INDIA 2010 : Jaipur to Sawai Madhophur

Nov 10 – The start to the day with overcast skies did not bode to well for the picturesque sunrise on the Palace of Winds that we were all hoping for. Though incredibly beautiful, we soon turned our attention to the snake charmers that were serenading a pair of cobras behind us. When one of the charmers offered Sherry a chance to take his place, she jumped at the idea. We all followed suit, each of us donning a traditional rajastani pagadi and playing the been swayed inches away from the end of the musical instrument. Eric even had one of the cobras placed around his shoulders!

Overlooking a valley on the outskirts of Jaipur, stands the impressive hill fort known as the Amber Palace. Moatha Lake in the foreground at the base of the fort was full of water as a result of this years heavy monsoon. A steep rampant leads up to the fort, and the walls of the fort and ancient capital of Rajasthan stretch for as far as the eye can see. We paired up for the elephant ride to take the 15 minutes waddle up to the fort.

Built in the 16th century it is a fusion of Rajput and Mughal styles with red sandstone and white marble pavilions. The spacious palace was home to the Kachhawah Rajputs for centuries. As we wondered the maze of corridors, floors, courtyards and rooms we noted how elaborate some of the design was, in particular the Hall of Mirrors (above), whose thousands of tiny intricate mirrors only needed a single candle to light the room on a moon lit night.

A short distance away in Jaipur is the Jah Mahal (above), also known as the Water Palace. It is a red sandstone palace built over the calm waters of the Man Sagar Lake that was used by the maharajas for duck hunting. With the high water level, only the top floor is visible above water, and there are four floor below! There was a little bird activity with a resting Little Heron and Little Cormorant and a fly by Common Sandpiper.

There was one last stop at a textile factory for a demonstration of block printing (above) and to see the high quality and extensive craftsmanship that goes into weaving wool carpets. he showroom had an impressive display, some of which were laid out for us, but Sherry’s broke the budget with yesterday’s purchase, and we all left empty handed.

It was another long ride to reach Sawai Madhopur, made all the worse by the traffic in Jaipur, which tacked on a good hour! We eventually pulled into the Tiger Den at 7:30pm.

We did have one stop along the way at a flooded wetland which produced of first Plain Martins and Wire-tailed Swallows over the water; a Lesser Whistling Duck and more Black-winged Stilts. The surrounding short grass field around a small dwelling was more productive with great views of Rose-ringed Parakeets, European Hoopoe, Greater Coucal, Green Bee-eater (above), Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Indian Silverbill, Bay-backed Shrike, Large Grey Babbler, Indian Robin and Red-collared Dove.