Taj Mahal at sun rise
Continuing on the unexpected trip – Read Bharatpur story here.
Sunday morning left early from Bharatpur, and reached The Taj Mahal at Agra in an hour. Google maps worked incredibly well to help us reach the rear end of the Taj Mahal, from the side of Yamuna river. I had checked with Peevee regarding visiting from the river side and had great expectations to shoot the reflection from the river. As Benjie says ‘Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.’
I was disappointed as we were not allowed to get closer to the river bank. Despite the news of heavy rains, the water level wasn’t high. A barricade is set up and a bunch of policemen patrolling the area do not to let anyone closer to the monument from the other side, at least not the tourists. Also, the sun rise was somewhat in front of us. A stupid mistake that I made thinking east was to Taj Mahal’s left but missed the sun’s movement in solar cycle. Anyway it was fantastic to witness the Taj again – from a slightly different perspective than I had viewed more than a decade earlier. After photographing from the rear end garden for an hour, we headed to the main entrance by 10:15am to photograph the Taj Mahal in the typical full frontal way.
As i jostled the Sunday morning crowed and stood at the entrance with full view of Taj, a foreign lady beside me cried ‘Wow!’. That sums it up. The symbol of love, Taj Mahal, is truly wow.
Symbol of love in color looks as beautiful as..
Symbol of love looks in monochrome
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National Chambal Sanctuary – Chambal river safari at Dholpur
After a late breakfast by 11:45am at a ridiculously expensive restaurant in Agra, we left to Dholpur. The road from Agra to Dholpur is in excellent shape and doesn’t take more than an hour to reach Dholpur. The Chambal Safari boating run by MP tourism is close to the bridge, after Dholpur, on Agra-Gwalior highway. I had talked to a boatman at the place the previous night. Some IAS officer were to arrive on the same day we planned to go, and he warned me that I might not get any boat safari. Since I had only that day to spare, I took the chance and thought of walking along the banks to photograph Skimmers if we can’t take a boat. Talking to Rajeev Tomar was helpful in getting the confidence to take this chance. Who knows when I can visit Chambal again!
At the boating point, we were told boats are booked for ‘saab’. One of the staff gave me the phone number of the officer who had come with an entourage that would take all the 5 boats. Thankfully, on my request, that person agreed to let us take a boat for couple of hours. What an incredible 2 hours of boating it was!
The two hours of boating from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on the Chambal river gave me the sight of a variety of Birds, mammals and reptiles – Skimmers, River Lapwings, Black Bellied Tern, Bar headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, Comb Duck, Black Winged Stilts, Gharials, Muggers, Turtles, Gangetic Dolphins and more! Though I could only manage few glimpses of endangered Gangetic Dolphin, I could get photographs of many of the avian and reptilian species in the fantastic riverine habitat.
Starting with few variety of birds:
Black Winged Stilt
Ruddy Shelduck – pair
Comb Duck ( female) in the turquoise blue waters
River Lapwing roosting on single leg
Gery Heron – ready to take off
Black-Bellied Tern – roosting
Next, the reptilians. Chambal river is home to the reptiles mugger crocodiles, a variety of turtles and the critically endangered Indian Gharials. Chambal river is without doubt the best place to sight the Gharials. Their population was in such bad state that they were in the verge of extinction. Thanks to the efforts of conservation organizations, they are making a strong come back. One can easily sight a gharial swim and bask around the Chambal river now. By the time we returned from the boating, Rajeev had arrived at the place. He then took us to Gharial Rearing Centre. Illegal fishing, inadvertent destruction of breeding sites and habitat destruction are major threat for their survival. From the banks of Chambal the rearing center collects eggs, and hatches them in incubation. The young gharials are fed with fish and taken care till they are about 6 months old, when they are let into the wild. Most of the Gharials you see on the Chambal river are from this rearing center. I was lucky to hold a young Gharial. Though they look naive, their razor sharp teeth can make enough damage. We also saw young Indian tented turtles at the rearing center, and a huge adult basking in the sun on the river while on boating safari.
A young Mugger Crocodile basking in the sun
Adult Gharial basking with its eyelid closed – notice the tag on its tail
Indian tent turtle (Pangshura circumdata) is one of the 8 species of turtles found in Chambal river
And then there were Skimmers – the target species for my trip to Chambal. Initially we saw a pair skim momentarily and fly away. Soon, we saw over 30 skimmers on the banks. They were in no mood for fishing and were roosting on the banks. They get their name because of the style of their fishing – the bird flies just above the water skimming the water surface to grab any fish if it comes in the path. Check this image of Mario Goren to see how they fish.
Indian Skimmers in flight
Indian Skimmers roosting with head tucked under wings
Indian Skimmer flock – it was difficult to get a portrait of single bird with so many around, until..
until this one obliged for a portrait
Later in the evening, after a round of chai at Rajeev’s house, we were back at Taj to do some night photography. Lest I knew that there were street lights put at the foot of Taj, even on its rear side, I’d not have made the futile effort of going there. Later that night, returned to Bharatpur – and next day, from there to Delhi and then to Bangalore.
I would like to thank and dedicate these photographs to Rajeev Tomar for giving me confidence on making the short trip despite the boatman suggested me otherwise. It was the most enjoyable and productive two hours of photography. Also, thanks to Rajeev for taking me to the Gharial rearing center, which I had no idea about until I went there.
