The Wildlife of Gir National Park

The wildlife in Gir National Park is abundant. There are a lot of animals that benefit in its richness. Aside from the lions of Gir National Park, there are also black-naped Indian are, porcupine, langur, rusty-spotted cat and the jungle cat, striped hyena, jackal as well as the wild boar, Indian gazelle or chinkara and the chousingha, the only four-horned antelope. You can also include the blue bull or nilgai, spotted deer or chital, leopard, and the sambar.

There are also huge populations of the mugger or marsh crocodile which can be found at the Kamleshwar Dam. Their record shows that there are almost 40 combined species of amphibians and reptiles. The bird species are estimated to 250. These include the nightjars, spotted owlet, Eurasian eagle owl, brown fish owl and the white-eyed buzzard, oriental honey-buzzard, red-headed falcon and the laggar falcon. 

Visitors may also see the peregrine falcon, osprey and the grey-headed fish eagle. Other eagles are the palla's fish, imperial, steppe and the tawny, lesser spotted, greater spotted, bonneli's, crested serpent, and changeable hawk eagle.

The eurasian griffon vulture and the king vulture completes the list. Other bird species would be the Indian white-backed vulture, long-billed vulture, yellow-footed green pigeon, rufuos treepie, marshals and the common iora among others.

How to reach

Sasan Gir is 405 km away from Ahmedabad and 160 km away from Rajkot which are big cities of Gujarat and 15km away from Talala, 45km away from Somanath(Veraval), 105km away from Div.  It is well connected by rail, road and air. The nearest airport is at Keshod which is 100 km away from Sasan Gir, and the nearest rail head is at Junagadh which is 65 km away.

Kapil Kankadiya