Introduction

This blog is to record all the wildlife that we saw in India on a trip to visit the Delhi Triangle, taking in Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, and Varanasi.  Though the focus of the trip was more about culture and sight-seeing, we did visit the Ranthambore tiger reserve, and in a short extension to the trip, Bharatpur Bird Reserve. Most of the countryside we visited involved fertile plains devoted to agriculture, though much of it is done manually with hopefully less impact on wildlife than the western 'spray it out of existence policy'.  While touring it was a fairly full-on tour with little time for wildlife watching or photography - Even the Ranthambore visits seemed to be a rush round to try and find the increasingly rare tigers, with little time for the rest of the wildlife. But somehow I've come back with a few good shots which I have described in the next few posts.  The culture and sightseeing hasn't been forgotten though, so this post has a few of the more memorable sights that we saw.

Palace of Winds, Jaipur.  Essentially just a facade

built so that the ladies from the City Palace could

look down on the populace without being seen.

Incredibly detailed bracket of red sandstone from the

inner courtyard of the City Palace showing an elephant

holding a lotus flower.  This is a Buddhist symbol from

a dream had by Buddha's mother Queen Maya before

his conception

No caption required unless it's to mention the damned scaffolding.

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi.  This pre-dates the Taj Mahal by about 100 years.  Inlaid sandstone rather than inlaid marble and a much more peaceful site.  Each of the inner chambers are octagonal and each chamber has 8 passageways leading from it.

Dung.  These are dung cakes formed by hand from cow or buffalo dung and are

dried and used for cooking with.  Much safer and sweeter smelling than a wood

burning open fire and the smoke is not carcinogenic.

Evening prayers by the Ganges at Varanasi.  The men with the oil lamps are Sadhus - Hindu priests who lead the prayers.

An even more detailed bracket, this time from the
Red Fort at Agra.