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Desert National Park

Desert National Park

wildlife park · Rajasthan

State
Rajasthan
Type
Wildlife Park

Desert National Park, spread across the Thar desert near Jaisalmer and Barmer in Rajasthan, is one of India's largest protected areas and the last stronghold of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. Its dunes, scrub and rocky expanses shelter desert foxes, chinkara, desert cats and raptors, along with ancient fossils.

When to go

November to March is the only comfortable season, with cool days and good birdwatching; summers are extremely hot.

Why visit

Search for the rare Great Indian Bustard and desert wildlife across dramatic dunes, and pair it with the golden fort city of Jaisalmer.

Cultural notes

The park protects the Great Indian Bustard, one of the world's most endangered birds, and preserves marine and dinosaur fossils from an ancient sea.

How to reach

By Road: The park is reached via Sam and Khuri near Jaisalmer. By Air and Train: Jaisalmer has a railway station and seasonal air links; Jodhpur is the larger gateway.

Desert National Park guide & itineraries

Shopping

Jaisalmer nearby is famous for mirror-work textiles, leather, and stone and camel-leather crafts.

Frequently asked questions

What is Desert National Park famous for?

It is the last major stronghold of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard, set among the dunes and scrub of the Thar desert.

When should I visit Desert National Park?

November to March, when the desert is cool; summers are extremely hot.

Been to Desert National Park?

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Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur repays getting up early more than almost anywhere in Rajasthan, because by ten the coaches have arrived and Amber Fort stops being a fort and becomes a queue. Be at Amber for opening. Walk up rather than taking the elephants — the welfare of those animals is a long-running problem and a jeep does the same job. Inside, the Sheesh Mahal is the room everyone photographs, but the Ganesh Pol above the second courtyard is the better piece of work. Hawa Mahal disappoints people, and it is worth knowing why before you stand in front of it: it is a screen, one room deep, built so the women of the household could watch the street unseen. There is almost nothing behind the facade. The good view is from the rooftop cafés opposite, looking back at it. Jantar Mantar is the one to book a guide for. Without someone to explain them the instruments are handsome shapes; with someone, they are a working observatory and the visit turns into the best hour of your day. For jewellery go to Johari Bazaar, for fabric to Bapu Bazaar, and for everyday chaos and better prices to Chandpole. October to March. April onwards the stone gets too hot to touch by mid-morning.

Udaipur

Udaipur

Udaipur, the 'City of Lakes', sits among the green Aravalli Hills, built around a chain of interconnected lakes created over the centuries for water and defence. The largest, Lake Pichola, is the visual centre of the city, its shores lined with white marble palaces, bathing ghats and lakefront hotels. The grandest is the City Palace, which is really eleven palaces built against each other over four centuries by successive maharanas — which is why the inside is a maze of levels and courtyards rather than a single plan. Udaipur has a noticeably slower pace than Rajasthan's other big cities. In bad drought years Pichola has emptied completely, so if the lake is the reason you are coming, check before you book.

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is built from the same yellow sandstone it stands on, which is why at six in the evening the whole fort looks lit from inside — and why at midday it looks like nothing much at all. Time your first look for the last hour of light. The fort is one of very few in the world still lived in: several thousand people, with shops, homes, temples and plumbing inside the walls. That is what makes it extraordinary and also what is slowly destroying it, because the drainage was never built for modern water use and the bastions are being undermined. Conservationists ask visitors to sleep outside the walls rather than in the fort hotels. It is worth honouring. Patwon ki Haveli is the finest carved stone in the city. The Jain temples inside the fort are quieter and, to my eye, better. For the desert, the choice matters. Sam dunes at sunset is a full circus of camels, jeeps and loudspeakers. Khuri is further out, plainer, and gives you the silence people actually come to the Thar for. November to February. Nights in the desert get genuinely cold — bring more than you think.

Ajmer Sharif Dargah

Ajmer Sharif Dargah

Ajmer Sharif is the most revered Sufi shrine in India — the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the 12th-century saint who founded the Chishti order. Drawing millions of pilgrims of all faiths, especially during the annual Urs, it is a powerful symbol of India's syncretic spiritual culture.

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