Exploring the D of Delhi - Sultanpur a Birdy Retreat

19 Feb 2011
Sultanpur

“Hey Aman look at this” Neiha came running to me, interrupting my photography session on the lake shore. I picked up my tiny self from the muddy grass and went close to her to avoid her entering into the muddy area. “Wow…..snake skin!” I exclaimed on holding the snake skin in my hands, about 4 feet in length and that was not complete. The owner snake of this veil must be longer than 6-8 feet.

Difficult Mission

Well, now to say Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is located in Gurgaon District of Haryana State, Sultanpur is located at about 50 kms distance from Delhi and 15 kms from Gurgaon on the Gurgaon -

Farukh Nagar Road

. But it took hell lot of efforts to reach there. You may be wondering if a Gurgaon resident is finding it so difficult then how the hell someone from outside reach there.

We started from sec-30 Gurgaon at 8:00AM. As we entered into the old Gurgaon from Rajiv Chowk a big signboard stating ‘Sultanpur Bird Sanctury – 15Kms greeted us and we were happy that just 15kms and we will be there.

I had heard that Sultanpur is pretty accessible from Delhi and Gurgaon but after the trip I can say it’s like a mission impossible. From Delhi the route is pretty straight till Gurgaon. Then, you have to enter old Gurgaon from Rajiv Chowk (Exit No. 10 from

Express Way

). Driving through old Gurgaon is a terrible eyesore. All the Market and houses built in desi style are haphazard and ugly with no design element. Adding to this are the miserable roads.

We didn’t know the exact turn for the

Farukh Nagar Road

so I asked from a petrol pump worker “Bhayiya yeh Sultanpur Lake ka rasta konsa hai?”

He got bit confused, thought for a while “Wo to pata nahi par ek jheel jarur hai…… Sultanpur jheel…..aur wo piche reh gayi hai” And he directed us on the right way.

Apparently the sewerage work was going on so all the area was dug up by the MC. People say new Gurgaon is a jungle of Glass & concrete and I will say old Gurgaon is all about non-existing roads and flowing nallas.

Finally coming out of the old Gurgaon mess we entered into rural Haryana which was much nicer and somewhat cleaner. The road condition improved a bit. The road cut through lush green fields made alive by the lot many birds. Tall under construction residential towers can be seen from the road which belongs to the outskirts of Gurgaon extension.

Delight for Bird watchers 

As a bird sanctuary it was the find of Peter Jackson, famous orthologist, and Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Bird-watching Society, who wrote to Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi  in 1970 about the need to declare the Sultanpur jheel near Delhi a bird sanctuary. She instructed the Chief Minister of Haryana to protect the jheel and in 1972, the Sultanpur Bird Reserve was established. And almost 20 years later in 1989 the reserve was upgraded to a National Park.

Approx 250 species of Birds are found at Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. Some of them are resident, while others come from distant regions like Siberia, Europe and Afghanistan. Obviously we four don’t have any idea about the birds and their species, a bird photographer came to our help in that, who explained us many things about many species which we could not digest all. Our bird watching started with a good note from the Babblers nest and then black drongo’s and many more which I do not remember.

After spending some time at initial photography of the whole sanctuary from the watch tower we took the brick path laid for park visitors all around the sanctuary. There were four watch towers in total for the broader view of the sanctuary.

Blue-cow

As we proceeded for the lively bird area we were stopped in our tracks- it was a stark and shocking sight- an entire Nilgai skeleton- all bones only the meat was missing. The old beast lay there one leg at an angle and head still held high. It looked like it had been eaten up by village dogs gone wild. These once domesticated felines are said to roam free in the park in packs following their age-old instincts.

Suddenly the lake water jostled and we were stunned by the sight of an entire herd of Nilgais emerging out of the island on our right. Out they came in a single file and started walking to the left.

Island of Mud

We decided to walk through the muddy area to the island. This was not really a good idea for two reasons. We were not dressed to walk through the gooey mud. Second, the entire area was abundant in Indian Babul trees and other thorny buses. Here is where I get bitten by something which made my arms break out in some itchy rash and also step in the heaps of Nilgai dung. Our shoeprints dotted the exposed lake floor all over, in all directions.

By now it was almost 3 hours we had been inside the park. Listening to the call of the parched throat, we started back and rushed into the welcome cooled environs of the restaurant. But we left from there soon after entering because of not so hostile staff.

Did I say our journey ended there? Nope. On the way back as we discussed the merits and demerits of the photo collection, Vicky screeched the car to a halt next to a road-side dhaba. Once fortified with food and some cricketing action, we decide to start back to our homes. We jumped into the car bidding Good Bye to Sultanpur.