Nice little sanctuary!. Review on Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary

Upon planning a trip to Sasan-Gir, I came across Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, which piqued my interest. This is connected to Gir National Park only through the Girnar mountains, although it always wasn’t so historically. Since I was visiting Sasan Gir anyway, I decided I’ll check this out too before heading home. So, I set off by car from Sasan Gir and reached in about 2 hours or so.

ABOUT THE FOREST

This is about 60+ kms from Gir National Park, closer to the Girnar mountains. Historically, Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary and Gir National Park used to be 1 forest habitat, but over the years due to agricultural expansion, now it is connected to Gir National Park only through the Girnar Mountains, the highest mountains in Gujarat. So, this is closer to the urban area of Junagadh and very close to the Girnar Mountains and a secluded forest habitat. Close to the town of Junagadh, there are some farms. Shortly after that, these forests start within 1+ kms away from Junagadh. The area is bound on the east by the agrarian-pastoral revenue areas of Bhesan taluka and on the remaining three directions by the revenue areas of Junagadh taluka. Locally these forests are also known as Dungar. Vegetation wise, it is much denser than forests of Gir National Park. But it also offers similar flora and fauna with some minor differences. It covers an area of 180 square kilometers. Safaris have started here since 2021 and currently 1 route is offered. Another route is reportedly being built. Around 60 wild lions are believed to inhabit this space.

MY EXPERIENCE

I put up at a hotel nearby in the town of Junagadh. Within hours of arriving, I had to set off on an evening safari. I arranged for an auto to get there. This is lesser known and not as frequented as Sasan-Gir by tourists. But the setup is similar. There is reception centre and one can see dense forest beginning soon after. There is even a veteniary hospital nearby, I was told, as was also the case in Sasan Gir. Upon reaching, we waited for staff, drivers and guides to arrive. The jeeps there don’t have GPS attached to the cars unlike Gir National Park.

SAFARI I: EVENING

I was told in the current days, chances of sighting lions was 50-50% in the evenings. More probable in the mornings. At the start, there were farms on 1 side and dense forest on the other which lead to dense forests soon after. Girnar mountains could be seen quite close.

Sightings of some spotted deer started the safari. Some green bee eaters chirped away in close proximity. Out of the blue, we spotted a Chousingha(world’s only 4-horned antelope) very close in the darkness bushes. But it scampered away as soon as I was going to get a snap. There were some other sightings of spotted deer and peacocks and we chanced upon some good camouflaged sightings of Eurasian thick-knee. There was a small pond which contained overflow water of some nearby dam. There, we were able to spot a baby crocodile, a Chequered Keelback and some small turtles. The other 2-3 jeeps were far ahead. We were taking our time, going through each sighting.

Out of the blue, we came upon a waterhole with 2 lionesses drinking water from it. We guessed they must have appeared after the other jeeps went by. One of them had some blood on its chest. There was another sitting nearby. They had fed on something not long ago. They were less than 20 ft. away from us. The conditions were sunny and I snapped away as the lionesses seemed to enjoy themselves together cuddling, drinking water and resting in the grasses. Upon looking here and there, a 3rd and 4th lioness was also visible in close proximity. After some time, the other 3 jeeps had also returned and joined our jeep. They had already reported to some check post(part of formalities) and were returning. Since we had to do our reporting, we left them with the lionesses with the intention of returning to the same point.

While we were returning from the check post, there were some heavy warning calls from the deer nearby who stood motionless and the general feeling was there was a predator nearby. But after waiting for 10-15 minutes, when nothing emerged we assumed even if a leopard etc were nearby, it may not have shown itself so close to the check post. With that in mind and the desire to return to the 4 lionesses, we rushed back. Sure enough, they were still sitting there. The sun was beginning to set and we started making our way out of the forest. But fate had planned another surprise for us. We came across another lioness with 1 slightly bloody eye sitting quietly. Apparently, she had lost the other in a fight with another lioness. She stood up after a while with her tail up and headed towards the other side of the forest. I was told this is generally a sign she’s going on a hunt. There was another lioness in the dark deep inside, but I didn’t see that. With that, we ended the safari.

When I told the guide my plans for a safari next morning, he informed that sometimes lions going for a kill are seen in the morning. I went back to the hotel, eager for next day’s experience and hit the sack soon after dinner.

SAFARI II: EVENING

The morning was quite cool and I had an arranged for an auto to get me there. It was really dark at 5.30 A.M. when I reached. Other groups were already present and chatting away. I got to know my vehicle details as soon as the guide / drivers / jeeps arrived and we set off after a little while.

Initial part of the safari was quite dark, but slowly conditions became more favourable for viewing. We could spot a sambar on the farm on my left. As we progressed, some deer warning calls materialised and the guide suspected it was a male lion somewhere deep into the forest on the right. The location of calls didn’t seem to change. So, we concluded the lion was in no mood to budge. We went ahead and came back to try our luck but no avail. On the left we encountered the pond from yesterday and a number of birds including, black headed Ibis, egrets and herons were apparently looking for food. Some peacocks also graced us with their presence.

Upon going a bit further, we saw a lioness coming our way head on, just as the sun was beginning to rise. We kept on backing our jeep and she was with us for quite some time before we let her pass by into the forest on the right. She appeared to be in hunting mode, sometimes going into the forest and coming out on the road on other occasions. A good setting for some good pictures. But as the sun rose, we moved further ahead.

A group of jeeps seemed to be gathered somewhere. Upon nearing them we could see a group of 3 female sub-adult lionesses and 1 male sub-adult lion near a distant waterhole. They seemed to be idling about as the sun was slowly rising higher. Eventually, we saw a sambar approaching the waterhole in the distance. Immediately, the 4 sub-adults went into crouching position, in an attempt to hide from the sambar’s vision. We were beginning to see what they were trying here. An ambush. The sambar cautiously approached and came very close to them, but just as we were beginning to expect something may happen, it moved away sounding alarm calls. The lions became more relaxed once again and we knew the moment had passed.

We moved ahead to the check post to finish reporting and after some water and rest came back towards the waterhole where the 4 sub-adults were resting. We could see only 2 now from the route. A few good bird sightings followed and the safari came to an end.

THINGS TO NOTE:

1] I must say I was impressed by the proceedings. It far exceeded my expectations. It was certainly worthy of being a separate sanctuary. There was certainly enough to see there, despite being close to human habitat.

2] As mentioned before, the vegetation is more dense compared to Gir National Park, on the other side of Mount Girnar. It still is a good place to sight wlidlife.

3] Safaris are conducted in open jeep and the procedure is more or less similar to Gir National Park. Just one route exists as of now. 1 more might be there in future.

4] There is a Gir Parikrama festival in November, post Diwali conducted there, when the safaris are closed. Villagers are allowed to go walking into parts of the forest during that time, disallowed during the rest of the year.

During those days, they leave easy prey in other locations so that lions do not disturb the parikrama. Apparently, a child was killed by the lions in the village last year during last year’s parikrama.

5] The man-made waterholes there are a bit more artificial than they need to be. They should give it a more natural look. Also concrete waterholes heat faster, which animals also don’t prefer to be in contact with.

TO CONCLUDE:

One guide who enjoyed chatting with me told me I should come attend the Girnar parikrama sometime. I went back to my hotel to fulfil the rest of my plans before I left for home. This was clearly a very good experience overall. The side B of “Gir habitat album” had proven to be better than I expected. It is not Gir National Park. But for a small wildlife sanctuary, I’m not sure one could ask for more. Quite satisfactory!