Keoladeo National Park one day trip advice needed

Savage Garden

We will reach Bharatpur at 9 AM by Train and depart to fatehpursikri next day in Dec lastweek.From the information available on IndiaMike and net I choose Hotel Sunbird.I am travelling with my wife and 3year old Son.
Tips needed from the members earlier went there to spent the day there and what to do in the evening.A single visit to park is suffient or we plan for a early morning trip next day?
Thanks in advance,

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Savage garden

Brijwasi

Yes One visit is enough ( until , you not doing research and extensive photography of birds :-) ), Also these months of year there will less birds, so i think one visit is enough.

delhiwala

Nice leisurely trip by rickshaws....

If you are lucky to get a good rickshaw man, you'll be amazed to see his knowledge about birds' species...

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Savage Garden

Thankyou Delhiwala & Brijwasi for the Advice.

OceanTragic

Yes, that one day should be fine.
There's not much to do in the evenings.

I really liked Hotel Sunbird, our room was large, food was good and staff friendly. It's a short walk to the entrance of the park which is handy too. I've posted a review on IndiaMike of the hotel.

At the entrance to the park we hired a guide (I've got his details somewhere if you're interested) and a Tonga. There were four of us and my girls really wanted the Tonga rather than rickshaws. Charges are Rs100/hour for the guide and the same again for the Tonga; as we stayed in the park for 8 hours this cost quite a bit but we felt it was well worth it.
We didn't leave the hotel until just before 10am and didn't arrive back until 6:15pm. If you listen to many others you'd think that we'd never get to see anything, but we did. I'm not a twitcher but I loved it, never got bored once.
We took three packed lunches for the four of us from the Hotel and it was ample. The only thing I'd do differently is that I wouldn't eat my lunch in the hotel in the park - we did this so we could cool off in the April heat - as this wasted an hour and Rs200.

Here's an article about Keoladeo from my blog if you're interested

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Savage Garden

Thank you very much OceanTragic for your very useful advice.I am thinking of Hiring a Cycle riksha as we are only two adluts and I think riksha wallas there are also wonderful guides too.
Is there any activity in bharatpur town I read some where that there is a fort.

OceanTragic

No problem there as there'll be one hanging around outside the hotel. I believe some, if not all, of them are guides. I guess it won't be a problem having two adults and your child in one rickshaw but I've never done that so I don't know.

We only had two nights there and spent both having a nice leisurely meal. The first night was after doing the Taj/Sikandra/FatehpurSikri so we were tired, the second night was after the 8 hours in Keoladeo so we were nice and relaxed and couldn't be bothered to do anything else. I did visit an internet cafe a short walk away but I wouldn't recommended it unless you like mossies or trojans.

When in Keoladeo do get your guide to take you to the temple that's nearish the entrance. There you can feed the turtles and the macaques. My kids also got to feed an orphaned deer/chittal which they enjoyed.

Savage Garden

Thankyou OceanTragic for nice advice.

smakkar

Oh, missed the Turtles when we went there... May be next time

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dalliance

Hi, is there a cheap internet cafe in Bharatpur? Would really like to use the net when I get there.

Also does anyone know if there are many birds this year? Will be going on Thursday

Cheers!

OceanTragic

The one I used is located about here.

But be careful beacause I used a camera memory card there to upload some photos and it ended up getting loads on viruses on it.

Savage Garden

dalliance, Kindly tell us whats your experience there on thrusday since I too planning to go there in Dec Last week.
thanks in advance.

Indreams

Does anybody know if there is water in Keoladeo again. My husband and I were there 2 years ago and almost no waterbirds left because of the lack of water.

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wonderwomanusa

Evenings in Bharatpur are best spent at your hotel, waiting for dinner to be cooked and then eating it ... while getting to know the other guests and the people who run the hotel!

I stayed at the Park View Hotel there; meals were served in a sort of "tent" out on the lawn; it had an electric bug zapper, which was needed in early November.

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delhiwala

I have asked one of my friends at Agra, he says that it's not upto it's ful glory but there is water and birds at the Bharatpur Park...