Just back from a good trip.
Somnath-Gir-Rannriders resort-Little Rann of kutch
This is a perfect trip with mix of wild life, nature and lot of train travel
I had to research it, so sending this out so that its easy if anyone wants to do the trip.
Before I write about the trip planning few things to note -
- Best season to see lions is summer as they are on move in search of water as far as gir is concerned
- Summers are extremely hot in kutch :)
- Both the locations Gir and Kutch are bird watchers paradise. Amazing migratory birds too.
- Book your tickets and accomodation well in advance.
- You need atleast 12X+ optical zoom camera to capture everything well.
Reference URLs -
http://www.girnationalpark.com/
http://www.rannriders.com/
http://www.nivalink.com/GUJARAT/jungle.html
Photos -
http://picasaweb.google.com/himanshukhona/GirKutchRannriders
Here is how you plan your trip -
Mumbai - Somnath
Take a train to veraval from mumbai. There are trains from veraval to Sasangir around 2-3 times in the day,
so check the time of that train. There is one around 9:40, which is perfect if you have a train which arrives from
mumbai early morning.
Get down at veraval and visit Somanth temple which is 7km from the station
Take a rick or something. Come back to verval railway station.
Veraval - Sasan gir
Take a passenger steam train from veraval to sasangir. you can go by road but the road stretch of 60 km just sucks.
It was too painful, so the train works the best.
All the resorts are in few km range from the sasangir railway station and the resort owner will provide you
free pickup.
Tip - Please book yourself in advance in a good resort. Resorts are expensive, and the ones which are cheap
are not worth it.
Try and do early morning 6:30 safari which costs 1350 for 4 people. So try to visit in a group.
If you do not see a lion in the above safari, take a trip to devalia park which is around 12 km
and they have put around 7 lions in 12km area, so you can be sure to see a lion.
Sasangir - veraval
Take the same passenger train from sasangir to veraval.
Veraval - Viramgam
Take somnath express(there is one more train) to Viramgam.
Ask the rannriders resort owner to provide you with free pick up (http://www.rannriders.com)
Enjoy the resort and safari to Little Rann of kutch. There are very good birds too.
viramgam - Mumbai -
Take a train :)
Now something on the rann riders resort -
The resort is one of it kinds with a clear sunrise to be seen from backyard and sunset from the front yard.
There are around 18 Huts with excellent facility and interiors.
Each of them has a unique toilet which is open to sky and surrounded by trees.
The food was very good.
