Visiting Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary, Gurgaon

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary or Sultanpur National Park is located in Gurgaon District, Haryana and I visited this wonderful place on 25th of December, 2009. I picked up my mobike and traveled 15 km to reach the spot.

There is a ticket for parking, entrance and separate ticket charges if you have a digital or a video camera. Sultanpur is salt-ly a historical place, as it was the center of salt production for use in Delhi and the United Provinces till the late 19th century. The bird sanctuary was conceptualized by famous ornothologist Peter Jackson in 1970, the Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Birdwatching Society.

In 1972, the Sultanpur Bird Reserve was established and on July 13, 1989, it was upgraded to a National Park. The area of the bird sanctuary is around 1.43 sq. km.. Of course, it is a protected area and more than 200 birds have been observed and sighted at this place.

My venture was a unique one because I never had been to a bird sanctuary but I always had a dream to own a place where birds could come and live as they want. As I grew up, it dawned upon me that I am dreaming far too much as per my standards—owning a vast land itself is a prospect that I can’t fulfill.

But anyway, there was an ample opportunity and I exploited it till half the measure, you can say. There is a tattered pathway around the lake and it makes it difficult for visitors to locate birds who prefer to stay close to the water. So, binoculars or cameras are used to know the details of the birds who flock there in almost thousands.

During winters, the time that I chose to go, lots of migratory birds come to Sultanpur and mark the seasonal time for visitors, ornothologists, bird-watchers and adventurous people like me to visit the place.

As I went around the place, I, for the first time, felt the need to owning a bigger lens than 300 mm of focal length. I should have 500-600 mm of focal length to get more clear or better pictures of birds that were sunbathing.

What was exciting into this: I did the adventure of my life—I moved inside the muddy area of lake till around half. I was ankle deep into mud and feeling the excitement just like we see those scientists and researchers on Discovery Channel who move around these places. For the first time, I felt that if somebody would have been with me, I could have gone further and enjoyed the singular joy of watching those birds really close. But anyway, as they say, good to do this much in the first try.

When I was in the middle of that lake, I looked all around me and there were lots of birds who seemed inviting but I could not go further because of lack of knowledge as how to move around in such area and fearing that I might damage my camera.

I could also see Blue Bull and Black Buck and some smaller birds who perched on the trees. Overall, it was one of the most fulfilling excursions that I ever took. Adjacent to the bird sanctuary, there is a picnic spot where lots of families, corporate teams and groups of visitors enjoy their time. I took lunch there with one enthusiast, who met me having same lens and into same industry—magazine publishing.

I would recommend anybody to visit this place whenever they could get the time—perhaps going deeper into lake would give more excitement!