Birding & Mammal Watching Tour - Gujarat
Ahmedabad – Velavadar – Gir National Park – Jamnagar – Greater Rann of Kutch – Little Rann of Kutch – Nalsarovar – Ahmedabad.
Day 1
Your journey begins as you land in Ahmedabad, a bustling city rich in culture and history
Our team is ready to assist you upon arrival, ensuring a smooth start to your adventure.
Drive to Velavadar National Park - (4hrs).
Enjoy a comfortable 4-hour drive through Gujarat’s picturesque countryside to Velavadar National Park
Rest of the day at leisure – Stay at a Wildlife Lodge at Velavadar.
Day 2
Step into the wild with a thrilling jeep safari through Velavadar National Park, where every turn brings you closer to nature’s untamed beauty. Whether you choose a misty morning ride or a golden afternoon adventure, prepare to encounter blackbucks leaping across open grasslands, spot rare birds in flight, and feel the pulse of Gujarat’s wild heart."
Spot Velavadar’s iconic blackbuck antelopes roaming freely across golden grasslands — a true highlight of any Gujarat wildlife safari. While Indian wolves remain elusive, sightings of jackals, jungle cats, hares, and Indian foxes are more common, making every jeep safari an adventure into the wild.
"Velavadar is a hidden gem for birdwatchers — home to sirkeer malkohas, painted francolins, sandgrouse, larks, wheatears, and red-rumped swallows. Whether you're an avid birder or a curious traveller, the skies and scrublands here never disappoint.
Velavadar’s open skies are a raptor-lover’s dream — hosting majestic visitors like the short-toed snake eagle, steppe and imperial eagles, peregrine and red-necked falcons, buzzards, kites, kestrels, and the elusive northern goshawk. A paradise for birders and wildlife photographers alike.
"Keep an eye out for rare sightings like Stoliczka’s bush chat — a true prize for birdwatchers. As the sun sets, witness a breathtaking spectacle: hundreds of Montagu’s, pallid, and marsh harriers gathering to roost. Complete your experience with a stay at a cozy wildlife lodge in Velavadar, nestled close to nature
Day 3
Post breakfast departs by road for Sasan Gir (4hrs), scrub gradually developing into one of the world's largest tracts of dry deciduous woodland as the terrain becomes more undulating to the south and west.
Within this landscape is Gir National Park, the last refuge of the Asiatic Lion, a highly endangered species whose range once extended as far as Greece. Today, the population of this species stands at around 400++ individuals which, together with the 300 or so Leopards within the sanctuary, bestows Gir with one of the most significant concentrations of big cats in India. Day at Leisure.
Day 4 & 5
Am / Pm Safaris {04 Safaris in Gir National Park} by open Gypsy. Gir is the last abode of the Asiatic lion and has a thriving population of the panther (leopard), sambar, chital (spotted deer), nilgai (blue bull antelope) and wild boar. Other key mammals include Chinkara, or Indian Gazelle, and Chousingha, the world's only four-horned antelope.
The forests, interspersed with grasslands and dissected by rivers, also support a diverse avifauna, with key species here including Brown Fish and Mottled Wood Owls, Laggar Falcon, White-bellied Minivet, Rufous Treepie, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Marshall's Iora, Tawny-bellied and Yellow-eyed Babblers, Rufous-fronted Prinia, and Black-headed Cuckooshrike. Spend day 4 exploring the forests of Gir from the open jeep. Nights in a comfortable wildlife lodge on the edge of the sanctuary.
Day 6
Drive to Jamnagar. Afternoon visit to Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, a possible site for the Indian skimmer. This sanctuary is a breeding area for many species of birds that do not nest elsewhere in peninsular India. Great-crested grebe, black-necked stork, Caspian tern, and many other birds can be seen. Stay at a Decent Hotel.
Day 7
Visit coastal areas along the Gulf of Kutch, one of the finest birding stretches along the Indian coastline. You are likely to see crab-plover, Kentish plover, oystercatcher, ruddy turnstone, broad-billed sandpiper, sanderling, dunlin, curlew sandpiper, black-headed gull, Pallas’ gull, Temminck's stint, lesser-crested tern, gull-billed tern, common tern, little tern, black-bellied tern, whiskered tern, whiskered tern, darters, western reef egret, and other birds could be seen on this route. Stay at a Decent Hotel.
Day 8
Drive from Jamnagar to the Gulf of Kutch into the Kutch peninsula passing good wetlands and dry land bird habitats.to Moti Virani near the town of Bhuj (6hrs). Stay at Cedo Camp. {A basic facility run by a conservation organization.}
Day 9
After breakfast, visit the roost of the Grey Hypocolius at Fulay, one of the few sites where this bird is seen in India. Afternoon tour the Banni region, India’s largest grassland area. This is one of the important bird areas with a great concentration of Aquila and other eagles. The water bodies here are known for their large flocks of waterfowl. Stay at Cedo Camp.
Day 10
Morning & Afternoon Jeep Safari with a local expert naturalist to Lala Bustard Sanctuary. This is also a breeding area of Lesser Florican, although this secretive bird is rarely seen outside of the monsoon when it displays conspicuously
Other key species here include White-browed (Stoliczka's) Bushchat, White-naped Tit and Rufous-fronted Prinia in the thorn forests of Phot Mahadev, Marshall's Iora, Grey-necked Bunting, Indian and Cream-colored Coursers, Red-tailed Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, various waterfowl in Banni's Chhari Dhand, and a host of gulls and waders in the Jakhau mangrove swamps and Pingleshwar sea coast.
Other key species here include White-browed (Stoliczka's) Bushchat, White-naped Tit and Rufous-fronted Prinia in the thorn forests of Phot Mahadev, Marshall's Iora, Grey-necked Bunting, Indian and Cream-colored Coursers, Red-tailed Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, various waterfowl in Banni's Chhari Dhand, and a host of gulls and waders in the Jakhau mangrove swamps and Pingleshwar sea coast.
Day 11
Depart Moti Virani in the morning of day 11 to spend the day driving east to the Little Rann of Kutch (7hrs), birding en-route, in particular for the numerous raptors of the region which include Bonelli's, Short-toed and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Long-legged Buzzard, Red-headed Falcon, and six species of vulture
Spend the evening, and following three days exploring a part of what is perhaps the bleakest, dustiest, most desolate region of India. At its furthest extension the Gulf of Kutch, along with much of northern Kutch touching the border of Pakistan has been transformed by geological uplift and the resultant marine transgression into an immense region of salt flats, inundated to a depth of 0.5m during the monsoon when it becomes one of the world's largest saline wetlands. This unique environment is preserved as India's largest protected area, a part of which is the Wild Ass Sanctuary whose principal role is the strict protection of the last remaining population of Khur, or Asiatic Wild Ass. Stay at an Eco-Friendly Wildlife Resort.
Day 12
Depart Moti Virani in the morning of day 11 to spend the day driving east to the Little Rann of Kutch (7hrs), birding en-route, in particular for the numerous raptors of the region which include Bonelli's, Short-toed and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Long-legged Buzzard, Red-headed Falcon, and six species of vulture
Other key species here include White-browed (Stoliczka's) Bushchat, White-naped Tit and Rufous-fronted Prinia in the thorn forests of Phot Mahadev, Marshall's Iora, Grey-necked Bunting, Indian and Cream-colored Coursers, Red-tailed Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, various waterfowl in Banni's Chhari Dhand, and a host of gulls and waders in the Jakhau mangrove swamps and Pingleshwar sea coast.
Other key species here include White-browed (Stoliczka's) Bushchat, White-naped Tit and Rufous-fronted Prinia in the thorn forests of Phot Mahadev, Marshall's Iora, Grey-necked Bunting, Indian and Cream-colored Coursers, Red-tailed Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, various waterfowl in Banni's Chhari Dhand, and a host of gulls and waders in the Jakhau mangrove swamps and Pingleshwar sea coast.