Trip Report: Birding in Northern India

by

Paola Ricceri and Marco Salvioni, Switzerland
e-mail: tropicbird@bluemail.ch

Introduction: 
From December 13th 2000 until January 12th 2001 we spent 32 days traveling and birding in Northern India. 
We decided our destination just three weeks before departure, we contacted some travelagents about birdingtrips 
but at the end we decided to try on our own. Trip Reports from other birders, found in Vivek Tiwari's "Birds and 
birding in India" were very helpful. Internet also offers an enourmous amount of informations about India 
(www.india-travel.com; www.indianwildlife.com). 
We booked a flight from Zurich arriving in Delhi at 01.00 in the morning, We made a reservation via Internet at 
a cheap hotel in Pahar Ganj that sent a taxi to pick us up at the airport (Hotel Star Palace, double room 300RS; 
www.stargroupofhotels.com). 
The exchange was 1$=46 RS, 1SFR. 26 RS. 
As Travelguide we used Hanbook of India - Footprint Edition (1999) and Lonely planet. We found the Footprint 
guide much better and with more informations related to nature, national parks and bird sanctuaries.
As a birdguide we used "Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent - Grimmet R., C. & T. Inskipp, 
1999" and "A Field Guide to the Birds of India - K. Kazmierczak, 2000". While traveling we discovered a very 
good book about "where to go birding in India". We could not find this book in India, but the two field guides 
were avalable in big cities and some NPs.
We didn't have a planned itinerary and at the end our tour was: 
Delhi - Agra- Bharatpur NP - Ranthambore NP- Shivpuri NP - Lucknow - Dudhwa NP - Nainital - Binsar and 
Almora - Corbett NP - Bharatpur NP - Delhi.

So here is our tripreport:

Dec. 12: 
Departure from Ticino (Lugano-Zurich-Delhi). Flight with Swissair (800US$ p/p).

Dec. 13: 
Arrive in Delhi, trasfer to hotel, some sleep, and first impact with the indian "chaos" of Delhi. Easy day with no 
birding but many Black kites; we buy bus tickets to Agra and manage to survive with a lot of people wanting to 
convince us to go here or there, amazing how they can recognise just-arrived tourists!

Dec 14: 
Bus trasfer to Agra (190RS, 4,5 hours) and some birding during the two stops. Entrance to Taj Mahal is 20US$, 
we are told by local people to wait the next day (Friday) when the entrance is free. We bird along the river 
between Taj Mahal and Red Fort and it is quite interesting, many Egyptian vultures. We spend the night at Hotel 
Siddharta, close to Taj Mahal (280 RS, clean and good food).

Dec 15: 
Early mornig visit to Taj Mahal with some birding in the garten. We see the only Peregrin falcon and Asian koel 
of our trip and before leaving Agra we ended up with 38 species. Trasfer to the bus station and to Bharatpur 
(28RS each, 1.30h). We stay at Sunbird hotel (room 500RS, clean, friendly staff, good food and good 
opportunity to meet other birders). We spend the afternoon in the park (entrance 200RS each) walking aroud by 
ourselves and very impressed by the number of species. There is very little water, being a very dry winter, most 
of the birds are easy to see without a local guide (if you can manage to avoid taking one!).

Dec 16: 
During breakfast we meet a Southafrican birder who already organised a taxi (700RS) and a guide (600RS) to go 
to Bund Baretha. He is alone and happy if we join him and share the costs. We bird on the way, at the Dam and 
at the Kishen Mahal Palace, near the lake; we end up with 80 species, 2 of them only in this place: Whiskered 
tern and Black-breasted weaver, but no Indian Skimmer. Another afternoon visit to the park with the guide 
brings Dusky eagle owl and Orange-headed thrush.

Dec 17: 
We rent a bike (20-50RS) and go back to the park by ourselves, visiting the section away from the main 
crowded road. Many new species, some really close up, with two phytons, two Large-tailed nightjars (thanks to 
the help of a young Indian), Sambar, Nilgaj, Spotted deer. We still haven't found some "wanted" species but we 
decide to move on. Between Bharatpur and Bund Baretha we saw 144 species.

Dec 18: 
We go by train (200RS second class, 2,5 hours) to Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore NP), as soon as we step out 
of the train there is a local guy offering to take us to Ankur Hotel by auto-rickshaw, exactly where we planned to 
go (room 500RS, good food). We haven't got any reservation to go inside the park, so for today we rent a gypsy 
(little 4x4) and go to the Old Fort (advise: rent the gypsy outside the hotel, is cheaper!). Nice birding and 
landscape at the Fort. On the way back we don't stop at the Sandgrouse place because there is no water.

Dec 19: 
Very difficult to get a gypsy to go inside the park without reservation so in the morning we go to Soorwal lake 
(gypsy 500RS). Very nice place and very good birding: finally the Indian Skimmer (1!), 200 Demoiselle Cranes, 
3 Common Cranes, Kentish plover, Streak-throated swallow, Ashy-crowned sparrowlark,...
In the afternoon the hotel's manager get us a place in the canteer (big open bus, 350RS each included entrance 
fee) and so our first visit to the park. We see some birds and our first Tiger (not a very good view but fortunately 
we have binoculars!). For birding the canteer is not really recommended (advise: always bring warm clothes 
because the drive is cold and windy!).

Dec 20: 
The manager wakes us up at 06.00, there is a gypsy available just for the 2 of us (1500RS gypsy and park 
entrances). This is much better, we asked for a guide knowing the birds, so we can stop to watch Stork-billed 
kingfisher, Collared scops owl, Black stork,... We are lucky again and our second Tiger, a very close female, is 
just walking up the road! Back at the hotel they tell us there is no gypsy avalable in the afternoon, so we decide 
to leave the place. In Ranthambore and Soorwal lake we saw 120 bird species.
We decide to go to Shivpuri but it will take too long with buses so we rent a jeep at the bazar for 3.8RS/km. 
Very nice drive and nice landscape, in the evening we arrive at the Tourist gouvernement village, just 1 km from 
the park entrance (room 490RS, very nice and clean, food not special).

Dec. 21: 
The hotel organize a car for 350RS (3hrs) and we visit the park, no other tourists around. Very nice landscape 
and interesting birds. Tiger and Leopard in enclusure, ready to be released? In the afternoon we walk and bird 
round the hotel and relax on the terrace, overlooking the river with plenty of birds to watch. End up with 99 
species in one single day! Even if rarely mentioned this park and the river outside it, from our point of view, 
really worth a visit.

Dec 22: 
We are not sure where to go next (Nepal, Northern India or Kahna NP?) so we decide to move first to Lucknow. 
We spend some 12 hours traveling by bus: Shivpuri-Jahnsi then Jahnsi-Kampur and Kampur-Lucknow where 
we arrive at 20.00 in the evening (no comment about the travel that made us decide to leave out Royal Chitwan 
NP in Nepal, and go north instead, but trying to rent a car first).

Dec 23: 
Following the guidebook's instructions we contact Tornos Agency (Indira Nagar, Lucknow) that turn out very 
good. Without too many discussions we get a car for 1275RS a day, they calculated a minimum of 200 km a 
day, even if you do not use that much, at 6RS/km plus the expences for the driver. We end up with 430US$ for 
16 days for an Ambassador (the next day we get a "Contessa" instead, that is actually a better car). Comparing 
our rate with other people's we've met on the way this is a good price (the minimum price we heard about was 
22US$ /day, but from Delhi only). We spend the rest of the day in Lucknow, too many people and too much 
traffic, no birds.

Dec: 24: 
We leave at 08.00 for Dudhwa NP (250 km north, at the NW border with Nepal). There are not many 
informations about this park and during our stay we are the only "white" tourists. Again we have no reservation, 
the place is really nice but we are told is fully booked for the next 4 nights. We don't see many people around 
and so we try to discuss a little bit but no way, ther is no room for the two of us. We go on a elephant ride, very 
interesting experience, Tiger footprints and scrapes on trees (at two meters from the ground!), Python, Spotted 
deer, Barking deer and some birds, but is the atmosfere that is the best. Back at the camp is almost dark, noticing 
many empty cottages we ask again for a room but no way to get a place. We go back to Palia, 10 km away. The 
room (200RS) is really basic and not encouraging to stay too many nights, but fortunatly the food is good. 

Dec. 25: 
Early start for the park where we are allowed to drive round with our car. As always we have to rent a local 
guide, but we are lucky and he knows and loves the birds himself. Morning drive to Banke Tal with a 
watchtower and plenty of birds: Lesser adjutant (17), Changeable hawk eagle, the very rare Pied harrier in flight, 
White-tailed rubythroat and, about mammals, the rare Barasingha and Jungle cat. At 11.00 back to the reception, 
there is another guy in charge tooday and  he has got a room avalable... but now our baggage is in Palia! It was a 
mistake not to go back to Palia and bring our stuff, we could have stayed at least one more day because this 
place is really.nice. During lunch time we bird around the camp and in the afternoon we drive a different 
direction than the morning, Sethiana, also very interesting indeed. Our guide is very good, although our main 
focus is still on birds, when we hear a male Tiger roaring we go to look for it and few minutes later the BIG cat 
is walking on the road just in front of us. Quite a thrilling feeling watching him for at least 15 minutes!
Just before we heard the Tiger a pair of Great slaty woodpeckers quickly showed up, flying and calling in the 
thick Sal forest. 
Wonderful day with a total of 82 species, this park is worth to stay at least two full days. Especially if not 
planning to travel to Chitwan, Dudhwa seems to be a very similar habitat.

Dec 26: 
We leave for Nainital (1938m), one of the top destinations for birders. The landscape, before the mountains 
start, is characterised by many people, villages, bad roads and square kms of sugarcane. In Nainital we meet the 
cold weather! We end up in Swiss hotel (big room 800RS, nice staff, but food not recommended, we have both 
got a food bug!). Late afternoon some birding around the hotel: Russet sparrow, Orange-flanked bush robin…

Dec. 27: 
Hike to Snowview, then to Cheena Peak and back to town. Nice hike in tall forest, clean and peaceful outside 
the dirty and crowded built-up area, not very good view of the Himalayan range because of the smog 
(pollution?) and some intersting birds: Himalayan woodpecker, Himalyan griffon, Blue whistling thrush, Rufous 
sibia, Brown-throated treecreeper, Hume's warbler. We meet two french birders, the only other "white" tourists 
around and we end up having dinner together, sharing useful informations.

Dec 28: 
Drive to Sattal, the place is beautiful, very quite and nice landscape. Unfortunately our phisical condition is not 
there, for a few days we are not in good shape because of a fud bug and this affects our birding in the area. We 
limit our visit staying just close to the lake and birding a bit on the road coming down to Sattal. Even without 
moving to much we keep discovering new species: White-rumped needletail, Black-headed jay, Black-lored and 
Black-throated tits, Black bulbul, Ashy-throated and Lemon-rumped warblers, Black-chinned babbler, Rufous-
breasted accentor. If we should ever be back in the region having a rental car we would not stay in the crowded 
and noisy Nainital again, but in some small and quite villages near Sattal instead. 

Dec 29: 
In the morning we visit another suggested place for birds, Mangoli valley, even though we are still feeling weak. 
We are not sure to be in the right spot and the visit is a little bit disappointing with few birds only but nice 
landscape and warm sunshine: Eurasian griffon, Common buzzard, Black-chinned babbler, Pink-browed 
rosefinch. Back to the hotel, some rest and then a hike to Tiffin Top, where the previous day the french birders 
saw quite a few interesting species. Maybe because is afternoon, not the best birding time, we do not see many 
new birds and actually not many birds at all, but the sun is shining again: Red-billed blue magpie, Grey-winged 
blackbird. 
The weather is still cold, we do not like the place very much and so we decide to leave the next day. Our stay in 
Nainital and surrounding area brought 52 species, no Lammergeier unfortunately but the french birders saw one!

Dec 30: 
Our destination is Binsar bird sanctuary (2286 m). We leave in the morning, after defrosting the car. A stop on 
the way near a river bed offers our first Crested kingfisher, Brown Dipper, Plumbeous and White-capped water 
redstarts. We arrive at the KMVN Tourist rest house at noon (500RS/night, no electricity). The weather is cold 
and overcast, after a cup of tea we do bird in the forest along the road. The birds do move in hunting parties so 
for a long time there can be nothing around, then, all of a sudden, they do show up alltogether and you don't 
know which one to look at! We see good new birds: Great barbet, Eurasian jay, Plain backed thrush, Striated 
laughingthrush, Chestnut-tailed minla, and a Marten. When back at the hotel, at nearly 17.00, our driver is really 
worried about the snow possibly falling during the night and the car being not equipped for it so after some 
discussions we follow his suggestions and head back to Almora (30 km away and at lower altitude). Along this 
road we see the only Fox of the trip, in the car's headlights. Although giving Binsar half a day only we saw 20 
species. In Almora we stay at Shikar Hotel for 250RS/night.

Dec. 31: 
There's no point to go back to Binsar this morning, we hope that going down to lower elevations the weather 
will turn better and warmer, so our destination is Corbett NP, via Ranicket. The drive is nice, interesting 
landscape especially the last section, when the Kosi River appears in the distance. On the way we get some new 
species: Common wood pigeon (a flock of 500!), Slaty-headed parakeet and Common green magpie (our only 
sight for the trip).
Deep in holiday season and with no reservations, at the NP office in Ramnagar we are told that there is no space 
available inside the park. Because we do not want to stay in the expensive lodges outside the park, is New Year 
night and prices are even higher, we end up in Gouvernement tourist guest house, in Ramnagar (400RS, very 
basic and food not good, better dinner at Govind restaurant). Is still early so we take a walk along the Kosy river 
and there they are: 2 Ibisbills!!! (at the northern end of Ramnagar, in front of the last concrete blocks. We're 
going to see them again, three days later, exactly at the same place). Also along the riverbank our only 
Wallcreeper, hopping between little boulders, quite an unusual place compared to his habitat in Switzerland!

Jan 1: 
We're not allowed to drive our car anywhere in the park, unfortunately, so we rent a gypsy to visit Birjani area 
(1200RS for the gypsy - overprice! - plus 350RS/each entrance fee)). In the park tourists must take a guide, so 
again we ask for somebody knowing the birds. Wonderful day, stopping and waiting for birds, while other 
vehicles are running around looking for tigers only. Morning drive, rest and bird in Birjani and again afternoon 
drive. While birding we hear the impressive roaring of a Tiger and the very loud alarm of a Sambar, difficult not 
to get tempted..., so we go back and there they are: first a very close-by female and few minutes later a male (it's 
mating season!). Incredibly lucky ones! The Tiger in Dudhwa and these two ones in here are the main topic of 
our driver; we found this part of the park a really good birding place.

Jan 2: 
By paying a little extra at the NP headquarter we manage to find a room in Dhikala (750RS instead of 500RS), 
so we leave Ramnagar for the long drive to Dhikala (50 km). Is still quite cold and the drive is mostly in thick 
and dark Sal forest. We arrive at Dhikala round noon, the place is situated in an open-grassy area along the river 
(almost a lake) and is really quite and peaceful, but could be kept in better shape. We start birding at the 
watchtower but there is no much activity. At 14.30 we take a drive with another local guide knowing the birds. 
Kalij pheasant (only heard), Grey-capped pygmy woodpecker, Crested treeswift, Tawny fish owl, Palla's & 
Lesser fish eagles, Cinereous volture, Collared falconet, Golden-fronted leafbird, Large cockooshrike, Long-
tailed minivet, Small niltava, Golden-spectacled warbler, Yellow-eyed babbler and wild Elephants.

Jan 3: 
Another drive in the morning (elephant trip also avalable) always with our local guide, then back for breakfast 
and out again for few hours around the camp  Some new good birds like Crested, Chestnut-eared & Rock 
buntings, Velvet-fronted nuthatch and wild Elephants, Hog deer, wild Boar, Jungle cat. At 15.00 the drive back 
to Ramnagar. We did not find Dhikala as special as we expected it to be, considering that a night here is the only 
way to see the place and that the river had almost no waterbirds. A part from few very good new entries, birding 
in Birjani and the forest's edge outside the park has much more to offer. (see next day).

Jan 4: 
Other trip reports indicated the Quality Inn as a good birding place, so early this morning we ask our driver to 
take us there (some 30 Km from Ramnagar). While enjoying a good breakfast in the nice veranda, we watch 
gorgeous Scarlet sunbird and Orange-bellied Leafbird just few meters away. The staff is really friendly and 
interested in birds, they give us instructions about where to look for Brown fish owl. The price at the Quality Inn 
is 3850RS room and food, but actually they offered us a room without food for 2000RS. We planned to leave 
Ramnagar the next day so we didn't stay, but we do recommend it. Very good birding around the hotel, where 
we actually get our No 300 species for the trip (Yellow-bellied fantail). At noon, on the way back to Ramnagar, 
we stop at the Gandrj Temple and take a walk along a dry riverbed on the other side of the Temple. Very 
peaceful and good birding place: Blue-throated barbet, Black-crested bulbul, White-crested laughingthrush. We 
spot fresh Tiger footprints on the way back! Our driver drops us at the northern part of Ramnagar and we go to 
the Ibisbill's place again. The weather is still cold, cloudy with a bit of rain from time to time (when back to 
Switzerland we'll discover that India is having a particularly cold weather during Christmas and New Year!). 
With the "warm" memories about our first days in Barathpur, wearing a T-shirt and sandals we decide to go 
back there. 
In Corbett NP and Ramnagar area we saw 152 species.

Jan 5: 
Early start at 06.00 for the 400 km drive to Bharatpur. The road is quite good but it takes about 9 hours anyway 
to get there (the average speed during all our trip, by bus or by car, has been no more that 30-40 km/hour).
We go back to Sunbird hotel and we look for the well-known local guide  Ratan Singh, recommended by other 
birders. He's not available at the moment but we are not in a hurry. Actually even here the weather is cold now, 
T-shirts and sandals are just a souvenir and the fireplace is more than welcome to have dinner and breakfast for 
the next few days! A downjacket could be very suitable, expecially in the morning till 9.00-10.00, when the fog 
is really thick.

Jan 6: 
Again a visit to the park by ourselves, with some new species like Brown-capped pygmy owl, House swift, 
Northern lapwing, Pallid harrier, Eurasian golden oriole, Rosy starling. A relaxing day with a visit to an e-mail 
office to keep in touch with the rest of the world..

Jan 7: 
This is our last day with the rental car and we use it to go to Fatephur Sikri. We arrive quite early in the 
morning, still foggy and with not so many tourists around. Nice historical place to visit with Brown rock chat, 
but too many harassers... After a visit to the bazar we head back to Bharatpur and in the afternoon we take a 
walk in the fields outside the park. Not very producing from the birds point of view but pretty quite with the sun 
warming us up, at last.

Jan 8: 
We finally have Ratan Singh as a guide and he takes us birding in the fields outside the park, by bicycle. The 
day is beatiful, Ratan knows exactly where to go and some birds are in amazing places where we certainly 
wouldn't have expected them to be! Great painted snipe just 5 meters from the road, in a small pond with pigs, 
dogs and people near by. The day brings 14 new species for the area that we haven't seen inside the park: 
Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse (4), Eurasian thick-knee (1), Yellow-wattled lapwing (5), Grey-backed shrike, 
Brown shrike, Desert wheatear, Crested and Bimaculated larks (lots), Ashy-crowned sparrow lark, Black-
breasted and Streaked weavers, Red-headed bunting.

Jan 9: 
Again with Ratan Singh but this time inside the park and again some new good species like Black bittern, 
Oriental honey-buzzard, Comb duck, Lesser Coucal, Eurasian marsh harrier (ssp. spilonotus also), Ashy drongo, 
Blyth's and Clamorous reed warblers. Like yesterday some of the birds are in really easy places, once you know 
where to look for them! For instance the Black bitter was just 5 meters from the rickshaw stand, where we went 
by at least 8 times during the previous visits! Between our first and this second stay in Bharatpur and Bund 
Baretha we ended up with the great number of 198 species.

Jan 10: 
We have to go back to Delhi, is still cold and foggy and Ratan pick us up with his rickshaw No 9 to go to the bus 
station. We will keep a very good memory of our stay in Bharatpur and Ratan Singh, he's e very simple and nice 
person. We've been a little spoilt by our car, so the bus seems to take ages to get to Delhi but no problems, we 
finally arrived back to Star Palace hotel where the friendly owner remembers us. Some shopping in his shop, just 
outside the hotel, reasonable prices with no need to bargain, a pretty welcome thing after a month in India!

Jan 11: 
We decide not to go birding in places like Okla and the Zoo, as indicated in different tripreports, the weather is 
finally nice and warm and we enjoy the sun and the Black kites at the roof terrace. Out shopping again in the 
afternoon when we discovered that our flight has been delayed because of the fog, we will leave Jan. 12 at 
13.00, instead of 01.00 in the morning, a much better time indeed.

Jan 12: 
The hotel's car drops us at the airport, the vacation is over, we are happy but really looking forward to a warm 
bath! While waiting for our plane we have got plenty of time to do some account (see conclusion). In Ticino the 
snow is waiting for us as well as all the amenities we are so used in Europe and that seems to be so far away in 
India.


Conclusion: 
Our triplist has 334 species of birds (202 lifers), 5 Tigers in 3 different NPs, wild Elephant, 5-striped squirrel (3-
striped was present in Dudhwa but we couldn't have a good view), Rhesus macaque, Common langur, Spotted 
deer, Barasingha (Swamp deer), Muntjac (Barking Deer), Hog Deer, Sambar, Nilgai (Blue bull), Jackal, Fox, 2 
different species of Mangoose, Jungle cat, Marten, Fruitbat, Marsh (Mugger) and Fresh water (Gharial) 
crocodiles, Terrapin, Phyton, some unidentified watersnakes.
Amazing experience in the most crowded country in the world, to see people living in very "poor" conditions but 
not complaining as much as we do in the richer Europe is a good lesson of life!

From the budget point of view: 1600$ for the two of us during 32 days in India, including everything (car rental, 
NP entrance fees, food, hotels, buses,...) but flight tickets.
We've been told that Southern India is beatiful and more relaxing, it could be good to include a visit to Srilanka 
as well.


Paola Ricceri and Marco Salvioni, Switzerland
e-mail: tropicbird@bluemail.ch