodhpur "The blue city"

 

Impressions from Mehrangarh Fort

 

Elephant howdah - one part of an incredible museum in the fort

 

 

Phul Mahal - the Palace of the flowers from the mid-18th century

 

 

Beautiful sandstone carvings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Rohet

 

 

The Rohet Garh, a beautiful heritage hotel on the shore of a small lake, is set in a rural area 40 kilometers south of Jodhpur.

 

The Bishnoi, a religious community, which was founded in 1485, living a remarkable life in harmony with nature for over 500 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

This all you can find in part II with much more pics.

 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Part III is online

 

Siana

Siana is a village in the more tourist untouched Rajasthan.

 

 

Birders Paradise - bushland with Aisrana Range in the background

 

Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) 

 

Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) in Siana Garden

 

Red-necked Falcon (Falco chicquera)

 

Sunrise over the Aisrana Valley

 

Wilderness Camp Aisrana

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Botswanadreams]

Udaipur

 

View to the City Palace from Lake Pichola

 

 

Lake Pichola

 

Manaek Chowk - one of the courtyards in the City Palase 

 

Badi Mahal, known as the Garden Palace

 

View over Udaipur

 

Mor Chowk or Peacock Courtyard

 

Horse-drawn carriage from the Silver Gallery

 

Jagdish Temple with fine stone carvings close to the City Palace

 

 

Sahelion Ki Bari - the garden of the royal ladies

 

 

Sas Bahu Temple from the early 11th century in Nagda, 22 kilometers from Udaipur

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Ahmedabad

 

Of course we visited Gandhi Ashram. It was from 1917 to 1930 Mahatma Gandhi's home and served as one of the main centers of the Indian freedom struggle. We didn't take pictures on this place.

 

 

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque famous for its two beautiful Jali windows

 

 

Bhadra Citadel - Western Bastion

 

View from the bastion over the market with Teen Darwaza, the entrance gate from the east side

 

The Friday Mosque of Ahmedabad - Jama Masjid

 

 

 

 

That's all from part III.

Next time we move on to a bit more Indian wildlife mit Blackbuck and Sasan Gir NP.   

[Botswanadreams]

Now we have a bit wildlife from Gujarad

 

 

Blackbuck National Park 

 

 

Restaurant Blackbuck Lodge, a nice place to stay where you can have a beer in dry Gujarat Country  

 

Big herds of Blackbuck

 

 

A lot of birds

 

Black Drongo

 

Grey Francolin

 

Siberian or Stejneger's Stonechat

 

Jungle Cat

 

It'll be continued ...

Edited May 1, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[Botswanadreams]

Sasan Gir National Park 

 

 

The Gir Forest as the last place in the world to see Asiatic Lions in the wild was our first big highlight in search of Indians big6. With six safaris we hoped to get the chance to see Lions here. In the beginning we struggled a bit with the safari system in India especially when you are used to the freedom in African NP. Two times we were successful with this beautiful lions but of course Gir has much more on offer.   

 

 

Typical view through the forest

 

Indian Wild Pig

 

Tickell's Blue-Flycatcher

 

A Kulu Tree (Sterculia urens), known as "Ghost Tree"

 

Nilgai or Blue Bull

 

Kamleshwar dam

 

Sambar Deer

 

Flame of the Forest (Butea frondosa)

 

Spotted Deer

 

Shikra

 

The highlight: two beautiful lionesses with a perfect sightseeing

  

 

 

 

 

This all with much more pics you can find in part 4 on our homepage.

 

You are invited to follow us in the jungle.