GIR Trip Report part 2

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 7^th 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 –