I recently visited the Bird Sanctuary at Nawabganj. It is a little less than 30 kms from Lucknow Airport (Amausi) towards Kanpur. Though I have lived in Lucknow for a long time, I had never earlier visited this place. I had always imagined it to be far from the hustle-bustle of the highway and difficult to access. So it came as a pleasant surprise to find that the sanctuary lay right next to the Lucknow-Kanpur Highway. The sanctuary is on your left if you are travelling from Lucknow towards Kanpur and the very first gate is the way to enter. From Kanpur, it is on your right and the first gate is at the end of the sanctuary from your point of view.
I had booked a room online in the Rahi Tourist Bungalow (RTB.) The manager told us on enquiry that it was inside the sanctuary complex and that we had to enter from the first gate. My wife is a little finicky about cleanliness and the hotels that we can afford seldom offer the kind of cleanliness that will meet a half-hearted approval from her. I was quite apprehensive as it was a government run hotel. However we were pleasantly surprised by the overall upkeep and quality of service which were good if not great. The lone housekeeping staff willingly removed the old sheet, used it to wipe the headpost of the bed and then spread a fresh and clean sheet. Towels were clean too. The bungalow also has a big and well maintained lawn and a Shiv Temple in that lawn.
The housekeeping man who was my namesake, told us that it used to be a great lake some three decades ago when he got employed there. He said that the lake has now turned into a number of small ones separated by patches of dry land. He said that a lot of money was being poured into maintenance of the place but the authorities were using it building structures and other wasteful things instead of cleaning up and reviving the lake. Some borewells had been repaired and a couple new ones were being constructed to feed the lake which had, unfortunately not received much rainfall over past several years including the current one which saw a good monsoon elsewhere.
The RTB has its own restaurant and there is another bigger restaurant with a beer bar about 100 m away from it and next to the ticket window and entrance to the sanctuary. We walked up to the ticket window. There is a semi-developed park with play structures across the road. It is infested with monkeys. We sat there on a bench for a while watching the monkeys and then proceeded to the ticket window. There is a small museum like room next to the ticket booth. It was locked. The gatekeeper opened it at our request.
The man at the ticket window cautioned us that there were not too many migratory birds and issued a ticket when we insisted nonetheless. A valid id was required to purchase the ticket priced at INR 30 per person. For foreigners it is a steep INR 575 if I remember the figure correctly.
The entrance starts with a walkway adjacent to the restaurant, named Surkhab. The walkway is fenced on both the sides with what look like wooden logs but is actually made of RCC. But the look of wooden logs is pretty convincing and it must have taken much effort and technique to simulate the real thing. The tiled and fenced walkway runs for perhaps a couple of kilometers and has observation towers and resting platforms with benches every 200 m or so. Each platform was occupied by a couple engaged in amorous activities. It reminded me of Residency in Lucknow. There too, each nook and corner is occupied by young couples. I am sure that boys from Lucknow and even Unnao will not be so surprised as we were when we visited the Law Gardens in Ahmedabad about 45 years ago for the first time.
The walkway lines the lake on one side and on the other side there is a green forest patch separating the sanctuary from the highway. Though, you can see and hear the traffice from the walkway and it reminds that you are not too far from what you tried to escape.
We didn't find many birds except the usual geese. Finally we made a digression on to a dirt track which was yet to be tiled and fenced. Some distance away we could see some Saurus Cranes. However there were no migratory birds to be seen.
We returned and enquired at the window the time it opens in the morning. The replies ranged from 7 am to past 9 am!
Next we entered Surkhab restaurant. It looked good. We ordered lunch and I started chatting with the cashier. He too repeated the same story that we had heard from the housekeeping man. He also added that many migratory birds have stopped coming to the place as the villagers from surrounding villages hunt them down. The few surviving ones must have carried the message back to their flock. This is what the cashier felt. The food that was served was quite good and we paid using an INR 2000 note that the cashier happily accepted and returned us the balance in INR 100 notes.
We went back to RTB and sat in the lawn chairs enjoying the feeble sunshine. The manager exchanged greetings and asked if we could see any birds. We told him that we wanted to try our luck again early next morning but the ticket window opened quite late in the morning. He said that it was possible to enter the santuary from one side of the Bungalow even though it wouldn't be proper to do so without a ticket. We thanked him for the information and said that we would purchase the tickets at the time of exiting.
So we got up early and got ready. We entered the sanctuary from the unguarded point next to RTB much to the shock of the RTB watchman, and roamed along the walkways. However, though it was pleasant and the sight of sunrise was charming we didn't see anything that we hadn't already seen. It was 9 am when we finally walked down to the ticketing window. It was still unmanned and the front gate closed! We walked back to where we had entered from and exited.
Then it was breakfast, packing up and a drive back to Indira Nagar. Home, sweet home!
I had booked a room online in the Rahi Tourist Bungalow (RTB.) The manager told us on enquiry that it was inside the sanctuary complex and that we had to enter from the first gate. My wife is a little finicky about cleanliness and the hotels that we can afford seldom offer the kind of cleanliness that will meet a half-hearted approval from her. I was quite apprehensive as it was a government run hotel. However we were pleasantly surprised by the overall upkeep and quality of service which were good if not great. The lone housekeeping staff willingly removed the old sheet, used it to wipe the headpost of the bed and then spread a fresh and clean sheet. Towels were clean too. The bungalow also has a big and well maintained lawn and a Shiv Temple in that lawn.
The housekeeping man who was my namesake, told us that it used to be a great lake some three decades ago when he got employed there. He said that the lake has now turned into a number of small ones separated by patches of dry land. He said that a lot of money was being poured into maintenance of the place but the authorities were using it building structures and other wasteful things instead of cleaning up and reviving the lake. Some borewells had been repaired and a couple new ones were being constructed to feed the lake which had, unfortunately not received much rainfall over past several years including the current one which saw a good monsoon elsewhere.
The RTB has its own restaurant and there is another bigger restaurant with a beer bar about 100 m away from it and next to the ticket window and entrance to the sanctuary. We walked up to the ticket window. There is a semi-developed park with play structures across the road. It is infested with monkeys. We sat there on a bench for a while watching the monkeys and then proceeded to the ticket window. There is a small museum like room next to the ticket booth. It was locked. The gatekeeper opened it at our request.
The man at the ticket window cautioned us that there were not too many migratory birds and issued a ticket when we insisted nonetheless. A valid id was required to purchase the ticket priced at INR 30 per person. For foreigners it is a steep INR 575 if I remember the figure correctly.
The entrance starts with a walkway adjacent to the restaurant, named Surkhab. The walkway is fenced on both the sides with what look like wooden logs but is actually made of RCC. But the look of wooden logs is pretty convincing and it must have taken much effort and technique to simulate the real thing. The tiled and fenced walkway runs for perhaps a couple of kilometers and has observation towers and resting platforms with benches every 200 m or so. Each platform was occupied by a couple engaged in amorous activities. It reminded me of Residency in Lucknow. There too, each nook and corner is occupied by young couples. I am sure that boys from Lucknow and even Unnao will not be so surprised as we were when we visited the Law Gardens in Ahmedabad about 45 years ago for the first time.
The walkway lines the lake on one side and on the other side there is a green forest patch separating the sanctuary from the highway. Though, you can see and hear the traffice from the walkway and it reminds that you are not too far from what you tried to escape.
We didn't find many birds except the usual geese. Finally we made a digression on to a dirt track which was yet to be tiled and fenced. Some distance away we could see some Saurus Cranes. However there were no migratory birds to be seen.
We returned and enquired at the window the time it opens in the morning. The replies ranged from 7 am to past 9 am!
Next we entered Surkhab restaurant. It looked good. We ordered lunch and I started chatting with the cashier. He too repeated the same story that we had heard from the housekeeping man. He also added that many migratory birds have stopped coming to the place as the villagers from surrounding villages hunt them down. The few surviving ones must have carried the message back to their flock. This is what the cashier felt. The food that was served was quite good and we paid using an INR 2000 note that the cashier happily accepted and returned us the balance in INR 100 notes.
We went back to RTB and sat in the lawn chairs enjoying the feeble sunshine. The manager exchanged greetings and asked if we could see any birds. We told him that we wanted to try our luck again early next morning but the ticket window opened quite late in the morning. He said that it was possible to enter the santuary from one side of the Bungalow even though it wouldn't be proper to do so without a ticket. We thanked him for the information and said that we would purchase the tickets at the time of exiting.
So we got up early and got ready. We entered the sanctuary from the unguarded point next to RTB much to the shock of the RTB watchman, and roamed along the walkways. However, though it was pleasant and the sight of sunrise was charming we didn't see anything that we hadn't already seen. It was 9 am when we finally walked down to the ticketing window. It was still unmanned and the front gate closed! We walked back to where we had entered from and exited.
Then it was breakfast, packing up and a drive back to Indira Nagar. Home, sweet home!
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