Hotel Desert Winds

Gajner Wildlife Sanctuary

by RAJASTHANBYCAR

The lake and forested hills of this reserve, 32 km from Bikaner on the Jaisalmer road, are inhabited by wildfowl, hares , wild boar, desert foxes and a number of deer and antelopes including black bucks and blue bulls. The lake at Gajner attracts water birds in thousands. Imperial sand house migrate here in winter. Gajner Wildlife Sanctuary, houses the former Hunting lodge of Bikaner and has a beautiful lake surrounded by a dense forest.
It can be visited by jeeps with the forest officers as the guides.


Entry Fee Rs 100 per head

Bikaner - wall decoration

by Luchonda

Wall decorations give a lot of information about the status of the original owner !!
Kids are playing around - they are friendly but sometimes rude to sell some souvenirs.
This you will have in big touristic cities like Agra and New Dehli - but not yet in Bikaner

Bikaner - a Palace and a rat temple!

by tremendopunto

Bikaner is a a 10h busride from Delhi right in the Thar desert. Due to renovations of the railwaytracks (from summer 2006 to .....?) there was only the bus as a reasonable way of transportation. The bus leaves from Serai Khale Khan bus adda.

The Highlights of Bikaner are undoubtedly the magnificent Janagarh Fort - a well preserved Palace just like in fairytales.

"RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The second wonder is the Karni Mata Rat Temple in Deshnok. Yes, it is a beautiful marble temple with silver doors.......just for rats!!!!!
Well, people in this region believe that their ancestors have a rebirth as rats. So to do something good for your ancestors they get a great place to stay (even the open air areas are protected with nets against hawks or other enemies looking for a snack) including a huge kitchen with pots of a diameter of three meters and more where all this delicious sweet meals are cooked for aproximately millions of rats!!!!

By the way, you are not allowed to enter with shoes of course. Watch your steps! You dont want to kill a reincarnation! If you are lucky, a rat will walk over your foot - that will bring you good luck in the future :-)
And if you are really lucky, you will see a white rat. That would be the jackpot! (if so much luck happens to you - run for a lottery ticket, you will win for sure, graranteed!!!)

The temple is situated in Deshnok, 40km from Bikaner. The bus will get you there in 40 minutes or so.

Here is a short clip of my Deshnok trip to the Karni Mata Temple