Three days' trip to Sasan Gir

I had been planning to visit Sasan Gir since long and I got the opportunity in this January. I planned the trip and packed my bags as soon as I came to know that my husband was having a holiday (on 26th January, 2009). While planning the trip, I went through several accommodation options for choosing the good one and for making an advance booking. Though my first preference was Sinh Sadan Guest house, we decided to stay at Gir Birding Lodge as the former was already booked. Nevertheless, the later proved to be an excellent accomodation option.

Introduction of Sasan Gir

Spread across 1424 sqs. kms area, Gir forest accommodates more than 300 lions today. It is the only place where Asiatic lions can be seen in their natural habitats. The sanctuary is also a home to Leopard, Spotted deers, Sambar deers, Nilgai, Langur, Jackal, Hyena and many birds species including Changeable hawk-eagle, Eurasian thick-knee, Indian treepie, Asian paradise fly catcher, golden-backed woodpecker, etc.

Trip to Sasan Gir: Ahmedabad - Sasan Gir - Ahmedabad

My Husband started for Sasan gir on 22nd January in Pune-Veraval Express from Pune and I joined him the next day from Ahmedabad.

Train started from Ahmedabad at around 8:30 AM. On our way to Junagadh, we saw a pair of Common Cranes, watercocks, Painted storks, Red-wattled and Yellow-wattled lapwings, Ibis, egrets, Black winged stilt, Cormorants, grey herons, pond herons, drongos, white breasted kingfisher, purple moorhen, sandpipers, small blue kingfisher and lesser pied kingfisher.(This is the advantage of sleeper class journey in winter - the season of migrating birds.)

We reached Junagadh by 3 o'clock at noon. From Junagadh, we hired a taxi for Sasan Gir, which charged 600 Rs. (didn't have to bargain as it was the expected charge which was known due to prior research for the trip).

Sasan Gir is 65 Kms from Junagadh and it is one and half hour drive due to narrow and little stony roads near Sasan Gir.

Sasan Gir - Day 1 (23rd January):
We reached Sasan gir by 4:45 P.M. and checked in at Gir Birding Lodge. Truely peaceful and awesome location of the lodge and chirping of birds unstrained us.

We enjoyed tea sitting in the foyer of our room which faced the garden. We had nothing much to do that evening, so we just relaxed for the day. We took our dinner by 8:30 P.M. and we went to bed early as we would wake up early in the morning for jeep safari.

Sasan Gir - Day 2 (24th January):

There are total 8 gates to enter the Gir national Park; 4 predetermined routes to roam in the forest each having entry and exit gates, thus making 8 gates. Gir Birding Lodge is located beside the gate no. 2.

It was still dark when we both were seated in our jeep at 6:30 A.M. and were waiting for the gates of the park to open. Finally, our jeep safari started at 6:45 A.M. from gate no. 2. A few minutes after entering the park, we saw spotted deers and footprints of lions. As told by our guide the footprints were going to help us find where lions would have been by then.

We headed in the direction pointed out by the guide. The forest looked beautiful with rising sun which painted the sky with reddish colors. Absence of pollution and noise gave a pleasant feeling while roaming in the forest.

After going ahead a few kilometers, we spotted a big leopard. It was standing at a distance of around 7-8 meters. It too spotted us :) and hence it tried to disappear in the bush. But we did not lose courage and asked the driver to follow it by taking the jeep backward (which he did hesitantly I could see his scared face though) from where it was planning to cross the pathway. And we saw it crossing the path. Surely it noted us, and waited for some time and then again disappeared into the bushes.

It was amazing to see such a big leopard from the close distance of 5-6 meters. Our guide then told us that following a leopard may be dangerous as they can attack us.

We kept going deep in the jungle but there were no sightings of lions. Eventually, we heard them roaring, but we could not see them. We came to know that due to public holiday, convoy of jeeps was roaring in the park which obliged the big cats to stay in the bushes.On our way to spot lions, we saw nilgai, herds of spotted deers, egrets, pond heron, black-necked stork and flocks of dancing peacocks and peahens.

As we could not have lion sightings in morning safari, we decided to go for evening safari in hope to spot lions in the evening.

On our way, back to lodge, we saw a small blue kingfisher fishing and eating small fishes. We also saw a black-necked stork.

We came back to lodge by 10 o'clock and took the breakfast. We, then, had a little walk in the lodge which covered the area of 2 kms. We had our lunch by 2 o’clock and then we took rest for one hour.

We headed for evening safari by 3:45 P.M. and entered the park from gate number 5. As we went ahead, we saw the trees of Palas blooming with their beautiful flowers. We also saw the trees the skin of which is used for producing incensing sticks.

On going further in the forest, we saw a herd of spotted deers and langur.

Sambar deers were seen enjoying their food. They noted us, but they did not seem to be caring much and they continued eating leaves.

We waited on the bank of one river in the hope to see lions, where we saw chirping wagtails. We saw a Changeable hawk-eagle too on one of the trees nearby. We carried on our way further and saw Eurasian Thick-Knee, Indian Robin, Shikra, Indian Treepie, Golden-backed woodpecker and white-browed fantail-flycatcher. As being a bird-watcher, I was delighted on seeing them and the place appeared to be heaven to me.

We kept roaming in the forest and waited on some spots where there were fair chances of seeing lions, but no luck till then.

And finally it was time to leave the park. We came back to lodge by 6:45 P.M.

Six hours of safari had made us little tired. We had nothing much to do in the evening, so we took our dinner by 8:30 and went to bed by 10 o’clock.

Though we could not spot lions in those 2 jeep safaris, we were contented on seeing a leopard which is believed to be a rare spotting. We enjoyed the safaris. We were a little disappointed for not having lion sightings, but there is always a next time, and we would be happy to be there another time.

Sasan Gir – Day 3 (25th January):

It was 8:30 AM when we woke up to the sound of the room bell. One of the staff members had come to call us for breakfast. We got ready by 9 and we took our breakfast by 9:30 AM. After breakfast, we went to Crocodile breeding farm, for which we had to walk approximately 3 kms from Gir birding Lodge.

The crocodile breeding farm is situated beside the Sinh Sadan Guest house on market road of the Sasan town, where the eggs of the marsh crocodiles are hatched and the new borns are reared before they are released to the rivers and lakes of the forest.

We enjoyed watching young marsh crocodiles and also the chirping of birds nearby. After spending some time there, we started moving back. While coming back to the lodge, we thought to spend some time on the bank of Hiran river and we walked down on the bank. There, we clicked Large egret, black ibis, little cormorants, Indian robin and red-wattled lapwings.

We came back to lodge by 12:30 and took lunch at around 1:30.

At 3:15 we departed from Sasan for Somnath in a hired car which charged Rs. 800/-

Visit to Sasan proved to be one of the most wonderful excursions.