carindia.in

• Prev
• 1 of 35
• Next

Day One
The drive began from Pune in the wee hours of a chilly Friday morning. We took NH 4 at Chandani Chowk and headed for Mumbai. After joining the Pune-Mumbai expressway ahead, it took us an hour-and-a-half to reach Panvel. Thereafter, we took the Ghodbunder Road that goes through Thane and reached the junction where it joins NH 8. After breakfast, we headed northwards on NH 8 towards Gujarat.

Shortly after crossing the State border we went off the highway. An eight-kilometre drive through a narrow village road brought us to the town of Sanjan, near the western coast. The Zoroastrian (Parsi) community of India founded this town when they migrated here thirteen centuries ago. After a visit to the fire temple (agyari) and a monument dedicated to the Parsis here, we headed back to the highway. From here onwards the road was comparable to motorways in the developed countries. The Gujarat government deserves a pat on the back for the quality of highways in the State. We bypassed Surat in the evening and reached Vadodara at 9.30 pm, our destination for the first day.

(Distance travelled: 550 km)

Day Two
Driving further northwards on NH 8 we reached Ahmedabad. It is the biggest city in Gujarat, spread along the banks of the river Sabarmati. Ahmedabad has many heritage structures, the famous Sidi Saeed mosque being one of them. Some of the arches of the mosque have windows with intricate latticework in stone. The design of one particular window is used unofficially as the symbol for the city. After the visit we left Ahmedabad to join the NH 8A. After about 50 km, we went off the highway and took the road going down south via Fedara. A signboard for a 10-km detour to the ancient port city of Lothal appeared on our way. Lothal was a Harappan town flourishing with trade brought in by the sea merchants from the west between 2500-1900 BCE. The excavation site here has revealed the remains of a well-planned town and the museum next to it houses many Harappan artefacts used during the time.

The road further had marshland on both sides. Migratory birds could be seen hopping about in search of the fish trapped in small puddles. Our Olympus 10x50 DPS I binocular helped us in having a close look at the rare birds. It was dark by the time we reached Bhavnagar, where we stayed for the night.

(Distance travelled: 320 km)

Day Three
We started early to reach in time for the last animal safari of the day in the Gir wildlife sanctuary. After driving on NH 8E for about 30 km, we took a left from Trapej to visit the ship recycling yards at Alang. Almost half of the world's written off sea vessels are recycled here. The town is highly polluted, but the sight of hundreds of ships docked in a line is worth a visit. We came to the highway and went up to Una, where we left NH 8E and entered a narrow rustic road that went inside the forest. The City's low ground clearance reduced our speed here as the potholes and speed-breakers made us crawl across to avoid damaging the car's under-body.

After an hour’s drive, we found ourselves surrounded by dense foliage on both sides of the road. We made it to village Sasan in Gir by 2.30 pm and checked in at a resort. Animal safaris leave from the Sinh Sadan at Sasan at 6.00 am, 9.00 am and 3.00 pm. One needs to fill in a form and submit proof of identity here. The safari costs Rs 2,000. Cameras are charged extra.

Gir is the last remaining habitat of the Asiatic lion. The forest is spread over 1,400 square kilometres and has 411 lions. Spotted deer are a frequent sight in the forest. Monkeys, sambhars and wild boars were also seen, but the mighty lion eluded a sighting until the last hour of the safari. Finally, we were able to spot the mighty predator. It was a lone young male resting in thick foliage after a hunt. We put  the  couple of Olympus ILCCs (Interchangeable Lens Compact Camera) we had to good use. ILCCs are basically compact DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras. The E-P3 and E-PL3 models have LCD display on their back. This allows the user to shoot the picture without keeping his/her eye riveted to the view-finder. However, no picture can capture the experience of watching the king of the jungle in reality.

(Distance travelled: 300 km)