Revenge of the Birds

We left Karauli in the early morning for our drive to Agra. On the road to Agra we made two stops.

Cycle Rickshaw

The first was at the Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary. The bird flu "epidemic" was going full tilt at the time and we thought it ironic that we were visiting a bird sanctuary to which thousands upon thousands of migratory birds from Siberia and China, the hot bed of the bird flu, were coming for the winter. Why not go to the source! We swallowed our fears and took a cycle rickshaw tour of the Sanctuary. The highlight of the tour was the giant and magnificent Kingfisher and the wild python that our guide found lurking in the foliage. We ended the tour at a large sign board that recorded all of the historic bird hunts that took place at the Sanctuary. In its past the Sanctuary was a hunting ground, and the rich and powerful would come to participate in full day hunts where hundreds of hunters would bag thousands of birds at a time. The sign commemorated each hunt by recording the names of the participants, the number of rounds expended and the number of birds killed. I guess if we all caught the bird flu it would be sweet revenge for the birds.

Peacock Butterfly

The second stop was at Fatehpur Sikri, the abandoned Mughal royal city. The Mughal Empire was founded by the Timurids in 1526 and during its zenith the Empire stretched over most of the Indian Subcontinent. The rule of the Islamic Mughals finally ended in 1857 when it was dissolved by the British Empire. The magnificent city, which consists of a complex of forts, palaces and mosques built out of sandstone, was constructed on the orders of Akbar the Great in 1570. However, due to the lack of water supply the city had to be abandoned only 12 years after its completion. Who's the genius that made that mistake? Our extremely enthusiastic guide through Fatehpur Sikri was a former professor who spoke so quickly that most things came out as gibberish. Still we dutifully followed along with his antics and nodded at the appropriate times. The splendid grounds were very impressive and during those 12 years Akbar must have had a great, albeit thirsty time.

Wild Python

Fatehpur Sikri

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