CityDekho
Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)

Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)

wildlife park · Rajasthan

Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's finest bird sanctuaries.

State
Rajasthan
Type
Wildlife Park

Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's finest bird sanctuaries. A man-made wetland created by a former ruler, it hosts hundreds of resident and migratory bird species, from painted storks and herons to wintering waterfowl, and was historically a rare wintering ground of the Siberian crane.

When to go

October to March is the prime season, when huge numbers of migratory birds arrive; the wetland is at its most in winter.

Why visit

The wetland is man-made — a maharaja flooded it to shoot ducks, and the bag records are still on a plaque near the gate. No motor vehicles inside, so it is a bicycle or a rickshaw whose driver knows the birds better than you do. November to February. The Siberian cranes have not come since 2002.

Cultural notes

Keoladeo was once a royal duck-hunting reserve; today it is a globally important wintering and breeding wetland protected as a national park and World Heritage Site.

How to reach

By Road and Train: Bharatpur is well connected, about 55 km from Agra and around 180 km from Delhi and Jaipur. By Air: Agra and Jaipur are the nearest airports.

Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur) guide & itineraries

Shopping

Bharatpur and nearby Agra offer marble inlay work, leather goods and handicrafts.

Frequently asked questions

What is Keoladeo National Park famous for?
It is a UNESCO-listed wetland famous for hundreds of resident and migratory bird species and was once a rare wintering site of the Siberian crane.
How do you explore Keoladeo?
The flat park is best explored on a cycle-rickshaw with a trained guide or by bicycle, ideally early in the morning.

Reviews & ratings

What travellers say about Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)

CityDekho traveller reviews

★★★★★★★★★★

No CityDekho reviews yet

Be the first traveller to review this place.

Sign in to write a review

Community

Ask questions and share tips about Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)

Sign in to ask a question or share a tip about Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur).

Loading…

Been to Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

More wildlife escapes

More places you'll love

Arunachal Pradesh

Namdapha National Park

Namdapha National Park, in the Changlang district of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, is one of India's largest and most biodiverse protected areas. Ranging from tropical forest to snow-capped peaks, it is the only park in India believed to host four big cats - tiger, leopard, clouded leopard and snow leopard - along with the rare red panda and hoolock gibbon.

Kerala

Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary

Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, in Kerala's Idukki district near Marayoor and Munnar, is an unusual rain-shadow reserve of dry thorny scrub and deciduous forest, very different from Kerala's usual rainforests. It is known for the grizzled giant squirrel, star tortoise, elephants and a landscape dotted with sandalwood trees and ancient rock art.

Tamil Nadu

Anamalai Tiger Reserve

The Anamalai Tiger Reserve, also known as the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, lies in the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu near Pollachi and Valparai. Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats landscape, its shola forests and grasslands shelter tigers, elephants, gaur, the endangered lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri tahr.

Assam

Nameri National Park

Nameri National Park, in the Sonitpur district of Assam at the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh, is a birdwatcher's paradise along the Jia Bhoroli river. Famed for the rare white-winged wood duck, it also shelters elephants, tigers, leopards and clouded leopards, and has gentle rafting down the Jia Bhoroli through forest.

Uttarakhand

Nanda Devi National Park

Nanda Devi National Park, in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, surrounds Nanda Devi, India's second-highest peak, in a high-Himalayan glacial basin. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it shelters snow leopards, Himalayan musk deer, bharal (blue sheep) and Himalayan tahr amid dramatic peaks, glaciers and alpine meadows.

Maharashtra

Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary

Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Western Ghats of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, is one of the region's oldest protected areas and is known for its population of the Indian gaur (bison). Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats site, its dense forests, plateaus and the Radhanagari Dam support gaur, leopards, sloth bears and rich birdlife.

Assam

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Morigaon district of Assam near Guwahati, is famed for having the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world. Its compact grasslands and wetlands are packed with rhinos and are also excellent for wild buffalo, leopards and migratory birds.

Jammu & Kashmir

Dachigam National Park

Dachigam National Park, in the mountains just outside Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, is the last stronghold of the endangered Kashmir stag, or hangul, the state animal. Rising from riverine valley to alpine meadow, it also shelters Himalayan black bears, leopards, musk deer and a wealth of Himalayan birds.

Maharashtra

Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in the northern suburbs of Mumbai, is a rare protected forest within a megacity and one of the world's most-visited national parks. Its forests are famous for a resident leopard population living alongside the city, and the park also holds the ancient Kanheri Caves, lakes, a toy train and popular nature trails.

Trending in Rajasthan

Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur repays getting up early more than almost anywhere in Rajasthan, because by ten the coaches have arrived and Amber Fort stops being a fort and becomes a queue. Be at Amber for opening. Walk up rather than taking the elephants — the welfare of those animals is a long-running problem and a jeep does the same job. Inside, the Sheesh Mahal is the room everyone photographs, but the Ganesh Pol above the second courtyard is the better piece of work. Hawa Mahal disappoints people, and it is worth knowing why before you stand in front of it: it is a screen, one room deep, built so the women of the household could watch the street unseen. There is almost nothing behind the facade. The good view is from the rooftop cafés opposite, looking back at it. Jantar Mantar is the one to book a guide for. Without someone to explain them the instruments are handsome shapes; with someone, they are a working observatory and the visit turns into the best hour of your day. For fabric go to Johari Bazaar, for everyday chaos and better prices go to Chandpole. October to March. April onwards the stone gets too hot to touch by mid-morning.

Udaipur

Udaipur

Udaipur, the 'City of Lakes', sits among the green Aravalli Hills, built around a chain of interconnected lakes created over the centuries for water and defence. The largest, Lake Pichola, is the visual centre of the city, its shores lined with white marble palaces, bathing ghats and lakefront hotels. The grandest is the City Palace, which is really eleven palaces built against each other over four centuries by successive maharanas — which is why the inside is a maze of levels and courtyards rather than a single plan. Udaipur has a noticeably slower pace than Rajasthan's other big cities. In bad drought years Pichola has emptied completely, so if the lake is the reason you are coming, check before you book.

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is built from the same yellow sandstone it stands on, which is why at six in the evening the whole fort looks lit from inside — and why at midday it looks like nothing much at all. Time your first look for the last hour of light. The fort is one of very few in the world still lived in: several thousand people, with shops, homes, temples and plumbing inside the walls. That is what makes it extraordinary and also what is slowly destroying it, because the drainage was never built for modern water use and the bastions are being undermined. Conservationists ask visitors to sleep outside the walls rather than in the fort hotels. It is worth honouring. Patwon ki Haveli is the finest carved stone in the city. The Jain temples inside the fort are quieter and, to my eye, better. For the desert, the choice matters. Sam dunes at sunset is a full circus of camels, jeeps and loudspeakers. Khuri is further out, plainer, and gives you the silence people actually come to the Thar for. November to February. Nights in the desert get genuinely cold — bring more than you think.

Ajmer Sharif Dargah

Ajmer Sharif Dargah

Ajmer Sharif is the most revered Sufi shrine in India — the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the 12th-century saint who founded the Chishti order. Drawing millions of pilgrims of all faiths, especially during the annual Urs, it is a powerful symbol of India's syncretic spiritual culture.