DAY THREE… 14.29 miles (23.0 km)
We are sitting in the Bharatpur bird sanctuary watching what Tim and I call the ‘jolly birds’ mainly because they are so fat and bouncy. There is also a very over assertive deer, with horns which we are steering clear of.
Unlike other parks we have been to, this one is very quiet once you get off the main trail which is plied by electric rickshaws containing Indian families. Really many Indians don’t seem to have come across the concept of exercise at all, and prefer, every time to get a lift.
Off the main trail we met almost no one. Just some women park workers, one of whom, very assiduously removed a cowpat from the path with her bare hands, hoping, I think for some renumeration. Interestingly there were many cowpats that had been completely untouched as we headed on along the path.
There really are an amazing number of birds here, and they seem to love crowding together on trees to roost. Roosting is from midday onwards. We saw many painted storks with their chicks, cormorants, with their chicks, kingfisher, cranes of all sorts, ‘snake bird’, herons, tiny owlet, and of course, many, many egrets. We even spotted a monitor lizard sneaking away into undergrowth.
8.30pm…. Hoping for a quieter evening, free from firework bangs, but unfortunately, not so, instead, the cacophony is increased by the sounds of loud music and general merriment in our homestay. It is Diwali, after all, but I fear it may last for over a week!
We have noticed that health and safety is not an issue. Fireworks are picked up and carried around, when alight, or thrown haphazardly on people standing below. The concept of awe is lost here, it is just shock. A bigger bang is always better.
