The Chand Baori step well and Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary
Basically these places were used as gap fillers on our route from Agra to Jaipur but that’s ok, it good to see something different.
The Chand Baori step well is situated in a small village 20 mins off the main highway. It’s very unassuming as you pull up, a small ticket office with no special queue for foreigners, well there was a window with a sign but obviously it hadn’t been used in while as inside was piled high with scooter helmets (of course!) Who would have thought what we saw would be here in the middle of nowhere!
The well was constructed between the 8th – 9th century and was named after the local ruler at the time, Raja Chanda, it’s about 30m (100 foot) deep and has 3,500 steps cascading down 13 stories like an upside down pyramid.There’s also a small temple / mosque next door which was destroyed by the Mughals. The temple was dedicated to Harshat Mata, who is considered to be the goddess of joy and happiness for the whole village.
The temperature at the bottom of the well is 5-6 degrees cooler than at the top, it was used as a gathering place for locals to cool off, as well as a place of worship. On the fourth side is a carved pavilion with carved windows, a gallery and balconies (where the royal family sat). Inside are small temple rooms with carvings of the gods but the statues were destroyed by the Mughals.
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is actually part of the Keoladeo National Park. It is home to over 370 bird species, plus fish, reptiles, mammals and plants; plus these days a young male leopard who was forced to leave his birth place and has made the park his home (for now).
We picked up a tuk-tuk and our guide at the gate and set off up the pathway. It was very foggy so we didn’t expect to see much but we were so surprised at how many birds we did see, even a very rare kingfisher. Probably the only bird I recognised! It was so cold I joked with our driver that we could do with a blanket, and he produced one out of his boot! The guide thought this was hilarious but he was careful that he got a share of the warmth too!!!
Our guide and his driver were brilliant, stopping and pointing out birds to us very patiently (as quite often I couldn’t spot them at first). The 2 hours we spent there just flew by.
We stopped overnight at a hotel just down the road. Now THAT was an experience I wouldn’t want to repeat!!! The room was freezing and the heater was rubbish, there were bare wires hanging out of the walls in a few places, the fridge didn’t work (it didn’t need to as it was cold enough). And every 15 mins or so, one of the bell boys would pop back with some extra coffee sachets, or toilet paper (we already had 4!) and finally with the extra pillows I had ordered. He then stuck his hand out for a tip. I turned around looking in my purse to find I only had a 500 note, too much for a tip. He flipped his bulging wallet out and offered me some change (300) . I think I’d been fleeced 😂He then showed me a photo of his small daughter who was as ugly as sin, poor thing, so I made all the right cooing noises. At last he left.
The worst thing was that my other half thought he might have been bitten by bed bugs during the night or was it mozzies 😳 I’d suggest unless you are really into bird watching and want to be as near as possible I’d give Hotel Pride Kadamb Kuni a miss!!!
