Maan Singh, Bharatpur, Birding guide par excellence

The first time i went to Bharatpur was 3 years back. I was new to birds & birding. Infact we were doing a project in school on birds. Priyanka didi & Manish bhaiyya got me really interested in birds, they got me hooked, it was one of the best projects i had done in school. Then my parents got for me the "Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett" which is like a bible for birds & id's etc. I used to read it for hours, sleep with it, wake up with, walk with it etc.

My school (mirambika) also has a lovely campus, i started to identify birds. Then there is a park in front of my house, there also i started to identify birds. Once we went for a walk with Priyankadidi & Manishbhaiyya, then he thought us how to identify the birds by their call. While we were doing the project i got a chance to visit Bharatpur (Keoladeo Ghana National Park)

We were quite tentative about how to go about birding in the park since it was our first time. We asked for a guide et al, then we needed to hire a cycle rickshaw to go inside the park since it is a long walk. Then this person with a cycle rickshaw walked up to us & told us he will take us in. That was my first meeting with Maan Singh.

Within 5 minutes we realised that he was much better guide than the actual birding guide that we had hired. That day evening while walking back from the park Maan Singh actually spotted an Osprey, it was unbelievable for me to be able to see an Osprey & we realised the guide had not even spotted it.

So the next day morning when we were going back to the park we decided we do not need a guide, Maan Singh himself is a super birding guide. So that is how i came to know Maan Singh. Since then whenever we go to Bharatpur we go into the park with only Maan Singh. He obviously is a much respected person, his skills in identifying birds are just fantastic, his eyes are so sharp, he knows their calls, he knows the behaviour of the birds very well, he has a feel for them, plus he is also very relaxed as a person & great company to be cycling with, when he regales us with stories about birding, about the state of the park, how it is been run etc.

Maan Singh, age 47, Rickshaw No. 5, has been in Bharatpur since 1981. In 1981, Keoladeo Ghana bird sanctuary was given the status of National Park. He was trained by Dr Salim Ali when he used to come to Bharatpur, he also has attended many seminars & workshops with Dr Salim Ali

Maan Singh earns about Rs 5,000/- a month on an average. He is also very environmentally conscious & gets appalled with visitors who come into the park & litter, he also has a lot to say about the kind of vegetation which was there in the park, which is more mono culture than bio diverse, he is happy with the changes which are taking place to replace the awful "ganda babul" trees.

Water in the park is critical, he throws his hands up in despair when he explains the politics behind the water distribution. His life is also dependent on it, if there is no water in the park, then there will be no birds, if there are no birds, then there will be be no visitors, if there are no visitors to the park, then he will have no work & no earnings.

Maan Singh

14, Madhav Galli,

Near Ganga Mandir

Bharatpur. 321 001