It doesn’t often happen in the birding world, where a location is primarily famous only because of a particular bird species that is found there. Like the Bugun Liocichla which is only found in the Lama Camp, the Yellow-throated Bulbul which makes Hampi the preferred location for birders, maybe in the same way or more, it is undoubtedly the Green Munia (Green Avadavat) which makes Mt. Abu the only reason why we birders feel like visiting there.
Not to take away the credit of being the only green hill station in Rajasthan, Mt. Abu is beautiful in its own way. But it is indeed the Green Munia that is the highlight for all birders when they visit this hill station. The popularity of this bird is so high that the moment you get down from your car with your camera and lenses, the first question the security at the hotel asks you is whether we are there for the Green Munia. Not juts that, if you are roaming around in the town with your camera gear, the villagers keep asking you, whether have you seen the Green Munia or are you still looking for it. Sometimes they even offer their help for you to sight it easily.
Such is the popularity of this bird, no wonder it had to be beautiful. That glowing red bill, with the zebra marking on the side belly, with lime green colouration, what more could you ask from the bird. For an instance it reminded me of Red-billed Leiothrix from Uttarakhand.
We drove from GRK to Mt. Abu, booked for 2 night stay, then onward to DNP Jaisalmer for another 3 nights and back to Mt. Abu for 1 night, and then back to GRK. This was the first time we were entering Rajasthan in our own car. The plan to drive all across Rajasthan was already there in the back of our mind since last few year, but covid literally killed all that plan. So finally, when I got the chance to do birding in Mt Abu and Jaisalmer, that dream of driving on the beautiful Rajasthan roads, finally got fulfilled.
Total distance from GRK to Mt. Abu: 486 km
Total time taken: 8 hours 2 minutes (including rest, relaxation and fueling)
Bird Guide: Veer Vaibhav Mishra
Place of Stay: ITC Welcom Heritage Connaught House - Be ready for some royal luxury treatment at this hotel. The ambience is a perfect blend of Heritage property with beautiful landscaping. The staff is too good to prepare meals as per your liking, we even tried their specialty the famous Laal Maans. After a long day of birding, if you plan to spend your time in a lot comfort, look no beyond ITC Welcom Heritage. No other property can come close to this in Mt. Abu. It is indeed the best of all.
Duration of stay: 2 nights onward journey and 1 night return journey from Jaisalmer
We had an amazing sighting of the Green Munia and to top it all, a lifer in the form of White-capped Bunting too. We did search for the Crested Bunting for many hours, unfortunately couldn’t trace it this time around. Enjoy the pics and video below,
If you want to do Birding in Jaisalmer, look nowhere else other than Musa Khan. He is super busy, always booked in advance for months all-together, but he is the guy. We did the trip with Veer Vaibhav Mishra, he is good in GRK and he can do basic birding in DNP, but we ended up missing the Black-bellied Sandgrouse and the Water Pipit which almost everyone is able to sight in Jaisalmer.
I am not complaining a lot though, as the birding which we did, was good enough to cover the basic key species of DNP and Jaisalmer. However, at a small corner of my mind I’m feeling disappointed in missing the black-bellied sandgrouse.
On the other hand, the drive compensated the disappointment. The all-so-famous roads of Rajasthan are super pleasure to drive. You can easily hit illegal speeds if you are not monitoring the speedometer on a constant basis. Within a blink of an eye, I hit 185 km/h. The car hardly had any noise or vibration, the air flow aerodynamics were working so well that the vehicle felt stuck on to the tarmac even though it is not a quattro. I wonder what I would do when I go to Autobahn. I also wonder, if the A4 drives like this, what would RS5 or RS7 feel like?
We asked Veer to do the hotel booking as we were not aware about the convenience which it could bring us for our birding. He booked at one of those tent stays (Imperial resort) at Sam desert. We checked in at around 4 PM. As soon as the evening set in, all that culture program (songs and dance) started. I could have lived with it maybe a decade earlier, but now I’m a birder and I enjoy peace and tranquility. The loud speaker music till late 10 in the night literally killed all that and I decided I cannot just stay there for another night. I immediately booked my stay at The Marriott Jaisalmer and that was exactly what I was looking for. We got the Fort View room and the luxury and hospitality was top class. There cannot be a better place to stay in Jaisalmer.
View from our room @ The Marriott
Total Distance from Mt. Abu to Jaisalmer: 461 km
Total time taken: 7 hours 39 minutes
Bird Guide: Veer Vaibhav Mishra
Place of Stay: The Marriott Resort and Spa Jaisalmer
