Immediately after the alarm went, we were well and truly wakened by the call to prayer at 5:00, just in time for a cuppa in the room before our guide Gorvind arrived to take us to the Taj Mahal.
We walked along the newly paved road, ignoring the rickshaw drivers until we arrived at the boarding point for the “free” golf cart shuttle to the entrance gate. The golf cart is free for foreign tourists who pay a greater entrance fee than Indians.
Gorvind saw us through security and arranged for our camera bag ( less video) to be scanned. He then gave us an interestingly detailed guided tour of the gardens and the Taj Mahal itself. We would be viewing replica tombs as the real ones are buried below and only accessible on a few occasions each year.
We returned back to Coral court, the golf cart dropping us off much closer than the official point, and were welcomed with a breakfast of fruit ( banana, papaya and pineapple) followed by potato curry with fried naan bread, toast and preserves, fruit juice tea or coffee.
He took the necessary pictures of us and then left us to explore by ourselves for half an hour before meeting up under the banyan tree.
We returned to our room to complete our packing, putting overnight things in the backpack, and waited for Mr. Madalan, who arrived early to drive us to the bird sanctuary outside Bharatpur.
Our guide at the park called a rickshaw and took us through the dry land followed by the wetlands, we saw antelopes, a soft shell turtle, lizard, five ringed squirrels, little egret, greater egret, brown, Grey and purple herons, Indian snake bird, cranes, nesting storks, laughing doves having a dust bath, Mina black spotted eagles and parakeets, among others!
We stopped at a point where a solar powered pump was pouring water into the lake. The fish were jumping in the aerated water and a fish eating snake was linking in the stones, catching the fish as they leapt.
Leaving the park, the guide directed the driver to a restaurant, where we had a snack ( and were given a flower each as thanks. Our driver then took us the tortuous and badly signposted route to Bharatpur Junction where we were met by the Audley agent and seen safely onto the train. We signed a disclaimer allowing our driver to take our large suitcases on to Ranthambore, and leaving us with just the backpack, camera case and handbag to take on the train.
It was clear from some of the other passengers that not every tour organizer allows this to happen. We took a few photos at the statuon of passing trains packed with passengers and our train of over 20 carriages arrived on time. Fortunately, we were at the right end of the very long platform and were seen onto our air conditioned carriage and soon on our way.
Every few minutes staff were parking through the carriage carrying bucket selling water, chai, crisps and snacks and even pizza and biryani. We resisted the temptation, knowing we would be well fed on arrival. By some strange coincidence the lady sitting opposite had been sitting next to us on the flight over.
We arrived at Sawal Modophur only 15 minutes late, which is not unusual, and almost all the occupants of the air conditioned coaches left the train and headed off in cars or coaches towards Ranthambore. The Audley rep met us and took us to a car which sped off along the bumpy road to Khem Villas, deep in the heart of the park. We were greeted with cold towels and a refreshing drink and shown by torchlight to our fabulous accommodation which (we were told but could not see) was right beside a watering hole.
Our cottage has a thatched roof which overhangs the patio. Through the bedroom is the shower room with washbasins and outside is a large bath!
We went back to the lounge where we were give a short presentation about the history of the park and then sat down to a tradional Indian meal. Self service from the buffet onto a metal tray with small bowls for lentil dal and curds, the potato curry, aubergine curry and rice being served on the tray with poppadom, salad and pickles. Naan and other breads were served at table. We celebrated with a glass of wine!
Afterwards we went into the lounge for socialization, coffee (and to connect to the internet). We recognized one or two guests who had been at the imperial.
Back to our room, we discovered that our luggage had arrived and so to bed for another early start.