A young man who became a guide in the Desert National Park to make a living gets drawn to birds, and learns to identify the local and migratory birds, earning the epithet ‘bird man of the desert’.
Hailing from a small village called Rojaniyo ki Basti, sometimes it’s hard to believe that I have become a naturalist.
I was born in a backward area in Sam tehsil in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.
My village lacked basic amenities and I had to go far to study. I could not continue my studies beyond class XII due to my circumstances.
I started working as a guide inside the Desert National Park to earn money.
As I started going on the field, I got the opportunity to observe nature closely. The more time I spent in the desert observing nature, the more I was drawn to birds. Because of my interest, in a very short time, I learned about the resident birds of our desert that live here throughout the year.
With keen observance, I learnt to recognise birds by their call and their movement. I can recognise birds even when they are flying far away.
By going to the field regularly, I started to understand that some birds visited our place during certain seasons. I observed that some of them stayed only for about a month. Then I learnt that they are passage migrants that just stay in the desert for a short duration before resuming their journey towards their destination.
Ten species of small birds are passage migrants, and they spend more than a month in the desert while going from Europe to Africa. These passage migrants are here from 1 September to 10 October, when the desert turns green after the rain and helps these birds have a brief stop.
Then comes the winter migration period, from 1 November to 1 March, when more than 50 species of birds come. These winter migrants come by the thousands, attracting bird lovers to the desert.
When visitors came to the Desert National Park and I helped them see birds, they started putting up posts about the birds and also about me on social media. This helped people to learn about birds, drawing them to observe the species in their natural habitats.
More bird lovers and nature enthusiasts started visiting our area.
As you know, the great Indian bustard is the state bird of Rajasthan and it is found here. Locally, it’s known as godawan and it is on the verge of extinction. To date, I have had the opportunity to show it to every one of my guests. Because of this, the guests started calling me the ‘bird man of the desert’. I also support an organisation that works towards conserving the great Indian bustard.
Some of the guests encouraged me to offer more services. With their help, I opened a small homestay near my village. I have named it the Godawan Garh, which roughly translates to the Great Indian Bustard House. We provide boarding and lodging at Godawan Garh.
Since the homestay is inside the desert, guests enjoy the amazing peace that nature has to offer.
The lead image shows some of the birds found in the Desert National Park, which Rojani helps visitors identify (Photo by Aliyar Rojani)
Aliyar Rojani is a bird lover who works as a nature guide in the Desert National Park in Rajasthan.
