Rajasthan is often imagined as a place of dunes shimmering in the sun, lizards scuttling across the sand, or camels chewing the cud under thorny acacia trees. All of this is true, but the largest state in India also has hills blanketed with green, wetlands crowded with birds, and riverine ecosystems where crocodiles and turtles swim free. Looking at water sources and landscapes gives one an insight into the various habitats of a place. They are what determine the kind of flora and fauna that exist. In the case of Rajasthan, the Aravalli Hills play a significant role in shaping the state’s ecosystems.
The Aravallis are an ancient mountain range older than the Himalayas and the Western Ghats. They extend from Delhi in the north to Gujarat in the south, running diagonally across Rajasthan, cleaving the state.
To the west of the Aravallis, the Thar Desert extends well into Pakistan. The Thar is the driest part of Rajasthan, famous for tourist destinations like Jaisalmer city and Desert National Park. To the east of the Aravallis, where water is more plentiful, lie the Chambal, Banas, and Mahi basins, fed by their namesake rivers. Scenic Ranthambore National Park, home to tigers, leopards, sambar, chital, chinkara, nilgai and many other species, is in this area. Also in eastern Rajasthan is the magnificent Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur district. Formerly a duck-hunting reserve for royalty, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site that attracts more than 360 avian species, including majestic sarus cranes — the tallest flying birds in the world.
The Aravalli ecosystem is part arid and rocky, part grassy hillsides, and around Mt Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill station, relatively green. Together, these habitats create a mosaic of landscapes rich in biodiversity.
The Thar Desert is shaped by the absence of surface water. This vast, arid landscape is spread over 2,00,000 sq km and encompasses parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat. It might appear largely empty, but the Thar has much diversity that has evolved over millions of years. Among the resilient species that live there is the chinkara (Gazella bennettii), a graceful member of the gazelle family. Photo: Pallavi Laveti Sarus cranes preen and wander around at dawn as they prepare to start foraging, in Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Desert National Park is a wonderful example of the bounty present even in an arid ecosystem. This protected area falls in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts and is a study in extremes. Summer temperatures here are as high as 50 degrees C, and in winter, the mercury falls to lows of 2 degrees C. To deal with these swings in weather, many creatures, such as this Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis), spend their days and nights in subterranean dens, emerging to hunt and forage in the cool hours of dawn and dusk. Photo: Pallavi Laveti
Among the smaller residents of the Thar is the toad-headed lizard (Bufoniceps laungwalaensis), an endemic species that camouflages perfectly against the sand. These lizards are one of several reptiles that inhabit the desert ecosystem. Other species include skinks, scorpions, sand snakes, and sand boas. Photo: Pallavi Laveti
Wedged between the Thar Desert and the Aravallis, the district of Jodhpur’s habitat is largely flat with thorny scrub forests. This mostly brown landscape comes alive between June and September when the region receives some rain. Blackbuck and chinkara (pictured here) live here year-round. Photo: Surya Ramachandran
At Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary, a few hours by road from Jodhpur, Rajasthan’s grassland-loving fauna gather. The sanctuary is spread over only nine sq km and is fringed by human populations, and yet, it has healthy populations of ungulates and raptors, including this cinerous vulture (Aegypius monachus). These hulking birds breed in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and Northern China, and mostly juveniles migrate to India in winter. Tal Chhapar also hosts griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus), steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis), and eastern imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca), making it a popular pitstop for birdwatchers. Photo: Shreeram MV
The rockier parts of the Aravallis are ideal for leopards, but spotting one is difficult unless you are in Jawai Bandh aka Leopard Country. What makes the big cats in this part of Rajasthan so special is that they allow themselves to be seen frequently — from hilltops to near village temples — a rare phenomenon for a predator that lives largely in stealth mode. Photo: Shivang Mehta
Cross over the Aravallis to the east, and the landscape becomes much greener. Rivers flow through this region, bringing life-giving freshwater to the soil and facilitating a more robust forest habitat. The Chambal basin supports terrestrial and aquatic species, from Gangetic river dolphins and mugger crocodiles to black-necked storks and sarus cranes. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
The Chambal riverscape is far from the Rajasthan of popular imagination. Instead of dunes and dust, this habitat has perennial freshwater, riverbanks blanketed with green, and a diversity of water-loving birds such as these Indian skimmers (Rynchops albicollis). Fed primarily by the Chambal River, this riverscape continues downstream into the famous National Chambal Sanctuary (in Madhya Pradesh) which is the abode of the critically endangered gharials. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
The star of National Chambal Sanctuary is the gharial, a cousin of the crocodile, named for the “ghara” or pot on the snout of adult males. Gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) inspire fear among many people, but they are strictly fish-eating animals. Their numbers were once abundant along the rivers of northern India, but habitat degradation has led to a steep decline in their population. The IUCN Red List categorises gharials as critically endangered. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Further north from Chambal lies the famous Ranthambore National Park. Like Keoladeo, Ranthambore was also a game reserve for royals until it became a sanctuary in 1955. It remains popular with visitors who want to spot big cats, but thanks to persistent conservation measures, the shooting in Ranthambore nowadays is strictly by camera. Photo: Surya Ramachandran
Ranthambore’s landscape changes with the seasons. In summer, its palette is dominated by yellow, orange, brown, and black — perfect camouflage for tigers (Panthera tigris) that stalk these grounds. Try and spot the tigers hidden in this image. In the latter half of the year, when the rains arrive, the waterbodies in Ranthambore fill up, attracting a bevy of migratory birds, including ducks, waders, raptors, and locally migratory species such as the painted storks, flamingos, and sarus cranes. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Sarus cranes (Grus antigone) also inhabit the wetlands of Keoladeo Wildlife Sanctuary, formerly Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. These striking birds have inhabited Rajasthan for centuries and feature in stories, songs, and artworks from the region. One reason is their physiology: adults have a blood-red patch on their face and grow over five feet tall. The other is their famed fidelity: the cranes mate for life, and once they do, they rarely separate from their partner. Photo: Shivang Mehta
Rajasthan is a mosaic of rich diversity, but like many natural habitats in the country, large swathes of its wilds are shrinking. Hydroelectric projects, stone quarries, expanding agriculture, and sand mining are just some of the activities reshaping these landscapes, altering the region’s flora and fauna and its future. Here, a flock of birds (possibly pratincoles) fly away as they are disturbed by a tractor in an agricultural field. Photo: Surya Ramachandran
