Chambal River Boat Safari

I had taken the overnight train from Dehradun to Bharatpur and on arrival at Bharatpur, I headed to Kiran Guesthouse which is run by Tarun Singh who is also a well experienced naturalist. After taking a short rest, we decided to head over to Chambal which was around a 2 hour drive. One needs to arrive at Dholpur to get an experience of doing the Chambal river boat safari. Safari costs are on the high side. We opted for a 4 hour boat safari. We were able to get good sightings of Gharials, Skimmers, Crocodiles and various other rare birds and amphibians. It was a bit late in season however despite that, we were able to get some really good sightings.

Indian Skimmers mating.

Great Cormorants

Egyptian vulture.

Brown Crake.

Purple heron ready to take flight.

Gharial basking in the sun. These are commonly seen.

A pair of Great Thick-Knee at the edge of the riverbank.

White-browned Wagtail.

Indian Skimmers basking on the riverbank. This is their breeding ground.

This is most likely an Asian giant softshell turtle. These have a long neck and a flattened leathery shell.

Great Thick-Knee with chicks.

This is the Red-naped Ibis which is also known as the Indian Black Ibis.