Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com)
Dates
11th to 15th November 2024
Locations Visited
Gir National Park; Blackbuck National Park Velavadar
Tour Participants
Guests: Mai Phúóng and Martin Walsh
Naturalist: Ravi Kailas (with invaluable assistance from Amit at Velavadar)
These are highlights from a portion of trip that I guided, primarily in Gir NP, and for one all too brief night at Velavadar, in November this year. I also coordinated the visit of the guests to Kutch, after they visited these parks.
The first 3 nights spent in Gir NP was productive for excellent Asiatic Lion sightings. We went on five safaris, each on different, albeit inter-lapping routes, exploring the gamut of habitats of Gir – primarily open thorn savannah and dry deciduous forest on undulating terrain – and had one lion sighting on each of the rides. Two sightings were especially memorable – a lioness with two young cubs in soft evening light, walking towards us on the road and a close-up sighting of a lioness drinking water from a jungle stream, followed this individual and another road walking for several minutes in golden morning light. While lion sightings are common enough in Gir, especially with the practise of the forest department tracking the animals, it is much less likely to see them active during the day, as we did. Rarer thought in Gir, despite a large population here, was the two sightings of Leopard that we had, which on both instances were walking through lush undergrowth, thriving from a surfeit post-monsoon rainfall. The rest of the mammals we saw, were usual suspects for these parts, including Indian Grey and Small Indian Mongooses, Northern Plains Langur, Sambar, Nilgai and Chital. A couple of after-dark drives around the countryside did produce a ratel like figure cross the road, but it all happened too fast and too far, to make a positive id of the creature. Birdlife was typically interesting with the critically endangered Red-headed Vulture, White-eyed and Oriental Honey Buzzards, Crested Hawk Eagle, Eurasian Wryneck, Indian Thick-knee, Yellow-legged Buttonquail, Dusky Crag Martin and Indian Scops Owl among the typical birdlife of peninsular Indian forests. We also saw a handful of Mugger and Checkered Keelback, inhabiting the recent-rain-enhanced, spring-fed streams coursing through the valleys of Gir, as well as Indian Monitor Lizard among the modest representation of reptiles.
The compact Blackbuck National Park at Velavadar almost never disappoints, and this time it was no different. We had two sightings of Indian Wolf, one fleeting and one lingering, engrossing observation of a pack of four wolves attempting to hunt Blackbuck in the morning. There were also two Jungle Cat observations – the first individual road walking towards us, vocalising (calling out to its kittens?) and spraying as it disappeared into the grasses adjacent to us and one relatively fleeting glimpse of mother and kittens disappearing into the grasses just as we happened upon them. There were Blackbuck and Nilgai aplenty, as per norm, but fewer than normally seen Wild Pig, likely due to the copious monsoon fed tall grass (I understood from our local guide that a species of grass, that grows taller, dominates the grasslands following copious Monsoon rains). The tall grass, and the fact that this otherwise bold Hyena mother, had very young pups, also meant that an active Striped Hyena den was too hidden to observe its denizens, when they were active around dusk and dawn. The park also lived upto its reputation as the world’s largest harrier roost with, innumerable of Montegu’s (especially), Pallid and (much fewer) Eurasian Marsh harriers filling the skies as they flew out to feed at dawn and came back to roost at night. The roosters that hung back at Velavadar as their hunting grounds during the day (aka bad news for grasshoppers) were mostly females – a pattern that has been observed by Amit, over the years. There was excellent birdlife otherwise too, with numerous larks, including Tawny Lark, Lesser Kestrel – a passage migrant here, among numerous other raptors, Rain Quail, Indian Thick-knee, Common Crane, Long-billed Pipit, Syke’s Nightjar and Dalmatian Pelican among them. Sightings of Indian Monitor Lizard, Indian Flapshell Turtle, Mudskipper and more than a few hapless grasshoppers in the talons of harriers, entertained otherwise.
It was a pleasure to host Phúóng and Martin and hear their stories on the natural history (and other splendours) or Vietnam (the 11th most biodiverse nation on Earth!, I gathered) and from their travels from across the globe.
List of Mammals Seen
| Asiatic Lion Panther leo | Gir NP |
| Common Leopard Panthera pardus | Gir NP |
| Jungle Cat Felis chaus | Velavadar |
| Indian Wolf Canis lupus pallipes | Velavadar |
| Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii | Gir NP |
| Small Indian Mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus | Gir NP |
| Black-naped Hare Lepus nigricollis | Velavadar |
| Five-striped Palm Squirrel Funabulus pennantii | Gir NP; Velavadar |
| Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus | Gir NP; Velavadar |
| Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra | Velavadar |
| Sambar Deer Cervus unicolor | Gir NP |
| Chital Axis axis | Gir NP; Velavadar |
| Wild Pig Sus scrofa | Gir NP; Velavadar |
| Northern Plains Langur Semnopithecus entellus | Gir NP |
Ficus Wildlife and Natural History Tours 