Asia

After Agra Fort the next stop is at the beautiful Itmad-ud-Daula mausoleum or Baby Taj which is smaller but more decorated compared to the Taj Mahal

First place we visit in Agra is the Agra Fort an Unesco World Heritage Site and the center of power for the Mughal Empire for about a century

We spend the morning exploring the grounds and finding cool birds and mammals until we have to check out and drive to Agra

In the afternoon we take a three hour cruise on the Chambal river looking for dolphins, gharials and birds especially the rare Indian Skimmer

We have booked two safari trips with our lodging with the first one focused on sarus cranes that we easily see with many other special birds

We arrive early afternoon at Chambal Safari Lodge and have time for an afternoon and evening walk on the grounds seeing beautiful birds and civets

Fatehpur Sikri was built to be the capital of the Mughal Empire by Akbar but was abandoned after 30 years of work

We return on a longer and less touristy road after seeing owls and other interesting birds at the ponds at the end of the road

We start the morning exploring Keoladeo National Park on a four mile hike to the end of the road walking on dikes and seeing hundreds of birds

We arrive in the late afternoon in Bharatpur and enjoy an evening on our balcony and a dinner at the hotel restaurant