Saurashtra - Junagadh, Gir, Somnath!

After Elephanta the day before, it was time for the big trip. Pretty much the whole of Saurashtra, the trip plan was tight and comprised three highlights.

1. Junagadh - a historical city and in my mind space after reading "India after Gandhi"
2. Gir Forest - The home of the Asiatic Lion
3. Somnath - The most historic and holiest of the Jyotirlingas. Again in my mind space after reading "India after Gandhi"

The plan was the following:

15th Jan: Board the Saurashtra Mail from Mumbai Central to Rajkot
16th Jan: Drive down to Gir via Junagadh - Overnight at Gir.
17th Jan: Safari at Gir, followed by a drive to Somnath - Overnight at Somnath
18th Jan: Drive down to Rajkot, board Saurashtra Mail at 5.40 PM
19th Jan: Arrive Mumbai at 6 AM

The plan was all set. Chhoto Mesho had arrived in the morning from Indonesia, the booking were organised by my friend and colleague Mehul. There was only one catch. Our onward tickets were not confirmed. We had 2 RAC tickets (AC2)on normal and WL 1 - 4. As the in-laws were travelling I had booked 6 on Tatkaal (AC3) unfortunately getting wait listed WL 4 - 9.

As it turned out, the time the chart got finalised at 5 PM, we landed up with RAC 1 - 4 on normal and with 2 confirmed seats on Tatkaal. Reasonably confident that we were going we went to the station where we had to pay Rs 5500 for two confirmed AC 1st Class tickets and we spent the night slightly crazy with 2 people sleeping in AC 1st class, 3 on AC2 (The TT had given us one extra birth) and myself in AC3. Moral of the episode - Bribe the TT instead of the touts at the Railway station in case of travel. Far more effective and a lot cheaper.

The train arrived at Rajkot and Mehul was there at the station. After a wonderful breakfast of Gathias we boarded the Innova that he had booked and settled down for our journey to Junagadh. On the way we took a detour at Virpur and visited the temple of Jalaram Bapa. Apart from the temple the most interesting aspect of Virpur was the exclusive Nescafe outlet - the only one I have seen so far.

We reached Junagadh
- a 150 km, 2 hour drive (kudos to the Gujarat roads - a 4 lane highway with bouganvillaes on the side) and went to have the Gujarati Thali at Modern Restaurant. The thali was pretty ordinary (you get far better ones in Mumbai), post which we did our Junagadh sight seeing comprising the Maqbara, the fort and the Ashoka Edict.

The Maqbara
and the edict were worth a visit but i was very impressed by the fort (far better than I had expected).

The view of Junagadh from the point where the cannon is kept and the wells were the highlight. I recommend walking down to the well floor - there are steps leading down for a rather eerie and different experience.

We then proceeded to Sassan Gir (a further 70 Kms)to a farmhouse owned by a police commissioner called the Lions Paw. The Lions Paw is highly recommended for bachelors and groups of friends. It is rustic, well done and roomy. Whenever people stay the owner sends servants, who cook what you want (unfortunately only vegetarian), light up a bonfire in the evening and are at your beck and call. Where it does not score however is the cleanliness of the bathrooms where it definitely does not score more than 1 star. However the surroundings - pretty much in the middle of the jungle and the setting, unpolluted starry skies and the unmistakable sounds of the jungle peppered by the occasional lions roar more that made up for it and we hit the bed with an alarm at 5 AM to catch the Safari the next day at 6 AM sharp.

Jungle Safaris in Gir, work similar to Corbett, 30 permits in the morning for 30 gypsies and 30 in the afternoon. It is therefore very important to come early to a) get a permit (if you are #31 you do not get one) b) hit the jungle early as the big cats are best seen in the first hour. This time lady luck was certainly smiling on us (we saw no tigers in 4 days in Corbett), as we caught a Pride after 30 minutes! and it was a pride of 2 Lionesses and 7 cubs!!

We had started normally and seen the usual Sambarh deer and Nilgai. I did not have high hopes after Corbett and was intent to enjoy the jungle rather that pray for Lions when suddenly we saw a jeep in front of us standing still and we found out that there were sounds and the unmistakable bark of a deer. We too heard the deer bark and saw the forest guard in the jeep get down and walk into the jungle. The guide was gone for about 5 minutes and we were wondering what happened. Meanwhile 2 jeeps had piled up behind us and the one in front had gone ahead.

We were about to give up and move forward (as had happened numerous times in Corbett) when suddenly we herd something close to an owl hoot, this was the signal by the forest guard. Then all hell broke loose, we could see the lions and they were behind us. The jeeps sprinted on reverse to catch the lions in case they disappear. In excitement our gypsy actually crashed into the gypsy in front but we need not have worried. The King of the Jungle was in no hurry. Completely unperturbed the pride moved forward at their own pace, cubs playing with each other as they slowly moved along into the jungle while we fumbled with our cameras trying to juggle taking snaps and seeing the beast in its environs and in its full glory.

We could follow the lions for ten minutes before they disappeared into the bushes. The rest of the safari (two and a half hours more)was spent talking about the fact that we were so lucky to see 9 Lions. We saw a lot more deer, peacocks, owls, jackals and monkeys during the safari but nothing came close to actually seeing the lions. The only other thing i will remember was the Stag head which we saw. These are put
up at the spots where carcasses are found and fixed on trees.

The good part of Gir is that they have a sanctuary (16 sq km) where they keep some animals including lions. This is like an open zoo and the conduct bus rides (groups of 20) around it, one is almost guaranteed to see a lion through this ride. We took the sanctuary ride (they call it Deovalia Park) and duly saw three lions. We were lucky enough to see lions in the forest so it did not seem like much to us, but i think it is a good consolation if one fails and is something that the other national parks could seek to emulate. The lions there are obviously fed by the caretakers and do not have to resort to the law of the jungle to survive.

Exhilarated after the Safari, we had breakfast at our farmhouse checked out and drove to Somnath. In Somnath we checked into SukhSagar hotel, clean and very comfortable. Highly recommended for all travellers, this was also where we had some very decent Punjabi vegetarian food, there is only so much Veg Gujarati food that the Bengali stomach can consistently take.

We visited the Somnath temple in the evening at around 5. Somnath is beautiful, set right on the beach, the architecture and the color of the temple walls against the setting sun is truly breathtaking. I am not overtly religious but loved being at the site. It is also very well managed and does not get to be a pain to travel and see the main deity which typically places of worship in India (Tirupathi and Ajmer Sharif) become. One can stay at the site but darshan is very orderly and organised. Hats of to the planning done by Sardar Patel when the temple was rebuilt in 1947 and the maintenance by the Gujarat government. There are also cloak rooms to keep shoes and cameras and phones. These are not allowed into the temple due to the present terrorist threat. The other stark reminder of the terrorist threat was the warship of the Indian navy which patrols the coast.

Very happy with how the day went, we retired, happy and tired after a few rounds of 29 to round off a long and tiring day. The next morning we left Somnath at ten and drove down to Rajkot. We reached at 2 and had a non veg lunch after 3 days of vegetarian food. The restaurant "Hot and More" reminded me of the Chinese you get in the college canteens of Kolkata but after 3 days, it tasted pretty good. Right opposite the restaurant is Mahatma Gandhi's school which we also took some pictures of.

Our train was at 5.40 and this time our tickets were confirmed. We left Saurashtra on time still talking about the 9 Lions that we had seen! All in all it was a great trip and one which I will remember fondly for the rest of my life...The only downer - the food! Apart from Gathiya where i loved the carrot chutney they serve as a condiment, the rest of the cuisine was not up to the liking of my palate for lunch and dinner. Maybe I did not have stuff at the best places but on the whole Saurashtra cuisine was a dampener.