This premier birding journey combines with rich nuances of historical interest as you travel to Keoladeo National Park, Corbett National Park, Nimaj, Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Agra, the home of the legendary Taj Mahal.

You will visit Bharatpur, home of Keoladeo National Park, one of the great ornithological wetland wonders of the world. A birders' paradise for long, the historic park continues to attract birding enthusiasts from around the globe. Corbett National Park, in the Himalayan foothills, is India's oldest National Park and the first to come under the umbrella of the Project Tiger conservation programme. It is home to over 600 species of avifauna, apart from its fabulous wealth of wildlife including the Asiatic elephant, tigers, bears and leopards. With so much to see on the tour one can only make random example's of the tempting sighting these popular birding sites offer. Keep your eyes peeled for the Siberian Rubythroat, a Spotted Forktail or Altai Accentor browsing by a cool mountain brook. Check the swaying mustard fields for the lanky Sarus Cranes or an Orange-headed Thrush watching you from the undergrowth, or Scarlet Minivets darting through the forest canopy. Watch the first flush of a rosy dawn on the marble splendour of the Taj Mahal at Agra and again marvel at the flamingo-like hues on a snowy Himalayan peak at sunset. All this and more awaits you.

Continent or Region: Indian Subcontinent

Country or State/County: India

Delhi
Capital City of independent India rewards the determined sightseer with more than a thousand monuments and two old capital buildings complexes-including the present seat of Government, designed by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Cosmopolitan hotels, shopping, and fine restaurants abound. Delhi also offers a glimpse into the real India: the labyrinthine street bazaars of Old Delhi, and the temples and monuments of Indian’s chequered colonial past. In the deepest sense, from Old Delhi’s Red fort and Jama Masjid mosque to New Delhi’s chic art galleries and nightclubs, Delhi is profoundly Indian city.

Jaipur
The City of Victory was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Jaipur is a marvellous synthesis of architectural influences - Hindu, Jain, Mughal. It is a well planned city of yore, built from rose-coloured terra cotta - that has given it the name ‘Pink City’. The bazaars teem with people, camels, horses and a multitude of varied vehicles, while around them loom the magnificent palaces and buildings.

Bharatpur
Bharatpur’s 29 sq km piece of marshland is one of the finest bird sanctuaries in the world, with over 360 species. It used to form the hunting estate of Maharajas of Bharatpur. Maharaja Brajendera Singh, converted the estate into a bird sanctuary in 1956. Wildlife is specially good from October to February when it is frequented by Northern Hemisphere migratory birds. Among many other birds to be seen are egrets, ducks, coots, storks, kingfishers, spoon bills, Sarus Craine and several birds of prey including laggar falcon, greater spotted eagle, marsh harrier and Palla’s eagle. There are also chital deer, sambhar, nilgai, fereal cattlewild cats, hyenas, and wild boar whilst near Python Point, there are usually some very large rock pythons.

Agra
The romance of the world’s most famous building Taj Mahal, still astonishes in its power and beauty. In addition to the Taj Mahal, Agra houses the other two great monuments the Red Fort and nearby abandoned city Fatehpur Sikri. Today Agra is a crowded city and some of the Moghul buildings are irrevocably scarred. Other monuments, however, are strewn like pearls in ashes, evoking the glorious period in Indian history when Agra was the centre of the Moghul Empire, and the empire itself was the focus of political, cultural, and artistic evolution.

Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri lies thirty-five kilometres from Agra on the Agra / Jaipur Road. It is Akbar’s famous ghost town, “city of victory”, Fatehpur Sikri, which was the Emperor’s capital for a short span of sixteen years. In the tiny, original village hamlet of Sikri, a holy hermit named Shaikh Salim Chisti prophesied that the Emperor would father three sons. When the prediction came true, Akbar was so persuaded of the Shaikh’s piety and Sikri’s sanctity, that he built his new capital there in commemoration of this benediction.

Corbett
Situated along the valley of the Ramganga River and fringed by the Himalayan foothills in the north Corbett is very picturesque national park. The 1318 Sq Km (509 Sq mile) reserve was originally a hunter paradise during the British Raj. In 1936 it was established as the Hailey National Park, largely due to great British hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett after whom the park is now named.

- Wildlife observation
- Nature exploration
- Culture and heritage discovery