Bird Sanctuary, Bharatpur & Taj Mahal, Agra-dagtour vanuit Delhi

Amazing experience at the Bird sanctuary. Saw birds, jackals, and wild boars continuously for 3 hours. Prakash, world renowned birder at the bird sanctuary was an amazing naturalist! He saw a bunch of very rare birds and was super helpful in pointing them out to us. Very glad we didn’t drive ourselves and KK Sharma drove us. Overall good experience but the hawkers are relentless and guides will not do anything to help and will guilt you into going into shops. Unclear if they get a kickback from it but you need to stay strong or you’ll end up buying the store to get out of the awkward situation. Not an issue at the bird sanctuary but it is at the monuments.

My guide at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary was so very patient and happy to show me the birds!! I logged 50 species of birds during the trip and truly loved every minute of my time there. I wish this part of the trip lasted longer as it was the highlight of my trip thus far. The Taj Mahal is beautiful, and my guide is quite astute at taking the ‘pretty’ pictures, he clearly does this every day. The master craftsman Embroidery and Jewelry were not my favorite part of the day though to will forever remember how beautiful the work was, I simply did not have my feet grounded in India well enough to feel comfortable with saying No to all to offers of things to buy. My driver for the day, Omkar, was a delight to ride with as he navigated so much traffic and all the elements India could toss our way.

This trip was all about the birds for me, and oh my it delivered!!! I logged 50 bird species in this short trip to the bird sanctuary, but seriously, I could stay there for another 2 hrs and see more things!!! The bicycle rickshaw was a nice addition too. After birding, my super driver Omkar took us to meet up with “Mr Rocky” for my Taj Mahal trip. Obviously, this place is beautiful and perfect. I really enjoyed the ease of entry that foreign tourists get to experience. The stop to the jeweler and embroidery did allow me to learn how to be better at embroidering, but I definitely felt uncomfortable saying no to making purchases. I can’t wait to return to Bharatpur… I loved the more rural feel outside the town and of course, I know there are more birds to find.

Rocky was a fantastic guide. He showed us around Bird century , Taj mahal Red Fort and really helped us understand the history of the city. He also always made sure we were comfortable, allowing us to stop for water and coffee along the tour. The Omkar driver was also very safe and had our safety as his top priority.