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Long Weekend in the Lion's Den

The financial year was over & so was my bank balance. It is too late to realize that I am addicted to this zero sum game. The year ended with even bigger losses that made me realize some very disturbing facts about the trading.

Anyway, these days any regret or setback can't make me stay sad for long & so a weekend trip to Sasan Gir Lion Safari was booked out of the blue. The trigger for the outing was the boredom caused by holidays popping up one after another.

About 8 hour journey took me to my stay - a water park cum resort where I was the only guest. The restaurant, Wi-fi & TV all were out of order which didn't matter as I was too tired to do anything but rest.

Early Morning @ Resort

Devaliya Park Safari

The breakfast came after a long wait but I felt like royalty as I was the only guest & about 4 to 5 persons prepared it. The bargaining for the package cost had landed me in a mediocre place & I was almost prepared for it.

So after a healthy & not so tasty breakfast of Poha, I was ready for the safari. Devaliya park safari is a shorter yet costlier version of the Gir safari but on the flipside you have a high probability of lion sighting due to the comparatively smaller area of the park.


The claims of almost guaranteed sighting in Devaliya park was proven right as within 10 minutes of entering the park, a whole family of lions came into view.

I like the dense greenery & pure bliss we can feel inside a forest. Now the Gir forest being a dry deciduous forest, I missed the feel of a typical forest but still it was a novel experience.

A picture of Domestic Bliss

The best part of this safari was the beautiful picture of domestic bliss - a lion family at leisure in the shadows of trees. Here a lion is seen having morning siesta beside the lioness & two cubs. The chilled out state of wild animals was a common site throughout the park as we all know that the late morning is the new afternoon.


Further ahead in the park, you can see caged leopards brought here from surrounding areas - mostly because they entered residential areas or attacked humans.

Leopard Zoo

The leopard zoo finishes the short & fruitful Safari of Devaliya Park. "The Gir forest is best visited just after the rainy season" told the beautiful guide. She also guided us how to reach our next destination - Jamjeer waterfalls. I jumped at this opportunity & proposed her to accompany me to the Jamjeer water falls as a guide but she politely expressed her inability to do so. Anyway, I felt good to have tried.

Somnath

We were on route to Somnath as soon as the Safari was over & once again I enjoyed the signature unlimited lunch of this region in a completely packed restaurant near Somnath temple. I was eager to feel the beach after a long break & so went straight to the Somnath beach & spent about half an hour at the beach. Camel ride is the only activity available here.

Somnath Beach

There's not much enthusiasm in travelers of Somnath for the beach but to me it seemed to have potential for development. After enjoying the beach view for about half an hour, I proceeded towards the main attraction of Somnath - the Somnath temple. Here camera &  mobiles are totally banned inside the temple area & that stopped me from going inside for a while.
But on second thought, after about half an hour, I gave caution to the wind & deposited my shoes & mobile in the bustling clock room to finally visit the temple.


The image seen in the background of the above photo makes it look quite ordinary from a distance but the impression is not to be trusted as the temple looks truly magnificent when you actually reach there. The view of the sea from the temple premises is equally enchanting & you can see plenty of benches kept along the compound wall to sit & enjoy the magical view below.

Lastly, the only regret I had in this trip was not buying larger quantity of the very tasty Churma Laddu & Mohanthal Prasad/sweets.

Jamjeer Water falls


So came the last day of the weekend getaway & it was time to visit a newly discovered gem of the region - Jamjeer Water falls. The road to the falls is surrounded by dry forest just like we see in some horror movies. Spotting of Neel Gaay proved that we really were passing through a forest.
નીલગાય (Nilgai)

Jamjeer Water Falls


I had decided to pay a small extra amount to visit Jamjeer water falls as it was not part of the itenarary & this detour turned out to be very fruitful as here the travel was smooth & fast on empty roads.

In conclusion, the trip was good for a weekend getaway but it remained pending to come again & have the real feel of Gir Safari in the right season.

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