zachindia
Well-known member
A few weeks ago (November 30th and December 1st) I spent a couple days at Kaledo National Park. If any of you get in the area, I highly recommend it! Here is a short trip report:
A friend and I arrived at Bharatpur late on Saturday night, we drove in from Delhi. We stayed at a hotel named Kiran Villa Palace. It was only about 100 yards or so from the park entrance, and there were lots of other hotels in the area. When we arrived we learned the park opened at 6:00, but that we would only get a packed lunch and breakfast at 7:30 (which we needed because there isn’t any food options in the park). We were able to convince them to pack us up a simple breakfast at 5:50.
The first day we walked down to the entrance of the park and hired a couple bicycle rickshaws to take us around the large park. They charged 100 Rs an hour. I don’t know if this is fair, but apparently it’s the standard rate. And the guys worked hard peddling us around all day, so we were happy to pay it!
We were one of the first people in the park and quickly saw some cool birds including the Indian Scops Owl, Dusky Eagle Owl, and then the Black Bittern. All ended up being highlights for the trip!
We walked into some of the hiking only area for some on foot birding and honestly didn’t see a whole lot. Most of the things we saw, we also spotted later in other areas.
Spent the rest of the day picking up new ones here and there. Towards the end of the day though we picked up a Grey-headed Lapwing, which is rather unusual for the area, and when I was telling the guides about it the next morning, they were very interested to find it.
Watching the Sarus Crane dance was a highlight as well, we got pretty good views of a pair dancing together!
The last day we picked up the Orange-headed Thrush, Tickell’s Thrush, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, and a few other at the nursery. Make sure you walk back and to the right. We missed the area when we first went into it.
Overall a fun trip, got 108 species the first day! Less on the second, but we didn’t have a full day, and were focused on picking up a few new ones.
Zach
A friend and I arrived at Bharatpur late on Saturday night, we drove in from Delhi. We stayed at a hotel named Kiran Villa Palace. It was only about 100 yards or so from the park entrance, and there were lots of other hotels in the area. When we arrived we learned the park opened at 6:00, but that we would only get a packed lunch and breakfast at 7:30 (which we needed because there isn’t any food options in the park). We were able to convince them to pack us up a simple breakfast at 5:50.
The first day we walked down to the entrance of the park and hired a couple bicycle rickshaws to take us around the large park. They charged 100 Rs an hour. I don’t know if this is fair, but apparently it’s the standard rate. And the guys worked hard peddling us around all day, so we were happy to pay it!
We were one of the first people in the park and quickly saw some cool birds including the Indian Scops Owl, Dusky Eagle Owl, and then the Black Bittern. All ended up being highlights for the trip!
We walked into some of the hiking only area for some on foot birding and honestly didn’t see a whole lot. Most of the things we saw, we also spotted later in other areas.
Spent the rest of the day picking up new ones here and there. Towards the end of the day though we picked up a Grey-headed Lapwing, which is rather unusual for the area, and when I was telling the guides about it the next morning, they were very interested to find it.
Watching the Sarus Crane dance was a highlight as well, we got pretty good views of a pair dancing together!
The last day we picked up the Orange-headed Thrush, Tickell’s Thrush, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, and a few other at the nursery. Make sure you walk back and to the right. We missed the area when we first went into it.
Overall a fun trip, got 108 species the first day! Less on the second, but we didn’t have a full day, and were focused on picking up a few new ones.
Zach
