India time allocation: Gir vs Little Rann of Kutch vs Desert NP and Velavadar ??
I am in the midst of finalizing a trip to India in December-January of this year. My goal is mammal photography – specifically: Asiatic wildcat, Bengal fox (aka Indian fox), desert fox (aka white footed fox), Indian jackal, which I have not seen before, and get better photos of jungle cat, striped hyena, Indian wolf. I like pretty much all wildlife, but those are the most important ones to me at the moment.
Velavadar (Blackbuck) National Park is on the list. So is Desert National Park. They both sound great.
Gir is sort of on the list for the Asiatic lion, but since it is only a subspecies of the African lion, I am wondering if it is worth the time to visit just for that. It does not seem to be viewed as a hotspot for seeing anything else. Perhaps I am jaded but I have been to Africa a dozen times and have lots of lion photos. I wonder if I would be better off spending more time at Velavadar or Desert NP.
Little Rann of Kutch is also up for grabs. I like the idea of the wild ass sanctuary, and seeing them – they are legit rare mammals – but they aren’t my top priority. I have had people tell me that the birding is very good but I have also had people tell me that for mammals, not so much. Ditto for Great Rann of Kutch. They sure have great names, however.
So I am basically wondering about whether it is worth spending a bit more time on a smaller set of parks – in part because logistics means you lose time in transit, and I don’t have unlimited time.
Any opinions on this are welcome. As are suggestions for other places, particularly in northwest India. In the past, I have collectively spent a total elapsed time of a couple months in past trips visiting most of the wildlife parks in central India, including Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Pench, Ranthambore, Satpura, Tadoba,, and have also been to Kazirangara and other places in Assam. So I don’t need to revisit those on this trip.
Nathan
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5 Comments
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Ian Thompson
Hi Nathan,
We visited Gujarat this February. You can easily skip Gir if you don’t want/need to see the lions. I went largely because of childhood nature documentaries, but saw nothing there I had not seen elsewhere. Little Rann is very degraded now. It is worth it to see the Wild Asses, but we again saw nothing else there that we did not see elsewhere. Velavadar was great, but as Andreas mentions, it is small and 2 days with 4 drives should suffice. You can drive at night in the vicinity of the park for Indian Fox and other mammals. I haven’t been to Desert National Park, but that is the spot for Asiatic Wildcat in that part of the world. In general, I would suggest less time in Gujarat and more time elsewhere. Regards, Ian -
Vana
Gir – outskirts in the evening can be interesting, also a great place for leopard photography so it is not just lions.
Velavadar – two full days is enough to see the wildlife but if you want good photographs – then may be three would do better.
Little Rann of Kutch – if you give time to the place – you should see both species of fox and also the jackal.
Desert National Park – certainly a good place for the Asiatic Wild Cat/Desert Cat and with luck a few other mammals.
You can consider the following or any one of them – adding Amagarh or Jhalana in the outskirts of Jaipur where Hyena and White Footed Fox is a good possibility (you can see my isnta handle @vanasafaris) to see the images of the white-footed fox family from Jhalana.
Kailadevi National Park in Rajasthan to look for Hyena, White-footed and Bengal Fox, Wolf and Indian Jackal, you can also consider Panna Tiger Reserve for the buffer area night safaris for the Bengal Fox, Jackal and also Jungle Cat and Rusty Spotted Cat (if you wish to try for them).
Good luck!
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Jean Dille
Hello Nathan,
I visited Gujarat in 2018.
If you are not particularly interested in viewing Asiatic lions, you could easily skip Gir. The vegetation was rather thick but I saw several lions because people were pulling them down near the roads. I did not see some of your main targets there but probably they are around.
On the other hand, I strongly recommend Velavadar and Little Rann of Kutch, not so far from each other.
In Velavadar, I had great views of Indian wolf, jungle cat (hunting) and striped hyena. In Little Rann of kutch, apart from the wild asses, I had extended close view of a mother Bengal fox with cubs around their den and also of a striped hyena.
If you go to Velavadar and then to Little Rann of Kutch, you could continue north to Desert NP.
Jean