Glimpses of Gir

Gir, the last habitat of Asiatic Lion is about 400km from Ahmedabad. Apart from the magnificent and rarest Asiatic lion, Gir is the home of 36 species of mammals, 33 species of reptiles and about 300 species of birds.
Once upon a time, it was under the control of Nawab of Junagadh. Over the years Maharajas, Nawab had hunted these big cats for sports, but it was the British who put a nail in the coffin for the lion in Gir well almost.

Gir National park is the largest compact tract of deciduous forest in the semi arid zone of Western India. The overwhelming present of the rare Big Cat in Gir, about more than 400 in number ,has also remarkable bird population too.

We reached Ahmedabad via Indore by flight on early afternoon of 1st week of February this year, when Kolkata was reeling under cold wave we felt the heat outside the Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel airport terminal building .With our pre-booked car of tourism department we reached our destination, a resort at Balchel Village, 3km away from the singh Sadan Guest house of forest Department. En-route we have done our lunch at “Honest”, the largest roadside hotel chain on Gujrat Highways.it was about 9 hours journey by car Via Car Rajkot and Junagad. After our arrival at resort we felt the chill.
On next morning 6am, our Gypsi car came to our resort to take us to the forest department office at Sing Sadan where the formalities for safaris are accomplished. Our small 3km morning travel towards the forest office in open Gypsy was with a supercool air breathing experience.

We have 6 Online Safari permits for the next 3days, one each in morning and another on afternoon, these safaris are for 3 hours. We have shown our permit and ID proof at office and they have allotted our safari route and received our payment towards guide and camera charges along with Gypsy Charges. Gir jungle has 13 safari routes through 3 entrances gates. This time our route was 7, we reached the entrance on a semi dark condition. We experienced the chilled air touch on our faces with a smell of wet dry leaves.

The Kamaleswar Dam on Hiron river was on our route and we experienced the beautiful sunrise there with symphony of different bird calls. On our 1st safari we have seen a large number of Chitals, Sombars, Nilgai but no lion sighting. On Completion of our morning safari we reached our resort on bright sunrise observed that we are on the arena of a very big mango orchard along with other trees and flowers and it is just beside the bank of Hiron River. From our balcony we found little birds, sunbirds sucking of flower nectar.

Camera Clicked this moment with a bang our afternoon safari on another route fulfilled our wish, a close sight of a lion cub with mother. On our return journey, we found one lion and lioness on the roadside. We wondered with their fearless, unafraid of human. Some says it comes from the centuries of taking by lion trackers and its proximity to the Maldaries, a community of Graziens who have always lived within the park on different safari Routes.

On our next day morning safari we have seen one Maldhari Village, a large number of there buffaloes movement on the roads of wildlife sanctuary. Today we were lucky enough to see a lion couples, a monitor lizard, spotted owlet and a small crocodile. On a small stream of park and on afternoon Safari .We came across the residence of Siddi tribes. On our rest 5 safaris we experienced the beauty of royal king of jungle with a else look but these time we have failed to found leopard.

We have heard earlier that summer is the best time for animal sighting in Gir but we were delighted to see many different animals, birds on the occasion of “Vasant”. The Gir experience is more than just its lions it’s a peak into what living with wild animal must have been like, a glimpse into what we are letting go of.

Some important information:

Railways:

From Howrah Ahmadebad express, Porbander express to Ahmedabad. From Ahmedabad you can reach verabal, nearest rail station about 35km by either Ahmedabad Somnath intercity express in the morning or Somnath Express on night.

Hotels and Resorts:

Sinha Sadan Tourist lodge of forest department and lot of 2 star, 3star quality Resort located nearby Areas. Anil Form House, Amidhara resort, Sukhsagar Gir Resort, Lion Safari camp. Budget Hotels are also available near main entrance gate of Forest Department Office.

Safari Booking:

3 months in advance Log in https//girlion.gujarat.gov.in
From Monday to Friday safari cost are less than Saturday, Sunday and Holidays safari. Safari car cost Rs. 1700/- and if it pick up from your resort the charge will be Rs. 2200/-
Thank you very much for reading my first writeup on wild life tour. Your comments and encouragement help me a lot to write more wild life tours in clickstory.

Writer: Mr. Soumik Banerjee, MCA. Photography is his passion. He loves to click wildlife, street photography. Soumik is in the process of making a digital archive on Indian Dance and Music for future generations with his sir Parichay Chakrabarti. He posts Indian dance pictures in social media like Facebook on daily basis.

You may like to read the article on Shimla.