India may not be the first destination you think of when you think of birdwatching, but on a recent trip, New York Times writer Somini Sengupta discovered that it’s actually a birder’s paradise. She writes:

“From the cold lakes of the Himalayas to the sand dunes of western Rajasthan to the tropical rain forests in the south, India hosts a dizzying variety of birds, like a dizzying variety of everything else. Residents and visitors, common and rare, more than 1,200 species have been recorded in India, which puts it somewhere between the United States (just under 900 recorded species) and Colombia (more than 1,800 species).”

In India, it’s possible to see a variety of different species of birds even in the cities. Go out into the countryside or to a large lake or river, and things get even more interesting. According to the New York Times, in the Western Ghat mountain chain, you can expect to see around 300 different species in a single visit. Some lakes host as many as 400 species of waterfowl and other birds.

To start crossing these beauties off your life list, you’ll need to obtain an Indian visa. For an American citizen traveling to India as a tourist, the following documents are required:

• A valid passport
• 2 passport-sized photos, no more than 6 months old. Eyeglasses are not permitted in the photos.
• A completed Indian visa application form. To ensure that your visa application is approved, write neatly and read over the application carefully to catch any mistakes. Make sure that you enter in “tourism” in the section that asks you to state why you are traveling to India.
• A clean, legible copy of your plane tickets or your itinerary
• A legible copy of your driver’s license or a utility bill showing your name and address.
• A copy of your birth certificate

India’s visa system is jurisdictional, so your Indian visa application needs to be submitted to the embassy or consulate that serves your home address.

RushMyTravelVisa makes getting an Indian visa easy. When you apply through us, you’ll be assigned a trained, professional visa specialist to help you with your application. Then, we’ll submit your paperwork to the appropriate embassy or consulate for the fastest processing available.

Apply for your Indian visa today!

Tags: India, India visa, Indian visa

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 12:45 am and is filed under Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.