Sasangir

The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (also known as Sasan-Gir) is a forest and wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat. The park is located 65 km to the south-east of Junagadh and 60 km to south west of Amreli.
It is the sole home of the pure Asiatic Lions. The seven major perennial rivers of the Gir region provide the few hundreds of watering points for the animals in the Sanctuary. This Sanctuary is amongst the most successful wild life conservation stories. From a pitiful small number of around 20 lions at the turn of 20th century, today there are approximately 300 lions in the park. It also has one of the largest populations of leopards in respect to any other Indian wild life sanctuary. So it is a great place for wildlife enthusiasts to spot a wild cat.
Sasan is a small village nearby and a major beneficiary of tourist influx to Gir forest. Gir National Park and Sanctuary does not have a designated area for tourists. However, to reduce the tourism hazard to the wildlife and to promote nature education, an Interpretation Zone has been created at Devalia within the sanctuary. Within its chained fences, it covers all habitat types and wildlife of Gir with its feeding-cum-living cages for the carnivores and a double-gate entry system.
Best Time to Visit: October to April

Languages Spoken: Gujarati

Climate: Hot and dry summers, pleasant winters
Natural Wonders: Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary

Home of Asiatic Lions..Gir forest – A tryst with the King

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Suddenly we saw jeeps carrying lot of excited tourists coming from the opposite direction and some of them showed us the victory sign.They said they have spotted few lioness and cubs enroute..For us the excitement started building for the second time and we moved ahead with bated breath.We had moved another kilometer or so and what we saw next, melted our hearts!!A lion cub was sitting few inches away from our jeep,it seemed as if he wanted to pose for us..he was joined by another cub and soon the two of them started playing together.In distance their mothers, two lionesses,sat watching.The guide went on..”Spotting of cubs is an extremely rare affair as their mothers are fiercely protective and don’t allow them to venture outside of deep forest area,so you people are really lucky”.We tried to soak in the happy moment and thanked our luck again and again for the wonderful lion sightings we had that day,which made our visit to the sanctuary worth it.

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Road Journeys – Towards Sinh Saheb’s Abode at GIR

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How many of you have sighted a big cat in wild? Will all of you agree that sighting it for the first time is a nerve-breaking, shaky, crazy, ecstatic, intoxicating, heavenly, euphoric, blissful and rapturous…….., short of words to explain, state of mind and body! All eyes still, hoping another sight of the shy animal petrified motionlessly for another few seconds. No chance, assured by the whispers of the guide. Everyone on board was busy browsing their cameras, for the best clip out of multiple shots taken in few seconds. Triumphantly, only my camera crowned the honor with one better close-up with a promise to share it with everyone later.

Soon, we sighted one more leopard crossing the road much closer, but that one was in haste and soon out of sight before, anyone could shoot it. The guide and driver were unanimous view of our better luck to spot two, too shy animals so easily in our first few minutes. I feel, they were right because back home, surprisingly we were informed that none have sighted any big cat that morning.

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