Chapter 6 – The morning hunt
Day 6
It was the day where we might see the king of the jungle in his royal seat! The extremely chilly morning woke us up at 4.30 a.m. Struggling against the cold weather, we sat in an open jeep, all set with a hope to spot a lion and witness the wonders of the jungle. I highly recommend hiring the jeep from the hotel itself, because the extra charge is totally worth the added convenience of being picked up from the hotel; I couldn’t imagine riding in that extreme chill.
Our first halt was the permit counter, which was surrounded by happy and disappointed faces alike. To manage the number of vehicles visiting the sanctuary, Government has kept a reservation system, which can be used to book your slot online as well as standing in the line. However, the last minute bookings are limited, and one may return empty handed from the counter. I had booked our permits two months in advance, so our visit was fixed. There are fixed routes in the sanctuary, and each vehicle is assigned a randomly selected route.
After getting a random route assigned to our vehicle, a government appointed guide jumped in the jeep, and we stood outside the gates to the sanctuary, idling the cold engine.
The gates open at sharp 6.30, where the jeeps enter and disperse on their allotted routes. The jungle was waking up around us. Birds and creatures were calling their mates, to hurry the heck up and head out for breakfast. Not much unlike us humans. We sat hurdled together, minds filled with curiosity and wondering whether the king of the jungle would brave this cold and come out of his sleep in our path.
The gates opened, and we were beckoned upon our designated route. The jeep soon was travelling on rougher roads, with the jungle slowly waking up around us. A hyena stretching its paws into the light of dawn, a bird taking the first flight of the day, the 3D discovery channel was around us in Dolby surround sound.
And then we saw a number of people standing in the roads. I was startled to see them on the road, given that this was a sanctuary, that too of lions nonetheless. But I remembered that these people, the Maldharis have been living with the lions in these jungles for hundreds of years. I wondered what made them come out of their warm beds so early this morning. And then I saw the reason sprawled on the road.
A buffalo was lying at the side of the road with its guts opened. A ghastly sight.
‘Look Sir, the lion!’ The guide pointed towards a line of trees. There it was, the king!
A lion was sitting nearby with an innocent face, as if it too had chanced upon the buffalo that happened to be cut open. Such a big kill for a single lion! It was news for me that lions too believed in taking a heavy breakfast.
The lion was very nearby to us, about a few meters. I had read and heard many accounts where people had not sighted the lion in their trips. Some made repeated voyages for this view. In fact, the guide too had made it clear at the start of the trip that a lion sighting is only dependent on luck, and people generally took two or more such safaris to maximize their chance of spotting a lion. And here it was; our first major sight of the day. The Sun was barely getting up and the day had already begun on a great note.
The big cat sat at a distance, scratching its ears by the hind legs and yawning loudly showing its Colgate white teeth, not unlike a domestic animal.
The people on road were joined by another small group that came on a motorcycle! I was perplexed! How come these people were walking around so calmly, whereas the buffalo murderer was still on the scene?
‘He is not a man eater, Sir!’, the driver defended the lion. It didn’t help my apprehension, and we stuck to the seat while the guide merrily joined the group to update on the latest gossip.
After a session of jee bhar ke dekhna, or observing till we were satisfied, we moved ahead heavy footedly from the sight. The lion sneaked a peek at us, and continued his sun bath while watching us leave him from the corner of his eye.
The path ahead was neatly laid and well-trodden. We spotted a lot of deer and peacocks around. I even saw a camel trying to hide in a group of grazing buffaloes.
I wished it could talk, and could answer my question: ‘What the heck are you doing so far away from the Rann?!’
The red headed baldy bird was positively annoyed by us disturbing his first meal of the day.
Unfortunately the guide had not christened them yet, so no idea about their names.
A mean looking pig little far from his herd
Various animals and birds called the sanctuary their home, and everyone was in the morning rush to get to work. Everywhere we looked there were some herd or some birds hurrying their way to their day’s tasks.
When we joined the route that headed out of the sanctuary, we met a number of other vehicles full of disappointed faces of sleepy tourists. There we realized that we were indeed very lucky, and ours was the only route that morning that sighted a lion.
Tourists from the passing jeeps would raise eyebrows and ask ‘Dikha kya?’ (‘Did you see it?’) When we replied in positive, the disappointment on their faces would multiply. The scene was straight of the movie ‘three idiots’; while it sucked that one didn’t spot a lion on a cold morning safari while losing precious sleep, it sucked even more if others got to see it!
We returned to the hotel at 10.30. Our package included the breakfast and lunch, but since there was nothing left to do in Sasan Gir, except perhaps catching up on lost sleep, we decided to move out post breakfast.
Ellie got a nice bath, and shining her flashy greens, we rode out of the sanctuary.
Tonight we would halt at Bhavnagar, another stop over that connected two distant spots – Sasan Gir and Ahmedabad. Even though our first night in Gujarat was at Ahmedabad, we hadn’t really seen the city. So the next destination was to explore Ahmedabad before we had packed this tour and headed back home.
The road that connected to Bhavnagar was mainly a state highway, with fields accompanying us for good amount of time.
Today, GPS helped us a lot. We had to take a lot of intersections, and had it not been for the GPS, the travel time would have increased at least by an hour because of stopping and asking around for directions.
A well tarred two lane state highway brought us to Bhavnagar, and we check in our hotel of tonight, the GenX Hotel. Our luck had smiled upon us today, first with the spotting of lion, and then we were upgraded to the suite room in the hotel.
It was a comfortable stay, and we caught up on all the lost sleep, wondering what that lion would be doing at this hour, after munching on the buffalo.