Planning a trip to Sasan Gir in 2nd week of Jan '09

Planning a trip to Sasan Gir in 2nd week of Jan '09. traveling with 2 young kids (who love wildlife). Any suggestions to how to comfortably get there ( from Baroda), best place to stay, good dining places and info on getting into the park and getting to watch the lions

1) Have a look at this link:
It's around 400km one-way. I don't think there's any trains to that area. You may have to investigate options of buses or, a hire-car.

2) Best place - when I was there 4 years ago, there were 2 classes of hotel. Backpacker types & the Govt. run hotel. If you want comfort, it's definitely the Gujarat establishments for both sleeping & probably dining. The road-side places were OK but certainly nothing to write home about.

3) Generally, no matter what hotel you go to, the management will be able to organise a seat on the jeeps going into the park for you.

4) As far as being able to see lions, I've heard from people who went to the park & saw deer; owls; and lion/panther tracks but no lions. Others (me included), were lucky enough to see lions very close-up.

It's a bit of a hit & miss affair.

I hope you enjoy your time there - I did.

Cheers
Zoltan

Damned link didn't work.

Try this: URL="http://mapmyindia.com/"]http://mapmyindia.com/[/URL]

When doing the search, click on the directions button and for your point of origin, put Vadodara, Gujarat and your destination as Vadala.

Cheers
Zoltan

Hi,
I was at Sasan very recently. Best way to get there is to take a vehilce like a Tavera/Qualis and drive down from Baroda. The best route would be Baroda-Rajkot-Junagadh-Sasan. The highway to Rajkot [from Ahmeadabad] is lovely and fast. From Rajkot to Junagadh the road is fairly good. Junagadh to Sasan is bad in patches but nothing to worry about. Will probably take you 8-9 hours or travel time. So start early from Baroda.

Places to stay at Gir -- there are several jungle lodges and resorts which you can see on the net. We stayed at "Anil Farm", 3800/- per room/night all inclusive of stay and meals. There are other similar places, some of them costing much more. Anil Farm was comfortable for the purpose we were there! There will be nothing 5-star or 4-star anywhere in this region. All the places I inquired, includes b/f, lunch, tea, dinner as part of the package and really there is no possibility of "going out" and eating in this region. And probably all places are equally good. They all serve "Gujarati / Rajasthani food". Food is fairly good.

Getting to see lions -- now that is the trick!! Depends on your luck. The Forest Dept allows some fixed number of excursions in open jeeps [for 4/5 people] per day. There are 3 time slots: morning [7 am] forenoon [930am]and afternoon. Your hotel should be able to arrange for this trip. I paid about 1800/- Rs per trip.

Have a good time, and good luck with the Lions

Rajesh,
Do you have an emailadress of phone number of Ani farm?

Aquila

Hi Rajesh & Welcome to India Mike.

Which month you were in Gir ?
You have not mentoned whether you saw the lions ?
Rs. 1800/- per trip i.e. per time slot ? Total how many trips you took ?

I guess Anil Farm is another name for Lion Safari Camp. Details / Reviews of the same are here http://www.holidayiq.com/resortinfo_...php?Resid=2748

Thanks

Ronak.

Aquila,

Hotel Anil Farm House
BHALCHEL (GIR)
Ta. Talala
Dist. Junagadh
Gujarat Pin Code: 362135
India

Tel: +91-2877-295509
Cell Phone: +91-98790-01098

anil_farmhouse@yahoo.com
www.giranilfarmhouse.com


Ronak,
Thanks for the welcome note.
I was there in the last week of October-2008.
Yes it is 1800 per trip per time-slot. A trip will normally take 2 hours plus. We were told it is kms long. We took 2 trips.

Anil Farm House is different from Lion Safari Camp - both are nearby though.

Sighting lions: We did not get to sight the lions. The jungle was thick, it was just after the monsoon ends and the season opens and that made it difficult. We did see peacocks and sambar and neelagai and deer. I believe as the season progresses and the winter sets in, the foliage thins out and then you have better chances of seeing the lions. In summer you are "assured" of it because the lions have to come to the few waterholes that are filled up by the Forest Dept. But then summer is oppresively hot in Saurashtra!

The Road suggested by Rathod is the best. Even if you are driving on your own in a small car.
The most convinient place to stay is "Sinh sadan", I think it is run by the forest dept.All jeep safari's start & end from here. It is basic but ok . They also serve basic food, like thali for lunch & dinner & poha/upma/ puri bhaji for BF.
There is a forest dept park near by where you are taken in a bus & lion sightings are almost a guarantee. It is a kind of fenced area in the sanctuary where a pride of lions is maintained. On the jeep safari , you have to depend on luck. But you will see a lot of birds, hundereds of deer, few sambars, neelgai's etc.
I saw a lot of birds & a odd fox during my visit in feb-08.
If you stay at "Sinh Sadan" you will hear the roaring of the big cats all night long , may be spoil your sleep too. But in the morning ask the manager about it. It will be a nice little surprise for the kids.

Thanks Rajesh, for the address. This will help.
Regards,
Aquila

Thanks Rajesh for clearing my belief about Anil Farm House & Lion Safari Camp being same.

I agree with you on sightings & have learnt from experience that Summer is the best time to see wildlife (I am talking animals here & not birds) & I would say stay for at least 2 to 3 days which will give you a better chance of sighting.

Ronak.

We visited Sasan Gir in June 1979. We were the only visitors on that day. We (5 persons) were taken in a jeep accompanied by a forest guide. After travelling inside the sanctuary for about 5-6 kms, we saw a pride of lions resting under the shade of trees some 100 meters away from the path. The forest guide got down from the jeep and advised us to walk with him. As we neared the lion pride, we saw another forest guide standing near the pride with a double-barrel gun and a goat. We were scared to go near the pride but the forest guard told us not to worry as lions will concentrate their attention only on the goat he was holding. We found that none of the lions were looking at us. We were in the open ground for about 15-20 minutes and at one point of time, we were not more than 25-30 feet from the pride. No doubt, it was scary but it was a great feeling standing near a lion pride so close.

I am just curious whether this system of seeing the lions is presently in vogue or the system has changed now.

Sadanand

Hi, This is the good time to visit Sasan Gir.

If money is not a problem for you then you can hier a texi from Vadodara and go to Sasan Gir.

I would suggest you to to hier from Vadodara because you also have onwards journey for Somnath/Rajkot.

I would suggest you to visit Sasan Gir from Tulshishyam. You will definitely get chance to view lions here. There is a famous temple here and pople from tulshishyam saying on every purnima (Full Moon) lions are coming to mandir (Temple).

Few years back we stayed near Tulshishyam and we saw 2 Lions and 3 Lioness. There is lake near Tulshishyam which is more famous for a award winning photograph (thnx to Ismile Patel, who took National Geography award winning photo, 14 member lion family at a time). Other reason to use this root is you can go to Div. from Div you can go to Somnath and from Somnath you can goto Rajkot easily.

I would also suggest you to ask forest officers to allow you to stay in forest guest house.

I know one Transport Guy in Baroda Satish Dave (09824398082), who know this root and will guide you for your journey.

Your probable rout would be Vadodara-Khabhat-Botad-Amereli-Tulshishyam-Div-Somnath-Rajkot.

Regards
Rushi (Mumbai)

Sk, that seems to be an awesome experience for you to tell your grandchildren. Really amazing. I am sure this is not in practice currently.

Ronak.

For info on sasan gir cilck -www.oktatabyebye.com/destination-features/230-sasan-gir-travel-guide-gujarat.html

I could locate two pictures that I had taken of my son and daughter with a lion in the background during my trip to Sasan Gir in June 1979. The pictures were taken from Agfa Click-III camera and the time has taken the toll on the quality of picutres. Here are the thumbnails: