We covered several reserves across India which contained varying wildlife and habitat so I`ve decided to break it down into 3 parts.
After arriving in New Delhi following a long days travelling it was an early night for an early start the following morning with us being driven down to view the stunning Taj Mahal before heading to our lodgings for the next couple of nights
at the Chambal Safari Lodge.
First stop though was the Taj Mahal,and despite the crowds it really is a sight to behold and a must visit if you are in India.
1/The Great Gate which is your entrance to the Taj Mahal
2/The "Classic" Taj Mahal view looking along the line of fountains to the Taj
3/Alternative view point
4/Walkways through the outbuildings around the forecourt area
After spending a few hours at the Taj Mahal it was time to head down to the Chambal Safari Lodge,the grounds in themselves had an abundance of wildlife to lookout for none more so than the Indian Flying Fox colony which roosted in the trees above my chalet,quite eery at dusk when they are all coming
to life for an evenings foraging!
5/Fruit Bay/Flying Fox
The next 2 mornings were spent on boat Safaris on the Chambal River which is regarded as the last unpolluted river in India! The variety of wildlife in the images gives you an idea of how much fun these boat trips were even if we didn`t have any joy with the Ganges River Dolphins which can usually be seen here.
6/Indian Skimmer
7/2 backlit Skimmers
8/Gharial Crocodile
9/Lesser Pied Kingfishers
10/Indian Thick Knee
11/Indian Tent Shelled Turtle
12/3 Egyptian Vultures
13/Egret chasing small fish in the shallows
14/Marsh/Mugger Crocodile
15/Black Winged Stilt
16/White Throated Kingfisher
17/Soft Shell Turtle
18/Unfortunately the Gharials weren`t to keen on hanging around for us
19/And the Muggers weren`t much better!
20/Small Lizard
On our visits to the river we had to walk through a small village the last 100 yards or so,this gave some opportunity for some people photography,it also became apparent that we were visiting at the beginning of the Holi Festival with everybody wanting to cover us in their coloured powders,all good fun until you remember
you have your camera hanging around your neck!
21/Village woman
22/Some kids still moan when they have everything,this young girl had the biggest smile and all she had was her goat and a giant comb!
23/Tuk Tuk overloaded with kids heading to the river
24/Young girl looking after her younger sibling
25/Already looking like hes had enough
26/Young lads covered in colour
I`ll post up images in Part 2 from my time spent visiting the Little Rann of Kutch and the Blackbuck National Park at Velavadar in the Gujarit district before we finally moved onto Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve to try and photograph the target species of the trip!
Cheers
Ross
