Day 225 of Indian places giving smiles – the Sasan Gir wildlife forest Sanctuary
It was with a lot of expectations that we went to Sasan Gir the wildlife sanctuary in western India which is the home of the majestic Asiatic Lion.
Our Maneland Jungle Resort was an architectural marvel, with simple and solid walls blending beautifully into the natural greenery. It felt as if we were part of an ancient kings hunting expedition. Our suite for the night was bigger that our average Mumbai sized home. The antique type furniture just added to the mystery of the night. As I sat on the slow moving swing in the verandah looking into the dense forest behind, I almost expected a lion to come out and say hello to us!
We asked for a bon fire to be set up and warmed ourselves to face the chill of the December night. It was Christmas eve…I could almost sense the birth of a saviour on earth. At the stroke of midnight we sang…Silent night, Holy night…that is exactly what we felt on our first night inside the Gir Jungle!
However we soon had to come back to reality. In spite of making the hotel booking months in advance and requesting the hotel manager for help in organizing the official morning safari ride into the jungle, we were told that tickets were given only to people who stand in the line outside the gates of the office.
There is a huge confusion here. We have to pay extra to unofficial agents to secure a place in that line. And we also have to get up extra early to stand physically in the line, shivering in the cold morning air. Though the tickets windows open at 6 am, people stand outside in line since 3 am. And there are thousands of people waiting to get the few hundreds of tickets for the official jeep ride into the park.
Thankfully I had a strong 26 year old son to get up early and represent us. He had one of the worst experiences of the holiday. Every time a new person tried to join the line in the middle instead of an agent, there was screaming and pushing. Every few minutes the police would come and physically beat up the agents that they could recognize in the line. Even my son had to scream and get physically pushed and shoved and justify to the police that he was a genuine customer of the safari ride. After hours of standing in line, he had to endure a lot of hardship to finally manage to get a ticket for the official jeep ride that would take us inside the Gir forest.
After the frantic call from son to come immediately from the hotel to the gates of the safari park, we rushed out in a hurry wearing just a small sweater each. We should have also carried our thick bedsheets; we did not realize that the jungle safari was in an open jeep. We were exposed to the early morning biting cold winds that slashed across us as we drove in the speeding vehicle! Driving through the jungle the first thought was only about how we could protect ourselves from the icy cold winds hitting at us in the open jeep!
We entered the gates of the Sasan Gir forest just before dawn and it was an eerie feeling to being the leading jeep driving into the darkness of the jungle. We got to experience the changing colours of the sky and the magical energy of nature in the air. And at regular intervals our guide pointed out the different wild life living in tune with nature, deer, monkeys, buffaloes, etc. In fact the buffaloes were reared by some local tribes who still live inside the jungle. We also saw a giant deer like creature called the great Indian Sambar!
But what really got us excited was when we saw a fresh paw mark of a lion. There are more than 400+ lions in the Gir forest and our guide asked us to wait patiently for a lion sighting. The guide was in contact with other guides in our area, yet we had no exciting information about lion sighting. The sun had come out now and we waited at one warm spot for the lion sighting. And we kept waiting in vain. After all the adventure that we went through to come to Sasan Gir, we did not spot a single lion in the Gir forest.
As we enter the jungle the jeeps had divided themselves to cover two different sections of the jungle. Later we found out that people in the other section were lucky to have spotted two lions walking nearby. Maybe the forest wants us to return again to see the Lions. But I am very sure…that I do not want to return to Gir forest with all the confusion for getting a ticket to the safari ride!
As a Leo myself, I let the other Leo’s just be there and roam freely in the Gir Forest…I will continue to rule wherever I decide to roam as per my own free will!
So which Indian place made you smile today?
Please share your experience with Indian places that make you smile.
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