We had an early 6.00am start for an 8.00am flight to Jaisalmer. We met our guide for the trip, Ranbir Singh, collected our packed breakfast from the hotel and were taken to the domestic flights airport. The checkin was a very long-drawn out affair, complicated by the fact that my luggage was over the limit. I had to go to another desk, get my luggage weight checked again and then pay for it, which was not rapid. We finally made it through the queues and then waited for the flight to Jaisalmer. Our driver, Ganesh, collected us, loaded up the bus and then we began our drive to Desert National Park first stopping at a couple of places to scan for birds and then driving to Jaisalmer for lunch and a look at the fort from the outside. Our first birds were Purple Sunbird, Asian Green Bee-eater and White-eared Bulbuls as we took photos of the impressive Jaiselmer Fort. A young camel came and checked us out.
We drove into the town for lunch at a place which has a rooftop terrace so we could get a close look, unfortunately it was closed so we had to find somewhere else. They had some interesting bits of masonry with various figures carved on them. There wasn't anyone to ask the meaning of them so we reloaded the bus and drove to another restaurant.
After lunch, we drove to Gada Sar lake, got out and walked through the street vendors and carts, crushing and selling sugar cane juice, making bracelets and various other trinkets. There was a wall with a heart and two camels either side which was very popular for photo shots, apparently.
Ranbir asked if we’d like to go to a market, which we agreed to, so we drove to a side street, parked and entered a building which was really a textile store with clothes and some bits of jewelry. They showed us a nice selection of things and I eventually chose a mid-sleeved blouse in cotton with an elephant pattern.
Our next stop was outside Jaisalmer at the Akul Petrified Forest. The forest is a 21 hectare As we drove through the gate an emu appeared and a tame deer greeted us. We drove along a track, stopping to scan for birds. We made a couple of stops, with views of Desert Lark and, following the others in the distance I found an odd fly with hairy legs. On one of the mounds there was a stone column, which looked like an ancestor stone, an ancient marker. As we caught up we were told we were looking for?
As we walked through, Rambir found an Eagle Owl resting in a bush across the valley.
We walked on to an area that had various simple buildings, which were covers for some petrified tree trunks and logs that were from the Early Jurassic period. They are housed in roofed wired cages which made it difficult to photograph. The largest trunk is 13.4 mts long. A lucky scan saw a wild Boar running along the crest of a hill, disappearing rapidly.
Scanning around we found Common Babbler and Variable Wheatear. Looking around there was a very small piece of what looked like petrified wood and one of our first butterflies settled close enough to attempt identification.
Rambir, Alan and Sean wandered in one direction and David in another, with both finding a White-browed Fantail, so we walked over and watched it for a while, getting good views and some photos, before heading back towards the log area.
As we began our walk back another Eagle Owl was found but it headed off over the hill. Our driver was waiting for us so we climbed aboard and drove a bit further into the park, stopping to check out some of the Ancester Stones that were dotted around.
We saw some Grey Francolin and deer before we headed out of the park. There were a couple of young goats playing on the chairs at the gate which entertained us while we were checked out.
