G20 delegates enjoy day out with birdwatching, pottery
NEW DELHI: For Takako Sato from Japan and 50 other G20 delegates like her, Saturday was a welcome change from the back-to-back meetings. The day was spent amid nature with a visit to the Sultanpur National Park (formerly Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary) near Gurugram, which is one of the 75 Ramsar sites in the country. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance.
The delegates planted saplings in a special area dedicated to the summit, followed by a guided tour by expert birders from Delhi-ncr, who assisted the delegates in identifying resident as well as migratory birds at the sanctuary.
“I have been blown away by the hospitality so far,” said Sato as she planted a sapling right next to a board with her name and the Japanese flag engraved on it. “The sessions over the last three days have been immensely fruitful. I have been even more surprised to see the beauty of India and it only gives us an opportunity to discover it through such excursions,” she said.
The 350-acre national park was decked up to welcome the delegates.
Apart from folk dancers welcoming them at the entrance, an exhibition area inside displaying the rich biodiversity of the park, a handicrafts section, a G20 ‘tree park’ and birding points were also among the main attractions during the visit.
Switzerland’s Urs Andreas Tschanz, who had never watched birds before, curiously used a monocular to take a closer look at a purple heron, a resident waterbird of Sultanpur. “This has been a terrific experience, seeing these birds in such a pristine habitat.” he said.
Oman’s Nasser Mohammed said he was able to learn about the different bird species and that the excursion was an “enriching experience” for him.
The delegates, who had been in and out of day-long discussions
between Wednesday and Friday, were taken to Sultanpur from the Leela hotel at around 8 am on Saturday. After reaching the park ataround 9 am, the group was welcomed with a symphony of Indian classical music and bouquets, before being escorted inside the park where the history of the park was explained to them.
The delegates then proceeded to explore the open-exhibition area, with some even trying their hand at pottery. The group were then guided to the G20 ‘tree park’ - an area of the park where saplings planted by the delegates will be nurtured for years to come, before finally being assigned different birders who led them along the Wetland path.
Kanwar B Singh, a veteran birder who led the delegates around, said while a number of winter migratory birds had departed, there was still ample activity.
“An osprey was spotted on the perch. The delegates were also able to see wintering ducks like the eurasian wigeon, gadwall, northern pintail, ferruginous duck, eurasian coot and the northern pintail. Among the resident waterbirds, we
spotted the sarus crane, blackheaded ibis, purple heron, grey heron and painted storks,” Singh said.
MD Sinha, principal secretary, Haryana tourism, who welcomed the delegates, said the park offered the ideal location for the delegates to study a Ramsar site and one which showcases what conservation efforts can bring in terms of attracting wildlife and birds to a region.
“Sultanpur is a very well protected
area which hosts diverse wildlife, in particular different bird species which are both migratory and local. It forms a key part of a migratory corridor which allows movements of birds back and forth and one will still be able to see several of these birds in the wetland here,” he said while addressing the delegates in the morning.
Around 100 foreign delegates from 39 counties participating in the G20 meeting of the anticorruption working group.