Thanks
you so much lovely readers for the overwhelming response to part 1, now I am more
charged up for part 2. We have gone through the beginning that means we started
with birding and ended up with some great sighting of big cats with some
extraordinary stories so it’s time to get into the climax part, the theory
of how/why/what (beautifully explained
by Saurabh and religiously understood by Sagar 😂)
Part two – the beginning of the end
It was day 2 where we had 2 safaris together, many of us were beginners
and we were driving on their luck. The search started for the king immediately because
considering the nature of lions it will be difficult to find them once it
starts warming up and the sun shines heavily. Even if you sight them at that time, you
may find them sleepy and not very active. Therefore, we decided that we will
first target the king sighting and once we get success we will get into
evaluating the rest of the forest.
This time beginner’s luck was so strong that within 30 minutes we land
up at the place where two sub-adult male lions were feasting on big buffalo. It
was like God is just listing to us and fulfilling our wish in real-time. Two together
feasting on big buffalo is just like dream come true sighting, both these lions
were on the job, they gave us every single pose for capture. They were crossing
road, sitting in the middle of the road, harping on the kill in between, again
royal walk towards river and coming back head-on any many more expressions in
between, it was crazy for the team to see such activities in very quick time.
No one was ready to believe their luck and asking each other is this true? You will understand our feeling when you will see the DSLR section.
We enjoyed the complete sighting for around 40 minutes and move ahead to
see what more we can find, the luck continued as favorable because we got one
more Lion within a distance of 3 km. He was in a sleepy mood and was giving us the messages
that please don’t disturb and let me sleep. We were on 7th heaven
after sighting 3 lions on the same day. What more you can demand when you see 3
in a quick time with a variety of expressions. We ended the day with a lot of
memories and excitement and a lot of hope for the rest of the trip. Ab age dekhte
hai ki kya team or lions/leopards dekh payegi? Toh milte hai next safari me HUM LOG 😂😅😆
The lion fight story
We saw 3 lions in first two safaris so excitement was on high to find a
leopard, so we started evening safari but it was dry with hardly few sighting
of birds but no big cats, so now all hopes transferred to the last visit. It is
normal human behavior that even you get everything in previous visits but still
hunger will not satisfy if you don’t see anything in the last visit, this is how
pressure got built on the last visit. with high hope, the last safari begins and see
what all drama happened.
The moment we stared with the last safari we got the news that one lion got
injured in a territorial fight, this was the same lion which we had seen during
the first safari. The fight happened between 3 of them which we had sighted
yesterday, they had clashed for territory as well for buffalo kill ownership. The
story was very dramatic and we could relate to it because we had seen all of
them yesterday. We wanted to visit the same place but it was closed
for the day for security reasons and to see how many injuries suffered by lions
and if they need medical support. The story gave the kick and discussions
started because of curiosity, with these things in mind we moved ahead to find
something either lion or leopard to finish the journey on a very high
note. Let us see what happened next.
The real climax is Bhaji pala story
Now after hearing the fight-story and closure of zone, even with low scope Hitesh Bhai and Saurabh were sure that they will focus and find
out something. Both of them were together to plan the last safari and decided that
our 3 vehicles will stay together. Therefore, with this instruction we started
evaluating the forest for the last time, the journey started and started with the key role of Bhaji Pala.
Now the Bhaji Pala starts, our captain decided to move slowly to
ensure we get some hint for the sighting because just blindly running will not
help. Here the co-ordination of guides was crucial, Hitesh Bhi was very clear
with his thoughts but our guide, Bhaji Pala had different views, rather you can
say no views. Bhaji Pala wanted to run fast blindly with some stupid thoughts
such as “you can win only if you reach first so you need to be fast” Bhaji Pala
wanted us to move fast and wanted us to move away from captain’s vehicle to prove
his point.
He was
testing our calmness but Sagar challenged his stupidity with his Siddhu type laughter 😂😂. Finally, I lost my temper and
decided to give this joker freedom to break convoy and move fast wherever he
thinks fit to move. However, the moment I gave him go ahead he got fear that
what if he fails, he was not confident in his own stupidity then how Sagar can
control his laughter😎 During all this drama Sagar with his one-liners was keeping the situation
on a lighter side. This continued for an
hour and we were reaching the closing time, now shoulders started coming down
with the end of hope as we were reaching the gate.
Now
Bhaji Pala sir also realized that he has done Bhaji Pala because he was
thinking that other groups must have seen a lion but we are blank. His stupid
arguments still continued because of which I gave up and was angry with my own decision
that why I took such a call, I shut down the camera and gave up for the first time
before even coming out.
Now the real climax came when Ankur started shouting “Leopard” even
Bhaji Pala did not see as he was busy calling Hitesh Bhai to check if he had a sighting or not. We all suddenly got charged up, Ashwin was quick with
camera and managed a few clicks and Mahesh as well to record it. It was lucky
and nothing else no effort from anyone and leopard gave us a glimpse, now I was
relaxed and happy that finally, my group turned out to be super lucky to sight a leopard and three Jackals
as well to complete the journey. Picture Abhi Baki hai mere dost, let's finish what happened with the other 2 groups.
And it’s four
Now you all must be thinking what happened with the other two groups, did the captain managed to win? Our Captain Saurabh is like Dhoni he will start slowly
if it is need of the hour and will hit a four at the end. Yes, the captain turned the game
and managed to see the fourth lion of the trip for the other two groups. Meanwhile, we
managed a leopard they saw a lion, all three groups had the last laugh and ended the
tips on an extremely high note. We all celebrated the trip with a lot of shopping at
Rajkot and finally reached home with memories of our life.
This
is how we had a dramatic end of the trip, that is why the trip report is split into two
parts so as you can enjoy each moment and feel to be part of the journey
yourself.
Thanks Ashwin for Leopard pic
Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a vote of
thanks, the contribution of each one is crucial, without which the journey is
incomplete
GIR Forest department - Well
organized forest, the journey was smooth, thanks for taking care of our
wildlife
The Team –
Amish, Sarang, Sanjay,
Ashwini, Preeti, Ratan, Mahesh, KC Subbu, Abhishek, Reshma, Hitesh, Milan,
Ashwin, Ankur, Sagar (Wild card entry – star of the trip), Saurabh (wildlife
expert) Vishnu (favorite of all) and Bhavesh (BT Wild Art)
Expert
Saurabh
and Team Mumbai Traveler – everyone is very happy with the knowledge you shared and
helped with such flawless arrangements. Cheers!
Expert Guide
Hitesh
Bhai – Your knowledge and efforts are commendable, your love and passion for
wildlife is just unmatched, thank you so much
Stay and Food – GIR Jungle Lodge
Special thanks to Shree
Thaker Bhojnalya for delicious Undhiyu and Thali
A Message
of the Day –
No life without Wildlife – Preserve it – Respect it – Enjoy itWildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure; to protect it we must take every measure
BT Wild Art
DSLR
Section
