Gir Wildlife Sanctuary

My last week in Gujarat, I plan to set out to the famous Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary, 395 kms from Ahmedabad is the only existing habitat of the Asiatic Lions. On Tuesday night, I catch the 2200 hrs Somnath Express to Junagadh, the nearest railway station. From the station, I would then have to catch a bus. As I reach Junagadh at 5 am, I’m told there’s a train for Sasan Gir at 745. I thought I would take a bus instead, as that would reach pretty late. I’d read that tourists who reach early had a better chance at catching a glimpse of the lion. So I take an auto to the bus terminal. The autowallah tells me that its better to wait at the beginning of the Sasan road, A road that leads to Sasan Gir, as the sanctuary is known better. That ways, I could hop on to any bus going in that direction.

So at 530, I’m standing near a roundabout from where buses turn towards the sanctuary. After a half hour wait, I get on to a bus, catch an hour long nap before I finally reach my destination at twilight. As you enter Sasan Gir, you have to first go to the government’s registration desk where you can hire a jeep to go into the sanctuary. I reach there at 7:07 and I’m late by a few minutes for registration. Now the charges for every group that enters the forest are, Rs. 400 for permission, Rs. 100 for a guide, which is compulsory and Rs. 800 for a jeep. Each Jeep carries up to 6 people. The groups that registered there at 7:00 am were already in multiples of 6. So I had to wait for the next round of registration. With another half hour in my hand before the next registration, I decide to go out and have a tea.

As I have tea, I break into a conversation with the chaiwala, Arif. He tells me that apart from the sanctuary, there’s a small caged area called Devaliya where I could spot a lion for sure. It would be an hour long ride for Rs. 75. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, that day being a Wednesday, it was closed. Apart from the lion reserve, he told me about Jamjir waterfalls at a distance of nearly 50 kms and a village named Jambur with African settlements. He said he would hire an auto to take me to both places for Rs. 700. He gave me his number so I could contact him for any help in going around the place.

As the clock strikes 8, I again head for the registration centre. As I enter, there’s a family of four ready for registration, an elderly couple with a son and daughter. The son who was in charge was nearly my age. So the guides approach him asking them if they could take me along with them as the capacity is 6 and one more person would mean splitting the charge. The son however was snobbish and was giving me and them a cold shoulder. One of the guides calls me to the side and says, it’s better not to go with them. They’ll be a headache.

As he tells me that, two other guides run behind the office. The guide who was talking to me also runs behind them and calls me along. I had no clue so I ran along. The guide later on tells me that they heard a deer’s ‘danger call’. That meant I could probably see a lion before the Safari itself. We run through the backyard of the office, cross a railway track and enter the forest. A forest guard says there was a leopard. But to our dismay, we couldn’t see anything. I felt they might have done it to distract me, but it was fun nonetheless. As we walk back, they show me a brown woodpecker which was hard to spot as it camouflaged itself on the tree trunk. One of the guides had its voice recorded in his mobile phone and tried to call it but nothing worked. But in the stroll, we managed to catch a glimpse of the black naped Indian hare which ran away from us.

The guides are quite a smart lot. Not only do they know a good deal about the forest and all animal names in English, but they also know how to do business. As we walk back towards the registration desk, one guide again tells me about the Jamjir falls and Jambur village. So I find this the best chance to get a bargain. I tell him about Arif, the chaiwala and that he agreed to take me around for Rs. 700. And as expected, he told me he would get me a better deal. He also told me that now that the 8:00 batch was over, I would probably have to go in the 3 PM batch. So I could meanwhile visit the nearby places. On requesting for an earlier ride, he said he would arrange it earlier if possible.

So as we enter the registration office again, there’s a family of three, 2 parents and a school-going girl who were done with their registration. The guides requested them to take me along and the agreed. So I gave them my share of Rs. 1300 which turned out to be Rs. 325 and got on to a jeep. The guide sees a camera in my hands and says, oh this would be another 100 Rs. To which the other guides tell him to ‘manage’. He obliges.

It is said that during the reign of the Nawabs, lions were constantly hunted in the forest. Later on, Lord Curzon requested the Nawab to ban hunting. The Nawab who obliged, later on marked the area as a wildlife sanctuary. Back in the day, the lions were counted and census back then said they were less than 20 in number. Today, there are over 411 of them.

Our jeep enters the sanctuary at 9:00. The park is 1412 sq km of deciduous forest interspersed with semi-evergreen and evergreen flora, acacia, scrub jungle, grasslands and rocky hills. There are 8 tracks that are 40 kms long that run through the forest. Apart from lions, that are the main attraction, the forest is also a natural habitat for leopards, hynas, jackals, langurs, porcupines, Indian hares, Sambhar deers, spotted deers and the Nilgai among many others.

As the jeep enters the sanctuary, we’re welcomed by langurs and peacocks. But having seen them so often in Ahmedabad, they had started to appear normal to me. Nonetheless, it was nice to see them in their natural habitat. A few minutes later, there was a group of spotted deers. As we think of clicking them, a jeep coming our way tells our driver to hurry. The guide tells us that we’ll find deers again. We have to hurry now. In a couple of minutes, there’re a couple of forest guards sitting at a point with stick in their hands. The show us 5 lions! Luck struck early! They were all feasting. The guide at first said it was a buffalo, but after a closer look he said it was a Sambhar deer. Well, if it was one, that was the only one I saw in the entire safari.

It was a great sight to see the 5 lions, 2 males and 3 females sitting royally and feasting on their prey. The guide told us the two lions were brothers. It is observed that two Lions can not be together unless they are brothers. They would fight or go separate ways. Our Jeep slowed down and took us closer to the wild cats. We were told not to make much noise. The lions would’ve seen us coming but they were least bothered. A forest guard also came walking along with the jeep to give us a closer look. Once we all had seen the lions and clicked our share of pictures, we then moved on the trail. We were allotted trail number 7.

The forest was rather dry and according to the guide, remained so throughout the year, except for monsoons. And during the season that lasts from June to October, the sanctuary is closed. So in case you want to visit, the best time is between December to May. The guide told us that later on, in summer the forest would go even dryer. On the ride ahead, we would spot loads of spotting deers. As we move ahead, we later on stop on a small bridge over a stream. From the stream, we would be shown the Indian Robin and the white-chested Indian woodpecker. A few snaps later we would keep going till we catch a sight or crystal clear blue water surrounded by beautiful hills.

We had reached the Kamleshwar Dam. It was a rather large waterbody where Indian Crocodiles, Muggers and many species of birds could be found. As we enter the lake, we catch a glimpse of a family of deers drinking water from the waterbody, which made for a beautiful sight. The jeep then goes till the other end of the waterbody where a watch tower is located. From there, one can have an overview of the entire sanctuary. There was a village we could spot from there. There are some maldhari tribes who live inside the sanctuary. They make a living by tending to their cattle which graze at the forest.

The Kamleshwar Dam was a beautiful sight with misty mountains as a backdrop. The crystal clear water could not be accessed by people and it was quite evident. We caught glimpse of crocodiles (just their eyes and a part of their snout sticking out of water) swimming and birds like the Indian snake bird which is called so, as it has a long neck.

After the hault, our jeep heads back. The jeep enters and exits from different points. So now we head towards the exit. And on our way back, we spot a few more spotted deers. The males have distinct long branched antelopes. One of them had a branch stuck to his head and was struggling to get rid of it. Well, soon we would be on our way out. The four hour ride was a nice rendezvous with the wild. Though we didn’t see many animals apart form the lion and spotted deers, it was a great time. Having spotted 5 lions was still a great feeling. In addition, our forest guide was nice enough to pass on video clips of lions in the recent pass over bluetooth to us.

Once out of the sanctuary, it is now time to head for the Jamjira falls. A forest guide gets me an auto, or rather a 6 seater to take me to the falls. He said that en route, the autowallah would be taking other passengers. I felt it was fine. In fact it helped get rid of the monotony of the bumpy ride. The auto rode through the beautiful Gujarati countryside which was a good mix of dry deciduous forests and green fields. As we moved on, there were quite a lot of negroes along with the local brown fellows. The blacks dressed, talked and behaved just like us.

It was nice to see another race as locals. It’s a rare sight in India. As we move ahead, I would then break into a conversation with a fellow passenger who hails from Rajkot. He was working there at a village 30 kms from Sasan (the area of the sanctuary) at a construction site. As we talked about lions, he took out a picture of him standing besides a lion. He said that the lion had reached the village in search of easy prey and was no harm to humans. He said that if you bother it, it first warns by roaring. If you still don’t listen, you wouldn’t have to listen... to anything, every. One more thing he advised is, not to run away on seeing a lion. If you behave normal, it would remain put. Even though we managed a conversation, there was something strange about the hindi of people in Junagadh district. After a few words, it was hard to follow.

The auto later enters a village named Jamvada. By then all the passengers who had got in mid-way had alighted. The village was a very bumpy ride. On entering the village, the autowallah goes asking directions. He takes me to a dead end where it was there was a dried river. Women were washing clothes in some remaining puddles and there were buffaloes walking over the rocks which were supposed to be a riverbed. I was wondering where a waterfall could come out of the dried rivers. The autowallah then tells me that it was his first time too. I did not know how to react to that. After a 2 hour bumpy ride, he tells me he’s not sure. Anyways, I had no time boundations and nothing to lose. So I go walking along with him in the deserted area. We then move along and finally, a couple of narrow streams merge and fall off the cliff. It was like a waterfall out of nowhere! It was a nice sight in the quaint village. At a distance, there were buffaloes, sheep and goats grazing on whatever the could find.

The waterfalls were barely 30-40 feet high. Just before a stream fell off the cliff, it created a depression which made it like a small bath tub. I leave all my belongings near a rock and go take a leisurely dip in the stream. I had an urge to jump down the falls but then I wasn’t sure of how I’d get back. My inability to swim only made me stick to a dip in the stream. It was a great relief in the heat of the noon. Luckily it was just February. Otherwise the sun would be hotter and the water would’ve dried up.

Once that was done, we headed back to Sasan. The autowallah had told me he would take me to Zambur, the village where negroes had settled down, at the beginning of the ride. So as we ride, suddenly the auto goes inside a lane and stops in front of a dargah. He points to two middle aged black men and says ‘photo kheench lo’, take their pictures. It was an embarrassing moment. So I thought of taking pictures with them, as though I had never seen black people in my life.

I then break into a conversation with one of them. He works as a tourist guide at Sasan and he spoke in very bad Indian-guide English. Even though my questions were in Hindi he replied ‘ We is a Nigeria is a Nawab is a Junagadh is a hardware is a Hyderabad is a Tanzania. We is a tribal dance is a perfrom is a Hotel is a Ahmedabad is a Diu is a ...” Several failed attempts to strike a conversation in Hindi went in vain. They probably only knew Gujarati. So as we leave, I smile and say bye. He smiles back with a smirk, a verbal translation of which, would be “I’m not a show piece, you @#@% tourist”

Now we ride back to Sasan. Soon luck would strike again! I happen to catch a jackal crossing the road. Though I couldn’t manage to catch a snap, I had a good glimpse of it. In half an hour, we’re at Sasan After a hard time with the 4 hour jeep safari and 4 hour boneshaker auto ride, I decide to retire for the day. But just before that I squeeze in a visit to the crocodile farm. It’s a small caged area where crocodiles are reared before they’re left in to the Kamleshwar Dam. There were a couple of small Indian Crocodiles, less than 1 m in length, lazing and lying over one another. I click their pics and head for a guest house where I get a rather decent room for Rs.300 which seemed to be pretty reasonable. Maybe it was easily available as it was a working day and not peak season. I would then take rest for the next few hours.

At around 8, I go for dinner. Though being warned about the pathetic food at Gir, I have a gujarati dal with rice and a ‘tamatar sev’ curry, a local kathiavadi dish made out of tomatoes and namkeen. It was so spicy and oily that it served as a pickle. Once done with dinner, I hit the bed at 830. The next day I had to catch a 6 am bus and climb one of the highest hills in Gujarat.