Chambal

We had a long weekend over Easter, which of course meant a bit more traveling in India. The longer I'm here, the more I find that I crave quiet, natural spaces and so I seem to be doing my best to hit nature reserves and national parks when I have enough time. It turns out that there is a river sanctuary about four hours outside of Delhi (two hours by train and then another two hours drive) and a lovely lodge a slow hour's drive from it. So I headed to Chambal for the weekend. I was excited when I learned that this was one of the regions that has the elusive fresh water dolphin in the river, a species that I believe may be unique to India. Sadly it too proved elusive for us. Instead we saw a large collection of birds, including many I had never heard of before. But then I'm not exactly a bird person. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing the birds, and just being out in a quiet enough area where they will be gathered in numbers is relaxing, I'm not the sort of person that could tell you the name of, well, really, any bird I see. I think that became clear to our naturalist guide as we arrived at the river and he pointed out the apparently rare sight of an Indian skimmer actually skimming the water fishing. Supposedly this is something many people come to see, and we were not showing a full appreciation of the ease with which we got to observe this bird. However the two hours we spent on the river were thoroughly enjoyable with many a different type of bird to be seen: painted storks, black necked storks, Indian pond heron, a variety of ducks...I'd have to get out the checklist so thoughtfully provided by the lodge to tell you any more. And then there were the gharial. A relative to the crocodile, their numbers have dwindled over the years to approximately 235 worldwide, landing them on the critically endangered list. Hard to believe considering the number we saw, but then Chambal is one of the two locations that seem to have successful breeding populations. Gharial are instantly recognizable  with there extended long snout, and the ball on the top of the end of the males...in some ways making them even more intimidating then a normal crocodile. Our wildlife sightings didn't end on the river though, the lodge providing plenty more opportunities on their grounds, including a spotted owlet and a large group of flying foxes that were roosting in a tree just outside our cabin. I definitely got my nature needs met this weekend!