Why the animals feel safe in a temple
One story says the langur's face and hands were blackened when Hanuman set Lanka alight with his burning tail and singed himself putting it out. Whatever you believe, the result is plain to see. Langurs live in towns, temples and forts all over Rajasthan, and almost nobody harms them.
The Hanuman langur: the long-tailed monkey with the black face and hands is named across north India for Hanuman, the monkey god of the Ramayana and devoted servant of Rama.
Hanuman's days: on Tuesdays and Saturdays, devotees bring langurs bananas and chickpeas at the temple steps.
- Signature animals
- Grey langurs, macaques, peafowl, blackbuck, cranes
- Best places
- Mandore, Galtaji, Deshnoke, Khichan, Jawai
- Best months
- October to March
- Best hours
- Early morning and the last two hours of light
- Our rule
- Watch, never feed
- The peacock: India's national bird carries the feather Krishna wears in his crown, and in Rajasthan's villages it struts across the fields almost tame.
- The cow: cows wander the bazaars because they are sacred, and many households hand the first roti of the day to the one at the door.
- Pigeons: they are fed grain at the squares of the walled cities, an act of merit families have paid for over generations.
- The kabas: at Deshnoke, the rats of the Karni Mata temple are believed to be the goddess's own family, waiting to be reborn.
- Ahimsa: non-violence towards all living things, taught most strictly by the Jains, whose communities in Rajasthan have fed birds and animals for centuries.
- The oran: across the Thar, villages set aside land around a shrine where no tree may be cut and no animal hunted. Some cover many square kilometres and are among the last refuges of desert wildlife.
- Deshnoke's oran: around the Karni Mata temple, it shelters blackbuck and chinkara to this day.
- The Bishnoi: Guru Jambheshwar gave his followers twenty-nine rules in the fifteenth century, among them protecting trees and animals.
- Khejarli, 1730: near Jodhpur, Bishnoi villagers gave their lives to stop the felling of their khejri trees. Their villages are still full of blackbuck and chinkara that graze close to the houses.
- Start here: if you want to understand why Rajasthan still has wild animals living among its people, start with the Bishnoi.
Where we watch them, place by place
- Langurs
- Mandore, Ranthambore, Kumbhalgarh, Chittorgarh
- Macaques
- Galtaji, Taragarh, Mount Abu, Vrindavan
- Kabas
- Karni Mata, Deshnoke, about 30 km from Bikaner
- Cranes
- Khichan, about September to March
- Leopards
- The hill shrines of Jawai
Mandore, the langurs of the Rathore cenotaphs
Where: nine kilometres north of Jodhpur, the old Rathore capital of Mandore is a garden of carved red sandstone royal cenotaphs, beside the painted Hall of Heroes and the ruined hill fort.
The langurs: they sit on the cenotaph roofs and wait under the trees for someone to drop a samosa.
- Famous monkeys: Jodhpur's langurs are among the most closely studied in the world, watched by scientists for more than half a century.
- The lesson: one study found the heavily fed Mandore troop more aggressive than troops that were not, the best argument we know for keeping snacks in the car.
- When: late afternoon, when the stone warms and the langurs are active.
Galtaji, the macaques of the sacred spring
Where: a gorge in the hills east of Jaipur, where the temples and seven sacred tanks of Galtaji are an old seat of the Ramanandi Vaishnava tradition.
- The legend: the sage Galav meditated here and was rewarded with the spring that still flows.
- The monkey temple: hundreds of rhesus macaques, brown-gold, quick and clever, live among the temples and on the cliffs.
- At dawn: pilgrims bathe in the tanks and the macaques sun themselves on the walls, one of the most memorable hours in Jaipur.
Deshnoke, the kabas of Karni Mata
The temple: about thirty kilometres south of Bikaner, the Karni Mata temple is home to around 20,000 rats, called kabas, who are fed, protected and worshipped.
The legend: when Karni Mata's son drowned, she declared that her Charan family would be reborn as kabas in her temple, and then as Charans again.
- White kabas: a few are white, and seeing one is a blessing.
- When: first light, when devotees fill the courtyard and the kabas gather round bowls of fresh milk.
- Never pushed: it is not for everyone, and we never push anyone through the silver doors.
Khichan, the cranes a village feeds
Where: near Phalodi, on the road between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
- The cranes: thousands of demoiselle cranes from about September to March, flying in from Central Asia over the Himalaya.
- The feeding: each morning villagers scatter grain at a feeding ground on the village edge, a tradition started by its Jain families and kept up for generations.
- The sight: grey cranes spiralling down in their thousands at sunrise, one of the great wildlife sights of India. Our journal on the demoiselle cranes of Khichan tells the story.
Jawai, leopards and hill shrines
A shrine on every hill: in the granite hills of Jawai, from a painted stone under a tree to a whitewashed temple up a long flight of steps.
- Leopard caves: several shrines sit in caves leopards use by day, and in places a priest climbs up each evening to light a lamp in a cave the cat has just left.
- The Rabari: the herders lose animals to the leopards and speak of it with a patience born of long familiarity and the sacredness of the hills they share.
- Side by side: the most remarkable example we know of people and a big cat living together. Our Rabari herders page explains how we spend time with them.
The Bishnoi villages of Marwar
Where: south of Jodhpur, around Rohet and Guda Bishnoi.
- Unafraid: blackbuck and chinkara graze near the doorsteps because nobody has harmed them for generations.
- The gentlest encounter: a morning with a Bishnoi family, with tea, a potter's wheel and blackbuck in the fields.
- Go deeper: our Bishnoi villages page and the journal on Bishnoi conservation.
Ranthambore, Ganesh in the tiger's fort
The temple: high on the rock inside Ranthambore National Park, the old fort holds a temple to Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of beginnings.
- The first invitation: families from across Rajasthan send the first invitation to every wedding here.
- On the steps: langurs watch the pilgrims from the walls, and you may see a sambar deer, a peacock or even pugmarks in the dust, because the fort is surrounded by tiger country.
The fort walls of Mewar
Langurs on the ramparts: at Kumbhalgarh and on the plateau of Chittorgarh, in the evening light.
- At noon in May: the only creatures on the battlements are langurs in the shade.
- Kumbhalgarh's forest: the sanctuary also holds nilgai, chinkara and, rarely, wolves and leopards.
Bundi and Mount Abu, the bold ones
Taragarh: at Taragarh Fort above Bundi, a large troop of rhesus macaques rules the ruined palace and knows exactly what a backpack is. The calmer langurs keep to the trees.
- Nakki Lake: in Mount Abu, langurs and macaques are everywhere, and the macaques are expert at snatching food.
- Wonderful to watch: provided you have nothing they want.
Mathura and Vrindavan, Krishna's monkeys
Beyond Rajasthan: in Mathura and Vrindavan, where Krishna is said to have grown up.
- The trade: the macaques snatch spectacles, phones and hats and return them only in exchange for a snack.
- Our guides' advice: put your glasses away before you enter the lanes. They are right.
Who's who among the temple animals
The grey langur
How to tell it: tall, slender and long-tailed, with a silver-grey coat and a black face, hands and feet.
Its day: mostly leaves, flowers and fruit, and long hours of rest.
- Its troop: females and young led by one adult male, with bands of young males living apart.
- Temper: generally calm with people, though bold around food.
- Watch for: the young playing and the mothers grooming, and you will understand why the Ramayana chose them as Rama's allies.
The rhesus macaque
How to tell it: smaller, brown-gold, with a pink face and a short tail.
- Its nature: quick, clever and opportunistic. Where people feed them they grow bold, grabbing bags, bottles and sunglasses.
- Its troop: large and mixed, with a strict hierarchy.
- Never: make eye contact with a big male, or smile at him with bared teeth, which he reads as a threat.
The peacock
Sacred twice: India's national bird is sacred to Krishna and to Kartikeya, the god of war, whose mount it is.
- Everywhere: peafowl live around temples, forts and villages almost everywhere, and their loud calls at dawn and dusk are part of the soundtrack of the state.
- In the monsoon: the males dance with their tails fanned, and at Chittorgarh they call from the walls in the rain.
The blackbuck and the chinkara
Blackbuck: a slender antelope. Males are dark brown and white with long spiralling horns, and females are fawn.
- Chinkara: India's gazelle, small and pale.
- Why they survive: largely because of the Bishnoi and the orans.
- Where to see them best: the Bishnoi villages and Tal Chhapar, the grassland sanctuary in Churu district.
The demoiselle crane
How to tell it: the smallest of the cranes, grey with a black neck and white plumes behind the eye, known in Rajasthan as kurja.
- In the songs: a messenger between separated lovers, and village women still sing to it to carry word to husbands far away.
- Its return: each autumn to Khichan, one of the events of the desert year.
The sacred cow
Owned, not stray: cows in the old cities usually belong to someone and are let out to graze the lanes by day.
- Gaushalas: many families feed them at the door, and cattle shelters run by temples and charities care for old and abandoned animals.
- Right of way: give it to them, as every Rajasthani does.
A day of sacred animals around Jodhpur
Dawn, the Bishnoi fields
The drive: leave Jodhpur at first light and drive south about forty minutes.
- In the fields: blackbuck graze in the frost-touched wheat, peacocks call from the khejri trees and smoke rises from the cooking fires.
- Tea: a Bishnoi family offers it, and your guide explains the twenty-nine rules and the story of Khejarli.
Mid-morning, a potter and a weaver
The makers: watch a potter at his wheel and a family weaving durries, the flat cotton rugs of Marwar, on a pit loom.
- Buying: you buy from the maker, at the price they ask.
- Back to town: for a late breakfast and a rest.
Midday, the fort and the kites
Mehrangarh: spend the late morning at Mehrangarh, where black kites and vultures circle the cliff on the warm air.
- The old name: the hill was called the mountain of birds, and suddenly it makes sense.
- Then: lunch in the city and a long rest through the heat.
Late afternoon, the langurs of Mandore
At about four: drive the nine kilometres north to Mandore.
- The scene: the cenotaphs warm in the low sun, families arrive for the evening, and langurs come down to sit on the steps and domes.
- Walk slowly: with your guide, snacks left in the car, and watch the young langurs play.
Dusk, a temple bell
- Evening aarti: stop at a small Hanuman temple on the way home, when the bells ring, the lamps are lit and, often, a langur or two watches from the roof.
- The day behind you: a great deal of wildlife seen without a single vehicle chasing anything.
How to behave around sacred animals
Don't feed the monkeys: feeding makes them bold and aggressive, and it is bad for their health. Let devotees make their own offerings in their own way.
Hide food: keep food, drinks and plastic bags out of sight. A visible bottle is an invitation to a macaque.
- Put things away: glasses, phones and hats, in macaque country, especially at Galtaji, Taragarh and in Vrindavan.
- No eye contact: with a big male macaque, and no smiling at him with your teeth showing.
- If a monkey grabs something: let it go. Don't chase it or pull back. Your guide or a temple worker can often negotiate its return.
- At Karni Mata: walk slowly and shuffle your feet so you never step on a kaba. Hurting one is a grave matter for the temple.
- Temple manners: dress modestly and remove your shoes. Our temple etiquette guide explains the rest.
- No flash: ask before photographing worshippers, and never use a flash on animals or at a shrine.
What we will and won't do
No paid animals: we never pay anyone to bring animals to us, and we avoid places where monkeys, birds or snakes are kept or handled for tourists' photographs.
Against the law: snake charming and performing monkeys are banned under India's wildlife laws, and roadside performers break the law, often with animals that suffer.
- Don't pay for the photo: we don't stop for them, and we ask our guests not to pay for photographs with them.
- The Kalbelia: the community of snake charmers now dance instead, one of the great folk arts of Rajasthan. Our folk music and dance page tells their story.
- Feeding as worship: a devotee offering grain to pigeons, a priest feeding kabas their milk or Khichan's villagers scattering grain for cranes are religious acts with long histories, and we watch them with respect.
- What we discourage: visitors buying food to throw at monkeys for fun, which harms the animals and the people who live with them.
- Wild over captive: we don't book elephant rides or visit captive animal shows, and in Jawai we work only with naturalists who never bait or chase leopards.
- Read more: our page on ethical animal encounters sets out what we book, and our responsible travel page covers the communities that make all this possible.
The best season and the best hour
October to March: warm dry days, soft light, and animals active for longer at either end of the day.
The cranes: they arrive around September and stay until about March, with the largest numbers in the coolest months.
- Best months
- October to March
- Cranes at Khichan
- About September to March
- First light
- Galtaji, Deshnoke, Khichan
- Late afternoon
- Mandore, Kumbhalgarh, Chittorgarh
- Dancing peacocks
- The monsoon, July to September
- Winter fields: the Bishnoi fields are green with wheat and mustard, and the blackbuck stand out against them.
- April to June: the heat is fierce, and animals and people rest in the shade from late morning until late afternoon.
- Hot-season dawns: still worth it, when the langurs come down to drink and the peacocks call.
- The monsoon: the season of the dancing peacock, green forts and full temple tanks, with the first cranes arriving at its end.
- The best hour: almost always the first after sunrise or the last two before sunset.
- Late light on the walls: at Mandore and on the forts, the stone glows and the langurs settle for the evening. Our best time to visit Rajasthan guide has the months.
Who will love it
Families
- Children love: the langurs, the peacocks and, if they are curious rather than nervous, the kabas of Deshnoke.
- Before you go: brief them on the rules, and hold small hands in macaque country.
Photographers
- Only in Rajasthan: a langur silhouetted on a chhatri at sunset, cranes spiralling over the Thar, a leopard above a temple.
- Built for you: our photographer's Rajasthan journey is built around light and places like these.
The spiritually curious
- The best door: if you want to understand how faith shapes daily life in Rajasthan, start with its animals.
- A sacred route: our Sacred Rajasthan journey visits Pushkar, Ajmer, Nathdwara and Ranakpur, and pairs well with Galtaji and Deshnoke.
Who might not
- Anxious about monkeys: keep to the langurs, which are calmer, and skip Galtaji and Taragarh.
- Afraid of rats: leave Deshnoke out. Nobody needs to do everything.
How we arrange these encounters
The right guides: local guides who know the temples, the priests and the families, and understand both the animals and the faith around them.
At the temples: at Galtaji, Deshnoke and Mandore your guide explains the rituals and tells you when to stand back.
- Format
- Private, as part of your journey
- Jaipur
- Galtaji, an early morning
- Jodhpur
- Mandore and the Bishnoi villages
- Jodhpur to Jaisalmer
- Khichan, on the drive
- Jodhpur to Udaipur
- Jawai, two or three nights
- At Khichan: we time the drive so you arrive before the first cranes come down.
- People we know: in the Bishnoi villages and at Jawai we work only with families and naturalists we know and pay fairly.
- On routes we already plan: Galtaji fits any Jaipur itinerary, and Deshnoke is a dawn from Bikaner.
- Prices: we don't publish them. After one conversation we send a quote and a day-by-day plan, and you can begin on our plan my journey page.