The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is located at a distance of 57 kilometers from Agra, India. Bharatpur is popularly known as the Keoladeo Ghana National Park. Keoladeo is basically the name of an ancient temple that is located at the center of the Bharatpur bird sanctuary in Rajasthan, India. This wildlife park is situated on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. This area was declared to be a national park in the year 1982. The 40 square kilometer swampy Bharatpur bird sanctuary is home to more than 300 species of birds.. Its shallow, fresh water marsh attracts thousands of migratory birds. Over 10,000 nests of egrets, darters, cormorants, grey herons and storks hatch nearly 20,000 to 30,000 chicks every year. There is an infinite variety of migratory birds. Mammals like the sambhar, blackbuck, chital, nilgai, fishing cat, otter and mongoose also roam freely here. Best time to travel to Bharatpur is August to February. In the year 1760 the Ajan Dam was constructed to save the town of Bharatpur from annual floods and the depression that came into existence after extraction of soil for building the dam turned into the Bharatpur Lake. This area was developed to serve as a duck shooting wildlife preserve for the royalty of Bharatpur. |
