Gir National Park: Morning Safari

After landing at the airport in Rajkot in the state of Gujarat and dozing during the long drive to our hotel, we could only have 4 hours of sleep before rising for the day’s adventure. The beautiful, cloudless late-night sky was dotted with stars. As we drove, we crossed paths with giant bats heading home while listening to the morning sounds of the forest. A nice beginning.

Our destination: Gir National Park. Gir National Park is 525 sq. miles, established in 1965 on the grounds of a former Nawab’s hunting area and is now committed to lion conservation. There are 850 lions and lionesses living within it. Rather than utilizing the ‘zone’ system like some other parks, Gir National Park employs the ‘route’ system. Routes mean it is easier to locate the wildlife in their natural territory as opposed to limiting where they can roam, and the drivers know which routes have better chances of particular wildlife sightings than other routes…hence (at least for us!) a so-so morning safari and an amazing afternoon safari.

Not only was my visit to this reserve my final Indian Safari, but this was also, dear friends, my final excursion in India, so it is a special memory beyond the usual reasons.

Aside from the wildlife, entering the park was an experience all its own: you pay to enter the park, and you pay to take photos. And, you have to rent and bring into the park THEIR non-plastic bottles for water! They sure know what they are doing.

While we may not have seen many lions in the morning, I photographed lots of other animals, and as always, I loved being within and among nature.

Here you can see a peacock beginning to grow back his tail (they shed them periodically)

Doesn’t this photo look like a woman wearing a hat?

The sun was rising so that meant better light for photos.

After I took the photo of the Red-Wattled Lapwing I noticed her two babies and got this shot:

I was able to take a good photo of the ever-elusive peahen!!! What a triumphant feeling!

It was quite the experience to stop and watch the peacock in the photos below go through all the motions of his dance. First, the bird adjusted his stance, then he opened his feather tail, danced around and finally ended his performance by settling on a branch, where he promptly began pruning himself.