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Desert national park · Rajasthan

Desert National Park

The Thar's last stronghold of the Great Indian Bustard, among the dunes near Jaisalmer.

Getting there

~40 min to 1.5 hr drive from Jaisalmer

Best for

The critically endangered Great Indian Bustard and Thar desert wildlife

The land

Sand dunes, scrub and stony desert in the Thar near the Pakistan border

Good to know

The bustard is rare and hard to find — come with realistic hopes

What it is

Desert National Park is the last good place to look for one of the rarest birds on earth.

In the Thar desert near Jaisalmer, this vast, sparse park is the most important refuge left for the Great Indian Bustard — a huge grassland bird, critically endangered, down to a few hundred individuals and sliding towards extinction. The desert here — dunes, scrub, stony flats — also holds chinkara gazelle, desert fox, desert cat and a fine array of raptors and larks. The bustard is genuinely hard to see, but Desert NP is where its fight for survival is being waged.

PhotoA Great Indian Bustard striding across stony desert scrub.

The reason to come

The bustard's last stand

The Great Indian Bustard is one of the most endangered birds in the world, killed by power lines, habitat loss and hunting until only a remnant survives, mostly here. To see one is to see a species on the very edge — and to understand what is being lost.

The bustard

A tall, heavy grassland bird, critically endangered — this is its single most important Indian refuge.

The power-line threat

Collisions with power lines are a leading cause of bustard deaths — a stark example of infrastructure versus wildlife.

The desert life

Chinkara, desert fox and cat, and superb raptors and larks make the Thar more alive than it looks.

An honest note

Bustard sightings are not reliable — the birds are few and the park is huge. Come for the Thar and its wildlife as a whole, and treat a bustard as the rare gift it is.

A species on the brink

Why it may not be here long.

The Great Indian Bustard could plausibly go extinct in the coming decades, and Desert National Park is the front line of the effort to prevent that — through power-line management, predator control and captive breeding. Visiting now is, in a real sense, seeing something that may not survive the century.

PhotoPower lines crossing the desert — the bustard's gravest threat.

When to come — honestly

A cool-season desert.

November – March

Best

Cool desert months, comfortable and best for wildlife and birding, with raptors and wintering species present.

September – October

Good

Just after the rains, when the desert briefly greens and bird activity rises before the cool season.

Summer in the Thar is brutally hot and best avoided. The cool months are the time to come — for the bustard, the raptors and the desert wildlife, in weather you can actually work in.

The Thar's edge

People, power and the desert

The Thar is one of the most densely populated deserts in the world, and the bustard's decline is bound up with human use — grazing, agriculture, and above all the spread of power lines and renewable-energy infrastructure across its habitat.

The conflict between green energy and the bustard — solar and wind lines killing the very species conservationists are trying to save — is one of the hardest dilemmas in Indian conservation.

We are honest that the bustard is rare and the park is vast. The Thar's wider wildlife, and the bustard's plight, are the real reasons to come.

Beyond the obvious

Three ways to read Desert NP.

PhotoThe bustard search

The bustard search

Patient desert driving for the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard.

PhotoThar wildlife

Thar wildlife

Chinkara, desert fox and cat, and the desert's surprising small life.

PhotoDesert raptors

Desert raptors

Larks, sandgrouse and a fine cast of raptors over the dunes and flats.

Why Wild Voyager

We run India on our own ground.

India is one of three countries we run with our own guides and vehicles, not booked through a middleman. In Desert National Park that means working the vast desert for the bustard and its wildlife with guides who know where the few birds still range.

We operate it, not a middleman

Our team handles the permits, the zones and the timing, so we answer for your sightings — not a stranger hoping it works out.

We base you in the right zone

The bustard is scarce and the park enormous. We work with guides who know the few areas the birds still use, so the long odds get as short as they honestly can.

We guide for wildlife, not a checklist

Our naturalists work the alarm calls, the tracks and the light — they would rather earn you one real sighting than tick a list.

Journeys

Trips through Desert National Park

9 Days · 8 Nights

Rajasthan Birding

Where to stay

Where you’ll stay in Desert National Park

Signature Collection

PhotoSUJÁN The Serai

Signature

SUJÁN The Serai

A standout lodge at Desert NP, a base for the Thar and the bustard country.

Luxury Collection

PhotoDesert Tulip

Luxury

Desert Tulip

A polished lodge, a base for the Thar and the bustard country.

Classic Collection

PhotoHotel Rang Mahal

Classic

Hotel Rang Mahal

A dependable heritage hotel, a base for the Thar and the bustard country.

Pair Desert NP with Jaisalmer
and the Thar.

Desert National Park, with Jaisalmer's fort and the dunes, makes a Thar trip of wildlife and desert culture. We route the bustard search with the wider desert.

Plan a Desert NP trip

Field notes, now and then.

Where to go · When to go · Wildlife in season