Sultanpur National Park, Sultanpur National Park Haryana in India, Sultanpur National Park attractions

The State of Haryana in India is famous for its tradition, culture and lifestyle. The place is also famous for the various sightseeing spots and the innumerable places of interest here. The Sultanpur National Park is one such place in the state of Haryana which provides a great travel experience.

Around an hour from the Indian capital Delhi, the Sultanpur National Park and Bird Sanctuary is an ideal bird lover’s paradise. Lying in the Farukhnagar Gurgaon road, this park was initially a low lying marshy area which actually used to get flooded during the monsoon season. There was a lot of brackish water that used to get accumulated here and this went on to attract many animals and proved a great growing habitat for all the aquatic plants. The pla ce with its lovely surroundings and beautiful ambience also was a great attraction for all the migratory birds as well as the resident birds. In fact, this zone was very popular as a great hunting ground in the earlier times, during the time the area was ruled by kings and small time rulers. This is the place where these royal people used to come to hunt for the waterfowl.

Then Dr. Salim Ali, the mainstay of Indian Ornithology converted this hunting ground into the national park that it is today. In the year 1971, the park was declared as a Bird Sanctuary, under the keen supervision of Dr. Ali. Then the park got upgraded to a national park in the year 1991.

So when I went to Delhi to my aunt’s house and my nephew suggested that we could go and visit this park I was more than keen to go there. Around 47 km from the city of Delhi and more than 16 km from the city of Gurgaon, this place can be accessed by air with Delhi being the nearest airport. Or you could take the Delhi Metro Rail Network from Delhi to Gurgaon and then go further to the park. There are buses too from Delhi to Gurgaon. We drove down to the park from Delhi. The landscape here was very similar to that of Rajasthan and I almost felt I was there in that state. Due to lack of rains, and a constant reduction of groundwater, the entire region had a very desert look. With the climate typically being like what normally exists in the northern part of India, with harsh summers and even colder winters, the national park has a short rainy season from the month of July to the month of August.

Delhi Metro Rail Network

I would say that the Sultanpur National Park is surely the best place for birds. As we went in the winter season, the number of migratory birds here were many and we could see the cornucopia of avifauna here and get enthralled totally. Then there were many crustaceans, insects and fish which are also a mainstay feature in the park. Apparently there have been a lot of developmental works carried out by the wild life preservation department of Haryana which have constructed mounds and tube wells for the betterment of the place. Vegetation is being given a lot of attention and many trees have been planted. Birds like trees like the Acacia Nilotica, the Acacia Tortilis, Neem and the Beris, so these have been planted.

We walked across the park and saw a centre for interpretation and education, and a library too. There were films, binoculars and slides here. This educational centre is a place where more than 70 photographs of different bird species are put up. There were descriptions of each photo and they detailed about the bird that had been photographed thus increasing the interest of the bird lover. This was dedicated to the ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali. There is a special room for him with his bust size statue, write ups on him, his photographs and also some of his personal things.

There were four watch towers and these were ideal places to watch the birds in the area. We decided to book a lodge nearby and stay overnight at the park. There were lot of facilities for drinking water and also toilet arrangements here in the park. I was quite impressed with the organization here which made the tourist comfortable here.

More than 450 species of birds have been seen in the Sultanpur national park and bird sanctuary. Migratory birds come from lands like Afghanistan, Europe and Siberia. The Gray and Black Frankolins, the Indian Roller, the Hoopoe, The egrets,drongo, the paddyfield pipit, bushchats, Indian courser, purple sunbird, lapwings, kingfishers, blackkites, marsh harrier, shikra, black shouldered kite, honey buzzard, sarus crane, spotbilled duck, comb duck, parakeets, spotted owlet, night heron, are some of the birds found here.

The migratory birds include the common ducks in northern India, the northern shoveller, the teal, pintail, the gaganey, spoonbills, the Brahminy duck and various kinds of storks. Then you have the plovers, sandpipers, black winged stilt, redshanks, green shank, the Asian koel, the bee eaters, golden oriole, and the cuckoos.