We decided to jump off the train at Junagadh instead of continuing down to the coast. Gujarat wasn’t living up to expectations so we thought we’d give the beach a miss but try to find the lions before heading on up to Rajasthan. The train arrived bang on time but since it was only 5am everywhere was shut. We wandered aimlessly for a while before agreeing to a taxi fare of Rs1000 to take us to Sasan Gir. Once there we looked at half a dozen places in which to stay but none of them were particularly pleasant. In the end we checked into Umang Hotel which at Rs750 a night was the best option in its price range. As I’ve said prices in India had escalated somewhat and it a huge shame that standards haven’t kept pace.
Sasan Gir is a small somewhat dishevelled village with an abundance of places to stay due to the national park. The bulk of the best places are outside the village, closer to the park but beyond our budget. The options in town are no great shakes; we settled on Umang as it offered the least dismal room at a realistic price. The lad who checked us in gave us all the information we needed about a safari so we chose to use his services. All told: the jeep, permits and guide came in at a whopping Rs4150. Since we’d been on the road for days to get here we decided to pay the man and hoped that we would have a good safari experience. We’d come a long way to find these extremely rare lions in their last stronghold and it seemed churlish to baulk on the price and the eleventh hour.
We pottered around the village but that didn’t take long as there really isn’t anything other than the park on offer. In the end we headed back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. Steve declared that we’re too old for back-packing in India, and then in the next breath suggested we catch the night bus to Udaipur. I think his flu is addling his brain!
By 1.30pm the knock on the door informed us that it was time to go and queue for the park permit. To say this isn’t the best system would be an understatement and in true Indian fashion they manage to make a simple thing very complicated. It’s frustrating and funny at the same time or, one of the other, depending on your temperament. There were already loads of people there and with the limited permit issue we weren’t hopeful. We’d been feeling like everything had gone wrong or wasn’t quite right so far on this trip and not getting a permit would be the final straw. As we were waiting a couple of lads asked if they could join us and of course we said yes. In the end it was good to have someone to translate and they shared some of the costs too. We got the last permit application form they were handing out that afternoon. Was our luck changing? By 3.30pm we finally had all the necessary bits of paper, a jeep, driver and guide – it was time to go on safari.
The land is extremely dry in this area at this time of year so there was very little foliage on the trees and the grass was parched yellow. The former made it easier to spot deer with the latter providing excellent camouflage for our friend Leo. We’d only been in the park a matter of minutes before common mongoose and mugger crocodile had been spotted. It didn’t take long to add chital, sambar deer and Hanuman langurs to the list. These last 3 were a regular sighting in the park added to which we saw a few black-tailed mongoose and peacocks. There were numerous birds fluttering around but we had big cats to find so only an owl perched in the hollow of a tree caused us to pause. We’d been in the park for over an hour before the excitement levels palpably raised, as rumours of lion sightings whispered forth. Sure enough just around the next bend the park rangers were keeping their eyes on a pair of sleeping females. To our dismay the jeep sped past; apparently there were more up ahead and closer to the track.
Well they had been but we got there just in time to watch the male march off – but at least we’d seen lions. As luck would have it another female emerged from the bushes and started calling to the male. He turned around and both cats headed in our direction with one on each side of the jeep. By now most of the jeeps in the park had descended on the area. The rangers were good at ensuring the jeeps didn’t move in too closely but did everyone have to shout at each other? Fortunately the lions barely swished their tail at the commotion and we got a really good view of them. By this point we’d been lucky enough to see 5 of these widely unknown cats.
To our surprise another feline put in an appearance but unfortunately she could only limp towards her kin. She’s lucky that lions live in prides as food will be provided for her while she takes the role of aunty and looks after the cubs. Should a leopard be injured in such a way, it wouldn’t be able to hunt and would eventually succumb to starvation. However, in Sasan Gir the rangers keep an eye on all the animals; should one be badly injured they’ll call in the vet. We were able to watch the lions for quite some time until we simply had to move on – you just never know what’s around the next bend. In this case, and to our utter delight, we found another lion resting upon a knoll bathed in a patch of sunlight. It was jolly good of her to sit and pose for photos or, get some excellent ‘clicks’ as our jeep companions would say.
By now it was almost time for the park to close and for the animals to be left in peace until the morning’s arrival of jeeps. As we headed towards to exit we’d just registered the alarm call of the chital when we spied a leopard prowling through the undergrowth. These beautiful cats are much more widespread and numerous than the lions but they are notoriously difficult to spot. We’d had a fantastic safari with the highlight being the lions but the leopard was a spectacular added bonus.
The little black cloud that had been hanging over us had been blown away and even Steve’s flu seemed to be on the way out. It seems our good luck has returned and we feel like our trip has finally begun. Maybe we’re not too old for this back-packing malarkey after all – night bus to Udaipur anyone?!
