Keoladeo National Park

West India

This man-made swamp is one of the world’s best-known and yet most-threatened birding havens. Bharatpur, as it was earlier known, was founded by Maharaja Suraj Mal in 1733 when he ordered the building of the Ajan Dam that flooded the natural depression behind it. The park derives its present name from a Shiva temple here and the word ‘ghana’ that was added to its name means ‘dense’ in Hindi. Occupying an area of roughly 29 square kilometres, the park features man-made wetlands and microhabitats like low-lying lands completely submerged in water, grasslands and dense tree growth. Lord Curzon and Lord Kitchener inaugurated the first duck shoot here in 1902. The party of 17 killed 540 birds on that one day. In 1956 the area was declared a Bird Sanctuary but the hunting was only stopped in 1964. It was declared a Ramsar site in 1981, a National Park in 1982 and a World Heritage Site in 1985. The park is home to 375 bird species and the number grows exponentially when the mig...ratory birds arrive. The park was one of the favoured nesting grounds for the Siberian cranes during their yearly migration. Sadly their numbers have all but died over the years due to poaching and wars on their migratory route. Read more