Hello friends, hope you are doing well. So, are you ready to cheer up 2026? Many of us would be thinking of resolutions to follow in the New Year, such as going to the gym, learning, giving up some habits, or eating only healthy food etc. Wishing all the best for achieving dreams in the upcoming year and wishing a very happy 2026 in advance.

The title of the story is Gir, so I am sure you must have guessed correctly that I am going to talk about the Gir trip.

Yes, the story is about Gir, but why a Family Man trip? Is there any connection with Family Man? The answer is NO, I am not talking about OTT family man, to know why family man let us visit the next section.

Family man story

As I said, there is nothing to do with OTT series, no characters like Rukma, Tiwari JK in this story😂. The story is of a common man who is a family man, and in this story, the common man is none other than the self-proclaimed family man BT 😆😆😆

So let me narrate the story of this trip and the reason for calling it a family man trip. The main reason for planning the trip was the family’s constant push. They wanted me to plan a trip to Veraval to take blessings of the family goddess (Kul Devi), which had been pending for a long time. Now family man with family pressure, with no choice, I had to plan for it.

So, with the opportunity of a long weekend in November, I planned Veraval and Somnath and smartly added Gir in the itinerary so that both a religious trip as well as a wildlife trip can happen in a single trip. Now, let me narrate what we enjoyed in the whole trip in the next section.

Gir Lion family

We reached Somnath temple on the first day, and after that next day we took blessings from Kul Devi and then moved ahead to Sasan Gir.

The family was very happy with temple visits, and now it was time for me to visit my temple (the forest). Forest never disappoints and gives happiness much more than you expect. Let me take you through the forest now.

We reached Gir in the evening of the 2^nd day of travel, hence it was just a relaxing time in the jungle lodge. After a relaxed time on the 3^rd day, we started with a morning safari, all arrangements were superbly planned by Nature Explorer, and help from Hitesh bhai was bang on.

We entered the forest with a mild taste of winter with lush greenery all around; we never expected such a quick sighting, and the same knock on the door just in 15 minutes. The lion was roaring high, calling the lioness to pay attention, but the lioness was not at all bothered by the calling. We got enough time to spend with this couple and went ahead to enjoy the other part of the forest.

Now see what happens in the post-lunch session, in cricket post lunch, either you will see a lot of wickets falling or set batsmen scoring more runs. What I mean to say is that the 2^nd session, most of the time, generates more interest. You will be thinking, already we had a superb sighting in 1^st part, now what's more on the card?

Let me tell you, the 2^nd part was a game-changer, my cub wanted to see his counter parts, I mean my son was like Is it possible to see lion kido? I told him anything is possible in the forest, but let’s not feel bad if we don’t get the kido sighting.

We started the evening session by telling various stories to keep my son’s attention away from the cubs. I was telling him my experience and why forests are important, and we should respect nature, while I was trying to keep his attention away, the guide found the cubs playing in the clutter. The major surprise was three cubs with their mother playing with each other. You can imagine, once you see the cute pictures of these kids

This was just a dream come true, to see such small cubs openly playing with their mother, just amazing and unexpected. These moments will stay forever in the heart. The family saw the lion's family, nothing more you can ask for, what a successful trip, the family was happy with temple visits, resulting in an unexpected time in the forest, difficult to describe the kind of happiness we had with this trip.

Apart from lions, we managed to see owls, eagles, crocodiles, and mongoose, and many more varieties. Do visit BT's World for captures, and help me with your feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks

Nature Explorer Team – Many thanks, team NEI, for managing the tour so smoothly. You people are rocking, keep it up.

Hitesh Chauhan, Hitesh bhai, you know Gir like your own home, your knowledge and your support were truly amazing

BT’s World

restart with B-P-P

Hello friends, wish you a happy Friendship Day, you all are true friends who help me to reach milestones in the journey of blogging and photography. For this, I wish everyone....

Tum jaise wildlifer ka sahara hai dosto
Tum jaise wildlifer ka sahara hai doston,
Yeh dil tumhare pyar ka maara hai dosto,
Yeh dil tumhare pyar ka maara hai dosto,
100 baar Shukriya, 1000 baar Shukriya.

Now let me tell you why the title is restart and the meaning of B-P-P, restart because of restarting blogging after a long gap, and restart because restarting at the same place but with an upgraded camera.

Now let me tell you the meaning of B-P-P, this means Bhigwan-Parinche-Panvel, the place is not new for all of us, but as I said, experience and quality are different due to a new member in the kitty, my Canon R5. Hope you will enjoy the restart pictures and blog too. So let us start with the Story of BPP one by one.

Bhigwan the big one

This time, the whole trip happened without any planning. The actual plan was to visit near Chiplun, but for some reason, it could not materialize. I was excited to use the new camera, but due to the cancellation of Chiplun had no choice but to wait. But suddenly Jogi called and informed that Bhigwan is rocking and let’s go for the same, with Bhigwan we also added Parinche, which is one of the P, the difference is not far from Bhigwan, hence it makes sense to do both places together.

Let me update on how both places rocked. Firstly, update on Bhigwan. This place is God’s gift to mankind, such a beautiful place with greenery all around with offering all through the year. I have been to lots of places, but most of the places are seasonal, based on migration, but the same is not applicable to Bhigwan. All through the year, you can visit to take advantage of the different varieties.

The Monsoon magic is all about the variety of Quails, painted sandgrouse, Foxes, Wolves, hyenas, and many more. Apart from wildlife, it also offers food life, which means a typical homemade Maharashtra special meal with best of the best taste, visit BT’s world for pictures.

Parinche

This place is primarily famous for for Vernal Hanging Parrot, but you can also find Baya, Bunting, Munias as add-ons, but as I said, prime time is parrot. Let me also clarify that parrots are different from parakeets; what you see within the city is not a parrot, but is parakeet. People are not aware of parrots and use the term " Parrot" for all parakeets. So, please see the picture of a Vernal hanging parrot to understand that parrots and parakeets are different birds. This place is located near Saswad and just two hours from Bhigwan, hence it is better to combine both places to get unique birding in one go.

The parrots are visiting the Bajri season, which matches with monsoon, to capture parrots hanging on Bajri, even if it is windy with rain, which is amazing. Because of this hanging behaviour, the name is Vernal Hanging Parrot.

Panvel

Now let me update you on Panvel, though it happened after a week of Bhigwan/Parinche, but again an unplanned visit to meet the King of monsoon, OD King Fisher. Friday evening got a call from Jogi. The question was What are you doing tomorrow morning? Let’s meet early morning to join Panvel for ODFK. Within the city, plus learning about using a new camera with Jogi, it became an excellent opportunity.

The only regret of the wrong choice was that we decided to stop over at Shree Datta Snacks, the quality was not at all enjoyable.

Now, at the end, please look at the BT’s World section to see exciting pictures of the tour, do share your feedback with me on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks

Nature Explorer Team – Many thanks, team NEI (Vrunda and Tushar), for managing the tour so smoothly. You people are rocking, keep it up.

Agni Pankh Flamingo point for a memorable time at Bhigwan, special thanks to the Nagre family for the lovely food.

Gaurav for Parinche, keep it up, do upgrade and promote the place more and more, so that more people can visit.

BT’s World