Amazing Kutch and Saurashtra.....

Writing a travelogue is a tough job. IM members like aarosh, happyarun, snonymous, Sadanand Kamath, naveenamohanrao,have posted impressive travelogues & trip reports and have taken the site to a different level.

It's more than two months that we visited Kutch and Saurashtra.Lack of writing skill,and laziness lagged me behind.Though I am not an expert writer my inner feelings are forcing me to write.I could not resist myself.
So here I am with the stuff that cherishes the memories of the best places I visited .
It may be a kind of photo log rather than a travelog.
Kindly bear with me.

In the year 2010 we accomplished our dream visiting India from North to South i.e.from Kashmir to Kanyakumari driving a Wagon R and a small car like Alto.See This and This

During Diwali vacation 2011, our plan was to visit possible Western most tip of the main land India. Koteshwar and Narayan Sarovar from Kutch was the target and I started gathering information.

We wanted to restrict our focus prominently on Kutch and Saurashtra living behind rest of the Gujarat for some other time.
I read some where that people of Kutch take pride in being the only custodians in the world of the rare Indian wild ass. It is said that the wild ass of Kutch are the only originals of the species, left in the world. Considering this unique feature our first object turned out to visit L.R.K. while going to Koteshwar and Narayan Sarovar .
Obviously was glued to Internet and started spreading threads on web to grab the useful information. The itinerary was the important issue.Some of my forum friends like arosh, vonkla,eddiechrome, tulsi, hfot2, kartikp provided the valuable guidance quickly.

The Saurastra or Kathiwar region comprises the south western part of Gujarat state and the districts included in this region are Rajkot, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Amreli, Surendranagar, and some portions of Ahmedabad District also fall under this area.

Kutch is the second largest district in India covering an area of 45, 612 sq. km. and is part of the Kathiawar Peninsula occupying the northwestern part of Gujarat. Kutch can be divided into 4 distinct regions:
i) Great Rann, to the north,
ii) The Grasslands of Banni,
iii) Mainland, consisting of plains,hills and dry river beds and
iv) Coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south with mangrove creeks to the west .

Due to its unique geographical location and habitat, Kutch is considered to be at the crossroads of Pale - arctic migration streams and witnesses great waves of migratory birds in winter.Kutch is a land of deserts, dry salty alluvial mudflats, extensive grasslands and great stretches of water left by the monsoons. Dry thorn forests and mild hillocks punctuate the flat limitless stretches of land and a great variety of birds find refuge in these seemingly hostile surroundings.

Kutch is particularly rich in raptors, waterfowl, waders and larks. Specialties include the Grey Hypocolius (Kutch is the only known wintering site in India), White-napped Tit, Stoliczka's Bushchat, Sykes's Nightjar, Greater Hoopoe Lark, Merlin, MacQueen's and Indian Bustards. Over 30,000 Common
Cranes, hundreds of Steppe Eagle, Marsh, Pallid and Montague's Harriers, Long-legged Buzzards, Sand grouse, Pelicans, Flamingos and great flocks of Greater Short-toed Larks are a feature of any winter visit to the area.

Many winter migrants also visit our state Maharashtra. Few places are very near to Pune . Last year in December we visited Kavdipat near Pune and that experience was thrilling one.
See This.

Kavdipat visit ignited us and when I came to know the regions Kutch and Saurashtra are India's most prolific birding areas,I decided to concentrate on birds during this trip.

So here I am with the wonderful world of birds of Kutch and Saurashtra through my lens.

Let's proceed with the State bird of Gujarat "Flamingo "
Rann 1780



R


We were lucky enough to observe many bird species while traveling however could capture 103 bird species in our camera . For more about birds,there flights,mating, nestling, hatching and study of habitat that we experienced during 27th October to 9th November 2011 while our trip to Kutch and Saurashtra see This.

Now will start with the wild ass of Kutch these are the only originals of the species, left in the world.




to be continued

Quite an interesting description. And the photos are amazing as well...waiting for more

Wow wow not Bow wow

Great beginning VinaT and please dont be so modest. Your Kashmir to Kanyakumari logs are like epics now!

Looking forward to further installments.

PS: Really commendable how you have labelled those bird pics so meticulously in your other thread on BCMT. Very impressed, keep it up!

..snonymous I know it's harbhara ( chickpea ) season
don't wish to have a great fall from the harbhara ( chickpea )tree

I know my limitations so wish to speak through snaps, however there seems to be some limitation for uploading snaps per post here on IM. Have addressed some problems to Moderators too.

Will try to post further once I finish my other thread

Speaking through snaps i.e. Photo Log with minimum text is in my opinion the best, as even those who are not really intending to visit the place would be able to quickly scroll through and enjoy the pics, whereas only those who have been there or are seriously thinking of going to a place would want to read all the details.

Sending you a pm.

EDIT: There is an article in today's ToI in the Times Nation section, titled "Flamingo killers back in Little Rann" which you might find interesting. I could not find it on the net today, but Im sure you will see this in the Pune papers as well.

It's a shocking news

This is the TOI News

VinaT, have you forgotten to continue this thread of yours?

Patiently waiting.

Hats off to your patience snonymous.
Sorry for the delay.
Actually I have not forgotten but upload limitation forced me to remain silent.
I feel that a photo describes the situation thousand times better than a word.
Of course I know my limitations of language.

Have posted following two Photo logs on other forum.

Wonderful World of Birds of Kutch and Saurashtra through my lens._Oct_Nov_2011

Wild life & Flowers:Insects & Creatures:which we observed during Kutch Kathiawar Trip

Let me continue the log just for your patience

Vina,

Why don't you post them here directly?

Now I will try to continue patiently please bare with me.


After getting the appropriate information the tentative itinerary was as follows.



Day one:
Some change in itinerary took place and accompanied by my in-laws, we left Pune early in the morning at 5.30AM,and the odometer was indicating 30006kms.

Since been to Ahmadabad twice earlier nothing new to mention about this journey. However due to better road conditions it was very smooth as compared to the last two trips.

Covering 653 kms.reached Ahmedabad before 5 p.m. and settled in Maninagar with a warm welcome by younger brother of my father-in law.
Till we are back from our Kutch and Saurashtra trip my father-in-law and mother-in-law were to stay with other in-laws, at Ahmedabad.



After freshening up we reached Kankaria Lake.

See this ( http://www.gujarattourism.com/showpa...webpartid=1255 )



With my in-laws at Kankaria Lake.

Being Diwali Padva we celebrated it in a traditional way.



Day Two: Odometer was indicating 30659kms. at 5a.m. when we rolled towards Viramgaon via Isanpur,Narol Chowkadi,Sarkhaj, Sanand.
According to the modified plan we were on the way to Zainabad,for having glimpses of Wild Ass, the only originals of the species, left in the world.

The first obstacle was the railway gate, besides the bad road condition in this stretch.



After Viramgaon, single road frequenting with lot many domestic animals on the road slowed down the journey.

Why this, Why this, Why this upload limitations td


Still trying to post the log.

Stay tuned td

Just for information (You decide what to make of it):

ON BCMT-site if you post a IM-link then Stars (********) replace the word "indiamike" in the URL ... which means they don't want you to post a IM link there.

PS: First time I have seen an external URL-link not allowed in a website/forum. That too a specific Other Forum!?
.

Day Two continues................


Zainabad is about 105kms. away from Ahmedabad, however as the 4 lane construction was in progress it took us 3 hrs to reach Desert Coursers Resort Zainabad.
After paying charges Rs. 275 per head we joined morning Desert Safari instead of staying at Desert Coursers Resort.( Resort charges were Rs.1600/- per head per day, including Desert Safari)

We reached LRK and witnessed Wild Ass,the only originals of the species, left in the world.


To be continued...

Could upload for two post today successfully, however for the third post while uploading photos getting following message:

Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error.

Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.3.2

I am really frustrated due to this problem

Hi Vina,
I received your PMs and have alerted the site admin. There is nothing else I can assist you with, sorry.