[lordofgondor]

Hey Kaushik, nice travelogue mate!

Those pics of the lion family are great. They look so cute, feels like cuddling them wearing a steel mesh dress.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by srikanthpotluri

absolutely love this picture. Great capture Kaushik.

Thanx a lot.

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Hey Kaushik, nice travelogue mate!

Those pics of the lion family are great. They look so cute, feels like cuddling them wearing a steel mesh dress.

Thanx LoG!!! You bet they are.

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

Good pics Kaushik. I loved the photo of the swans swmming in a line! Waiting to see more of Rajasthan!

Thanx..sure will post soon.

[LongDrive lover]

Kaushik. I am enjoying your travelogue. We too have that sector (Western Rajasthan and coastal Gujrat including Gir WLS) in our radar. That would make a very good trip.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

And the homo sapiens lived up to their reputation of being insensitive, tormentors of helpless captive animals!

+1 Wolf heart.

I hope the noise and the stones were just exaggerated to infuse humour and not actually done.
Lions are not lazy. They eat once a day. I've seen a lion attack a nilgai in Gir during one of my 7 visits there. The power and speed they pack was awesome. Once they finish their food, they take 20 - 22 hours to digest them. Hence they rest in shade. If provoked, they get rather cranky. I once stood 6 - 7 ft away from a lioness at gir (who had her food!) who was resting. Later I got the shock of my life when I read in the gir sanctuary that lions can leap up to 20 odd feat from stationary position!
I'll post some lion photos of mine (especially the glowering one I managed to capture), later tonight.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by MX6

+1 Wolf heart.

I hope the noise and the stones were just exaggerated to infuse humour and not actually done.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

Not sure what you guys are really talking abt, btw the stone throw bit was obviously a joke. Who would dare to do that to a Lion?? Its not a Dog for God sake....

I HOPE THAT CLEARS YOUR DOUBT.

Why would a person drive all the way to Gir while he is on a trip to RJ and do such a thing. It was just a joke and was expected to be taken in the spirit.

BTW...this was not our first trip to a forest in search of such majestic creatures. That should explain our perspective anyway.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

I HOPE THAT CLEARS YOUR DOUBT.

Why would a person drive all the way to Gir while he is on a trip to RJ and do such a thing. It was just a joke and was expected to be taken in the spirit.

BTW...this was not our first trip to a forest in search of such majestic creatures. That should explain our perspective anyway.

Chill. Didn't intend to rub you the wrong way sir. It's a long memory of mine (the last I went was a decade back). There were cartoons outside the sanctuary sensitising people not to feed, tease the animals or take pets inside. Hilarious one's. Not sure whether those cartoons are still there. Not suggesting you may have done such things. Just showing what ignorant people are capable off. T-BHPians are a cut above the rest in setting examples. Hope this clarifies too. Apologies in case you are hurt.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by MX6

Chill. Didn't intend to rub you the wrong way sir. It's a long memory of mine (the last I went was a decade back). There were cartoons outside the sanctuary sensitising people not to feed, tease the animals or take pets inside. Hilarious one's. Not sure whether those cartoons are still there. Not suggesting you may have done such things. Just showing what ignorant people are capable off. T-BHPians are a cut above the rest in setting examples. Hope this clarifies too. Apologies in case you are hurt.

thats cool brother, no problem nothing against your post in specific.

its just that i wanted to make it very clear since the issue had come up the second time even after making it clear that it was just a joke.

[fazalaliadil]

A very well documented travelogue.
Please clarify one thing, when I saw the lion photo's it looked more like the lions are a safari park They are in enclosures.
Which part of Gir is this enclosure, at the entry maybe? I am sure Gir is open and natural like a natural forest, then why these lions in enclosed areas?
Regards,

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

A very well documented travelogue.
Please clarify one thing, when I saw the lion photo's it looked more like the lions are a safari park They are in enclosures.
Which part of Gir is this enclosure, at the entry maybe? I am sure Gir is open and natural like a natural forest, then why these lions in enclosed areas?
Regards,

Thanx a lot bro!!!

@ Gir there are 2 zones - first is the open natural forest 1414 sq km where there are abt 300 lions and the second section is a 20 sp km enclosed area with abt 10 lions in it.

Coincidently when we reached the spot the Lion family was resting next to the fencing of that enclosed area as there was a water body close by.

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

I HOPE THAT CLEARS YOUR DOUBT.

Why would a person drive all the way to Gir while he is on a trip to RJ and do such a thing. It was just a joke and was expected to be taken in the spirit.

It's a relief to know that you weren't serious about throwing stones at the lions. I enjoyed the rest of your travelogue though.

Allow me to share an incident on your thread. When I was at Gir last year, while waiting in line for the safari we were chatting with one of the forest Dept. guards. According to him, visitors were allowed to take their own vehicles through the enclosed safari at Devaliya till a few years ago. It so happened that a couple with their young son (5-6 yr old) went for the safari in their car and the child was in the back seat. They stopped the car a few metres from a lioness which was resting in the shade. The adults were busy observing the lions and were completely unaware of the fact that the child stepped out of the car, picked up a stone and threw it at the lioness. After the pandemonium and carnage that ensued, all that they were able to retrieve was one of the child's severed arms and a few pieces of clothing. I can't guarantee the credibility of the story but it was a chilling reminder of how deceptively lazy a lion can appear to be when it's resting.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

It's a relief to know that you weren't serious about throwing stones at the lions. I enjoyed the rest of your travelogue though.

Allow me to share an incident on your thread. When I was at Gir last year, while waiting in line for the safari we were chatting with one of the forest Dept. guards. According to him, visitors were allowed to take their own vehicles through the enclosed safari at Devaliya till a few years ago. It so happened that a couple with their young son (5-6 yr old) went for the safari in their car and the child was in the back seat. They stopped the car a few metres from a lioness which was resting in the shade. The adults were busy observing the lions and were completely unaware of the fact that the child stepped out of the car, picked up a stone and threw it at the lioness. After the pandemonium and carnage that ensued, all that they were able to retrieve was one of the child's severed arms and a few pieces of clothing. I can't guarantee the credibility of the story but it was a chilling reminder of how deceptively lazy a lion can appear to be when it's resting.

I personally saw a lion jump on the bonnet of an Ambassador leaving a huge dent and scratching the windsheild. The moron was honking at the lion. A shiver went through our spines as we were observing this ruckus from our topless gypsey (provided with a guide) during one of our tours.
There was a frenzy of radio-ing. Had the lion not cooled down and got off from the Amby, there was a team planning to get tranquilizer guns up there. All this happened in split seconds 30 feet from us.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

It's a relief to know that you weren't serious about throwing stones at the lions. I enjoyed the rest of your travelogue though.

Allow me to share an incident on your thread. When I was at Gir last year, while waiting in line for the safari we were chatting with one of the forest Dept. guards. According to him, visitors were allowed to take their own vehicles through the enclosed safari at Devaliya till a few years ago. It so happened that a couple with their young son (5-6 yr old) went for the safari in their car and the child was in the back seat. They stopped the car a few metres from a lioness which was resting in the shade. The adults were busy observing the lions and were completely unaware of the fact that the child stepped out of the car, picked up a stone and threw it at the lioness. After the pandemonium and carnage that ensued, all that they were able to retrieve was one of the child's severed arms and a few pieces of clothing. I can't guarantee the credibility of the story but it was a chilling reminder of how deceptively lazy a lion can appear to be when it's resting.

Originally Posted by MX6

I personally saw a lion jump on the bonnet of an Ambassador leaving a huge dent and scratching the windsheild. The moron was honking at the lion. A shiver went through our spines as we were observing this ruckus from our topless gypsey (provided with a guide) during one of our tours.
There was a frenzy of radio-ing. Had the lion not cooled down and got off from the Amby, there was a team planning to get tranquilizer guns up there. All this happened in split seconds 30 feet from us.

I am sure that would have been a very scary incidences. Luckily we got a good chance to go close to them and spend a lot of time also.

[KSM-Vtec]

Date – 16th Dec 2009

o Start Point – Jodhpur, 13:30 a.m.
o End Point – Bikaner, 7:00 p.m.
o Distance Travelled – 250 km

Today was a day full of activity. We woke up early planning to go to the Mehrangarh fort & Umed bhavan palace. BUT, we found our car fully covered with pigeon **** ! Getting it cleaned took another half hour and our waking up early was wasted ! Bloody pigeons !

Jodhpur is known as the blue city. From the top of the fort you can see rows and rows of blue coloured houses on all sides.

We went to mehrangarh fort first. It is situated on a 150m high hill. Rao Jodha, the then chief of Rathore clan, constructed it in 1459. There are a number of attractions within the fort like several palaces, galleries, a museum, temples and so on. It took us almost 2 hours to see the fort fully. It is the ONLY fort in all of India to have a lift to take tourists to the top. It is only one way though, you have to climb down. The fort and its various galleries offered many photo ops which we made full use of – weapons, hukka man. These 2 hours were quite tiring !

[KSM-Vtec]

Some more pics...last lot for the fort

[KSM-Vtec]

Hungry and without breakfast inside us, we decided to delay it a bit further and visit the umed bhavan palace first. There was nothing much to see in the palace Only 4 rooms were open to tourists and certain mementos were put in each room. A part of the palace is now converted into a hotel under the Taj group of hotels. A bigger attraction at the palace was the presence of 4 antique / vintage cars on display on the palace grounds.