Weekend Getaway: We Escape Delhi Chasing Birds in a Luxury SUV

We took a Range Rover Velar on a road trip to Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. Its gadgetry came in handy on the way.

A roadtrip from Delhi to Bharatpur in a Range Rover Velar. 

Photo: The Quint

Video Editors: Deepthi Ramdas & Rahul Sanpui

Roadtrips are most often not about the destination, but the journey itself. And from Delhi there are many destinations one can head off to. However, the thing is on long weekends most of Delhi heads for destinations in the hills during the hotter months or towards Rajasthan in the cooler season.

One particular weekend, four of us at The Quint, decided on a quick getaway to a destination in the hills in two SUVs. However, like all good plans, this one came to naught and we were down to just two of us enthusiastic enough to head out, but with just one SUV and very little time.

So, long story short, we found ourselves ditching destinations in the hills and the warmer plains and charting a course for a green patch that’s almost in Delhi’s backyard - Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.

The Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur is home to many domestic species and foreign exotic migratory birds. The weather had begun to cool down and most water bodies were full, which attracted many of the water birds too. That’s what we had in mind when we set off on this bird-watching weekend.

The interesting bit, though, was our journey to Bharatpur, which is just about 220 Km to the south-east of Delhi. It is easily accessible via the Yamuna Expressway, from where you turn off towards Mathura. This is where the drive gets a bit tricky as the roads are narrow. And to our luck, we encountered a massive jam, which then made us detour through countryside mud tracks and even drive through a pond!

But in the end it was worth it. Yes, we did get to see them birds too - and Cyrus wasn’t too disappointed.