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.

Velavadar diaries - final take!

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Day 2 morning as Falguna was busy getting the permits done, I was witness to a group of blackbucks being chased by jackals and the elegant way in which the blackbucks run and jump is a sight to behold, a positive start for the day. Eagle’s, Francolins, Kestrel and other birds kept us busy for over a good hour with no signs of hyena’s or the wolves.

After a far distant sighting of the Jungle cat the previous day, the current day was better when we got to see at least 5-6 of them and some of them very close. Interesting is their hunting behavior that is to be seen to be believed.

As soon as it sets its eyes on a prey, it immobilizes itself in a launch position and stays still till the prey is close and then leaps in the air and lands hard on the prey instantly killing it. The way it launches itself and lands on its prey in perfection surely puts the acrobats to shame, a very skilled and opportunistic hunter and preys on anything that comes in its grasp.

A visit to the interpretation centre gave me some gyaan lessons on the different mammals and birds that inhabit or visit the park all round the year and during the rains when the park is flooded, its time for the critically endangered Floricans to be seen!

Herds of blackbucks of various sizes was our fuel for the day interspersed with numerous birds, at last count they would be about 52 species from and around the Blackbuck National Park only, great going I should admit!

A sighting of a lone Red-necked Falcon, a first time for me took both of us by surprise was another highlight for the day; similar to other falcons with a distinctive red neck cannot be missed for any other falcon species.

As we were engrossed in seeing everything on offer on our afternoon round, we saw a couple of raptors perched on a distant tree. We moved in that direction in a hope to catch them near but saw the tree in the middle of the grassland with no approach to it. We were in for a mighty surprise as there were six mighty raptors, aka, eagles perched on the tree but closer only to our trusted binoculars, but why?

We got the answer later that a blackbuck kill lay concealed in the grass probably brought down by a pack of wolves and the raptors were there precisely to enjoy the feast. Being engrossed in watching them, I almost missed a male Pallid harrier glide by elegantly, another species that evaded me from getting a decent capture.

With time running out on our last drive, we went ahead in pursuit of the elusive hunters of the grassland, but they were still invisible to us and we spent a good time with a herd of Neelgai (Blue Bulls) and a quietly perched ‘laughing Buddha’ or the Short-eared Owl on a branch nicely concealed on a tree, a common Owl widely distributed but hardly seen.

Finally, to close things off a Jungle cat kept us occupied moving along with us along the track for a good distance before vanishing into the high grown dry grasses, an elusive opportunistic small-time hunter of the grasslands.

The forest rest house (or the Kaliyar Bhavan) that I stayed was very comfortable to say the least and well maintained and located in quiet surroundings just inside the periphery of the park. There are just about 3-4 rooms and I seriously hope they do not expand. Contact for booking: Assistant Conservator of Forests, Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar-Bhal, F-10, Annexe, M.S. Building, Bhavnagar; 0278-2426425. The Range Forest Officer at the park can be contacted at 0278-2920222.

Ramzan bhai is a very good guide at Velavadar and he can be reached at +91 81408 10087.

Well, of course to say, I will be visiting again for those elusive hyenas, wolves, the harriers (Pallid), raptors and probably the endangered floricans!

Ah! Wish!!!

up next LRK or Chota Rann or the Little Rann of Kutch... stay tuned!

Blackbuck'd all over - Velavadar II

Continuing my Gujarat Diaries here is a photolog for the beautiful and the fastest antelope species in India, the Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) that is classified as 'Near Threatened' due to their drastic reduction in population owing to their loss of habitat, overgrazing and hunting.

Need to say more... Sit back and enjoy!

horns...horns is all that you see...

the glossy beautiful male comes into sight...

the herd follows the male... some walking some jumping, look at the cute fawns...

more of the herd... comprises of females, sub-adults and fawns...

a male poses...

an alert doe...

female bucks are dull yet beautiful...

2 brothers...? possibly, one brownie one blackie...

off on a stroll...keeping the herd together

my home, my land is the key for my survival...!

to be continued...

Buck'd @ Velavadar National Park I

After a seven month long wait after the initial post here, time to kick off some posts from my wild Gujarat sojourn done in December'12 under the label 'Gujarat Diaries'. Relax and enjoy the long reading to come :)

 

the stories unfold...

Blackbuck National Park, Gujarat

To begin with, a multitude of thanks to Falguna Shah from Ahmedabad who helped me plan the entire sojourn and gave some vital inputs and also arranged logistics as well accompanied me to Velavadar and treated me to some delicious home food. Thanks a ton Falguna!

After the sagging 30 hours of journey in the train, I finally descended at the Ahmedabad station to be welcomed by Ritesh bhai, who would be traveling along with us to Velavadar, he in fact would be driving us all the way and back in Falguna’s car.

The first thing I liked was the tea (with the old style of drinking from the saucer rather than the cup), very different from the tea down south and very refreshing to have. On our way, we stopped for breakfast at a dhaba and I was treated to some delicious Fafda with chutney and some good Jalebi’s, yummy! …and this was just the beginning!

the 'Little Hunter' of the grasslands - Jungle Cat

We drove along and crossed over the diversion to Velavadar to the nearby Kumbarawada salt pan for some birding and also got to see a Jungle Cat out in the open by the highway and plenty of birds. The salt pan yielded the biggest sight of the Lesser Flamingo’s for me and that was a great starter to my trip and also plenty of ducks, whimbrel’s avocets, sandpipers and many more.

We reached the national park by afternoon after a sumptuous authentic Gujarati lunch at a dhaba on the highway and completing the formalities drove inside to our respective rooms at the rest house situated right inside the national park.

Being my first proper grassland outing, I could not but just amaze at the view the dry grassland had on offer for me, but I could sense something amiss here, the dry grass was all uniform and I could see them clearly marked in boundaries and a few tractors/mower’s moving around…! On further probing, got to know the department was indeed cutting the grasses and keeping them at a minimum height and that explained the presence of the heavy machinery inside the park.


But, on the flip side, due to this cutting (excessive), a couple of hyena families had vacated their dens as they were now in the open because of the grass cutting and that was a disappointing news for me as I hoped to see some hyena’s/wolves in action that were regularly seen here. Bad timing of my visit or bad luck, whatever you may call it!

a fine adult male in full glory - Blackbuck @ Velavadar

Blackbucks are the attraction of the park and once you start seeing them, you’ll see hundreds of them all over the park. Not only that, you wander out of the park and you’ll them around there too grazing in the fields adjoining the park. Blackbucks are elegant antelopes with long twisted horns and the males are either dark brown or elegant black in color with a white underbelly. The females, sub-adults and fawns are typical brownish in color.

roosting time at dusk, one of the thousands that roost here at Velavadar

Velavadar park is also famous for being the largest site for roosting harriers, i.e. in winters, thousands of harriers (montagu’s marsh, pallid) roost here by dusk and fly out in search of food by dawn. We saw quite a few Montagu’s and Marsh harrier individuals all through our drives on both the days but at near dusk, I could literally see them flying in from all corners into the park to roost, truly a roosting ground for them. Just a drive in the park and I was already loaded with gb’s of photos of blackbucks, nilgai, harriers, other raptors and loads of other birds and some landscapes too…

Neelgai at sunset - a day ends...

A long day after a hectic travel and I had plans of only dreaming of the hyenas and the wolves... Keep hooked! more to follow!

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 :)