Gujarat Diaries - Important Information

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Phew! Finally after a year has passed by, I’ve reached a stage to culminate the Gujarat Diaries that was a splendid two week outing in the dry/wet lands of Gujarat.

It would not have been possible to do this trip of mine without the help that Falguna Shah extended, she gave some critical inputs and importantly patched me up with some good contacts so that I had the best of people with me.

Chirag at Jamnagar and Jugal bhai at Great Rann were excellent hosts and I enjoyed immensely in their company and also got to see a whole lot of new things and was also treated to some delicious mouth-watering Gujarathi food all through my stay.

I traveled by rail, bus, cabs, and auto and on every journey met interesting people and was witness to sheer diversity of life and the way people go about it, got to learn quite a lot of things interacting with many different people.

Velavadar National Park (Blackbuck National Park)
Accommodation: Forest Rest House situated right inside the park.
Contact: 0278 2880342 / 0278 2920222 / 0278 2426425 (ACF, Bhavnagar)

Reach: about 140kms from Ahmadabad, about 50kms from Bhavnagar (nearest railhead)
Alternate: http://theblackbucklodge.com

Note: Need to have only vehicle to move around in the park.
Referred Guide: Ramzan +91 8140810087

(the FRH at Velavadar Blackbuck National Park)

Little Rann of Kutch (LRK)
Accommodation: Bhava Resort & Farm (http://bhavnafarm.com)
Contact: Prashanth (owner) +91 9427216059, +91 9427216069

Reach: about 90kms from Ahmadabad, Viramgam about 35kms is the nearest railhead
Refereed Guide: Pratap bhai +91 9714190990

Alternate: www.littlerann.com at Dhrangadhra, +91 9825548090
www.rannriders.com at Dasada, +91 9925236014
www.theroyalsafaricamp.com at Bajana, +91 2757 293222
www.desertcoursers.net at Zainabad, +91 9426372113, +919427066070

(the interior of a 'Kooba' I stayed at Bhavna Farms)

Jamnagar (birding around Dichda, Marine National Park, Lakhota lake, Narara, Balachadi)
Accommodation: Hotel President (www.hotelpresident.in/)
Referred Birding guide and Planner: Chirag Joshi +91 9274909880


Great Rann of Kutch (GRK)
Accommodation: CEDO (www.cedobirding.com), Moti Virani
Jugal Tiwari +91 9825248135, +91 2835 221284, cedoindia@yahoo.com

Reach: 50kms from Bhuj
Alternate: www.kutchsafaribhuj.com

(Jugal's CEDO camp at Moti Virani)

Please note this information is mainly for those who are interested in wildlife and or bird watching and or wildlife photography in Gujarat.

Jamnagar: Water birds, Land birds

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Have a look at the some of the water winged beauties I got an opportunity to see in plenty :)

It's a tern-o-tern!

Size does matter!

These are known as 'Mudskipper', amphibious fish, fish that use their pectoral fins to walk on land. They use their fins to move around in a series of skips. They can also flip to catapult up to 2 feet. The hole behind is its burrow where it dives into when it senses danger.

Jamnagar birding: Photolog

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Peregrine Falcon(s), Red-necked Falcon(s) that totally eluded me in Rann were seen quite regularly but none offered me close views. An opportunistic Osprey (eagle) chose to perch on an electric pole, another first timer for me.

Chiku (Chirag Joshi) was so good and started blurting out names, Little Ringed Plover, Stint, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Ruddy Turnstone and every time I could only see some small-sized birds in the distance. Phew! much to learn still!

The way of identifying waders or coastal birds is that you need to see and observe them carefully, very slight differences differentiate species and that is where your binoculars come handy more than the camera and importantly you need to spend time and lots of them waiting for them to approach you closer.

Don't expect any fast paths in learning to identify waders and shore birds, experience is the only way to go about it and patience and loads of them is required!

You should watch them to feel their beauty, a riot of colours indeed!

Peculiar beaks...isn't it!

Demosielle Crane's

Ruff's in different plumage's...

await...more to follow :)

Gujarat Diaries: Jamnagar Jatra

After my adventures and misadventures, next on my schedule was to do birding in and around Jamnagar city. Here again, with the help of Falguna, I was in contact with Chiku (Chirag Joshi) who had arranged everything including cab, tickets, accommodation and had chosen the birding spots to visit and would be guiding me during my stay.

The first thing I liked in Jamnagar was the weather, brilliant for a coastal city (can be as its just located near the Gulf of Kutch). Tea was another delight delighting my taste buds every time I sipped tea. I loved the Gujju food I had all through my stay and Chiku handpicked locations that served the best of the varieties on offer. Also, the number of 'paan' shops outnumbered any other shops in Jamnagar and the couple I tasted were too good to say the least.

The people I encountered, met and saw right from Ahmedabad to Kutch are addicted to either paan or tobacco and one such auto driver I met said he could stay without food or water but not without paan!

Back to the birding part, I was bowled over completely by the variety in offer I could see in Jamnagar. Being my first coastal birding, I was at my wits end trying to figure out what is what. From a distance, all of these look alike unless you observe them carefully for the differentiating features. Not only that, I saw them in hundreds all over the birding spots and on the roads too and the Rosy Starlings show at Lakhota lake was just pure bliss.

The tide timings went a little haywire for me but still with just about 2 days, I added 41 new species to my list (excluding about 60 odd I had seen over the last few days) making it a very productive trip to say the least. Contrarily, I would have missed out easily about 20-30 species but nevertheless that would be covered on my next trip here right :)

I birded along Charakla, Dhinchda, Narara-Marine National Park, Khijadiya bird sanctuary, Balachadi and Lakhota lake over the two days I stayed in Jamnagar. I stayed at the recommended President Hotel for a hassle free comfortable stay.

The posts of Jamnagar will be more of photo-logs than write-ups and hope you enjoy each of them... Stay tuned!

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Gujarat Diaries - The case of the missing wallet!

Gujarat diaries so far...

With my travels all being planned through local transport in Gujarat, I was dropped at Viramgam junction from Bhavna resorts to board my next train to Jamnagar that would reach there at odd hours in the morning; departing by 10pm and reaching Jamnagar by 3am. I had booked myself a First Class (FC – non AC) ticket, a decision I’m bound to praise myself for the rest of my life).

3 days in the Rann, jeep rides, sore back, blistering heat and less sleep was slowly having its effect but a new destination, new people, new sightings kept me going well. I boarded the train and was guided to my berth by the smiling TC who reminded me to set an alarm as not to miss my station being wee hours.

I was in a kind of inebriated state wanting to just sleep for those 3-4 hours of the journey to be fighting fit ahead of my rigorous schedule at Jamnagar that awaited me. Soon, I was joined by a companion who was traveling all the way to Porbandar.

Greetings exchanged and as just the thought of dozing off came to my mind, the person who looked eager, started off a conversation. Being polite, I answered most of his questions about various things and that’s when the conversation changed its direction. More than an hour passed by and the conversation (now being mostly one sided) seemed not ending and it was just going on and know what, the person was trying to influence me on a ‘religion’ and its benefits…

God! This was now getting too much on me! Firstly, I was sleeping sick. Secondly, I have my own beliefs and faith in my religion. In spite of communicating the same, the person was in no mood to let me go also apologizing for keeping me awake! Time-out! I had enough of it and by now my strained eyes was gleaming red and I just woke up from my berth and looking at the person with reddish eyes said, I want to sleep now! That was it..; I got my rightful berth within the next minutes. The clock showed 12am by now, darn, just about 2 hours sleep left before I alight!

Just as I thought I had slept, the alarm went off and it was time to wake up, pack up and leave. With weary eyes, I woke up, rested for a while till the station arrived and got off at Jamnagar station at 3am on time. Chiku aka Chirag was yet to arrive and the next 10 minutes were spent at the station waiting.

Soon, Chiku arrived and we went to the car, and once in, he inquired 'how’s it going so far…?' I replied… 'so far so good' simultaneously checking my pockets for all the things I had kept and soon touched the buttock pocket for my wallet…!

Gosh! Wallet missing!!!

I ran back to the station to see if I had dropped it around only not to find it there. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with just a few rupees in the pocket, I felt all lost and dingy. Luckily, I had kept less cash in the wallet but had the all important cards in it! My mind was all junked up at the moment and couldn’t think of what next! I was humbled by our driver’s statement that he would drop me home and not to get worried, the statement came out in a flash and Chirag to reassured not to worry about money.

The savior there, Chirag then accompanied me to the station to the TC’s office and luckily we found him there (just as if waiting for us at 3am). Soon, I told the happenings and my lost wallet and promptly he swung into action and called the TC who was onboard the train. I was all impatient and tense to hear the result of his conversation with the TC on train.

As a silver lining in the sky, the news came out that the TC has secured my wallet from my FC berth compartment. The grief that had enveloped me minutes ago was now replaced with a wide grin and countless thanks to the TC both at the station and on the train. The TC on board the train informed us that he would return it back to us at Jamnagar station the same night when the train would resume its return journey from Porbandar.

After the reassurance that all would end well, I was dropped to the hotel to catch a few hours sleep as we had to leave by 6am. As I sat in the room, thinking of where and how it had slipped, it soon flashed that I had kept the wallet on the berth while fast asleep and had forgotten to take it while leaving the train. Incidentally, I had also not switched on the main lamp in the compartment (just used the bed lamp) so as not to disturb the other passenger for which I had to pay this price!

Much reassured now, the day went in a flash with me being busy in birding all day long and we were back in the station by midnight awaiting the arrival of the train. Chirag, even after the hectic day took me to the station on his bike to collect my wallet. Soon, the train arrived and as we were searching for the FC coach, the TC who was standing near the door waved to me taking me by surprise.

The wallet was back in my hand and pleasantries exchanged with the TC and I was much overjoyed and relieved. We wanted to appreciate the TC’s help monetarily, but he blatantly refused stating it was just his duty. Jai ho sirjee!

The saga that started at 3am ended by 1am after some nerve wracking moments that probably I may not forget sooner. But, what till date hurts me is that I forgot to take the TC’s name so that at least I could have sent an appreciation letter to him for his good deed.

I’m happy that good deeds do happen and good people do exist! Thank you Lord!


Note: This is a real incident that happened to me during my Gujarat trip last year.

countless thanks to Chirag, our driver, the TC guards and to Indian Railways.


coming up next: Jamnagar Jatra...stay tuned!

Rann'ed...

The state of Gujarat is one among the few emerging states of India and is famous for its investment friendly government and the infrastructure as well as the plain lands of the Kachch and the vast coastline. For those unaware, the state of Gujarat has been one of the main centers of the Indus valley civilization and its per capita GDP is higher than the national average. In short, its an emerging state.

Coming to where I’m interested, Gujarat has about 7.4% of its total geographical area under forest cover. It has four national parks and 21 sanctuaries. It’s the only home of the endangered Asiatic lions outside Africa. Detailed discoveries and researches have shown that Gujarat is home to one of the largest clutch of dinosaur hatcheries in the world. From the tourism perspective, Gujarat is one of the most popular states in the country for tourism with the attractions being the Gir lions to the Marine National park to the plains of Kutch and being home to personnel like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

I’m currently on a wildlife and birding tour of Gujarat covering the below places. Yes, I’m skipping Gir this time that has a plan to be covered separately with my friends.


Blackbuck Natioanl Park, Velavadar
It’s situated in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat and spreading over a area of 34sqkm, the grassland is home to the Blackbuck Antelopes, the Wolf and the endangered Lessar Florican among others. During the winters, large number of migrant birds like the Harriers, Falcons, Kestrels roost in the grasslands that also signifies its importance as a biodiversity hub supporting vast forms of life.


Jamnagar
Lying in the Jamnagar district and just south of the Gulf of Kutch and is also known as the Oil city of India. Khijadia bird sanctuary located just 10kms from the city is considered one of the important sites for ecological research and education. It’s a combination of freshwater lakes, saltpans, saline land and mangrove scrub habitats supporting vast varieties of birdlife, both resident and migratory. India’s first marine sanctuary, the Marine National Park is located here in the Arabian sea and is famous for its coral reefs and mangroves.


Little Rann of Kutch
Its primarily a salt marsh and is famous as the world’s last refuge of the Indian Wild Ass conservation and is also know as the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary. Its an ecologically important area for wildlife and many local and migrant bird species that refuge here. The traditional salt panning activity is one concern that is threatening to destroy the entire ecology of the region.


Greater Rann of Kutch
The GRK is a seasonal salt marsh located in the Thar desert in the Kutch district of Gujarat and is reputed to be the largest salt desert in the world. This is one of the hottest areas of India with summer temperatures peaking up to 50degC and winter temperatures often going below 0degC. In winters, GRK is a breeding ground for flamingoes and pelicans and is the only place in India where flamingoes come to breed. The marshes are also a resting place for migratory birds and are home to over 200 species of birds.

Ciao soon :)