Species highlights:  Crab Plover, Indian Courser, Great Indian and Houbara Bustards, White-browed (Stoliczka’s) Bushchat, Grey Hypocolius, Desert Warbler, Trumpeter Finch, four species of sandgrouse, thousands of overwintering cranes, storks, and flamingos, and pelicans, plus Asiatic Lion, Asiatic Wild Ass, and Indian Wolf.

Best season to visit:  November to February

2009-10 scheduled tour dates:  Saturday 14th November - Sunday 29th November 2009

Tour price:  on request - please contact us for availability & prices  

The state of Gujarat is a region of astounding ecological significance. The enormous variation in the intensity of the southwest monsoon here produces a marked decrease in rainfall from the southern coast of Gujarat’s Kathiawar peninsula to the border of India with Pakistan to the north, resulting in a corresponding range of vegetation and habitat types. True desert, vast saline flats, large tracts of deciduous forest and tropical savannah grasslands can, as a result, be found within relative proximity of one another and of the productive marine environment of the extensive coastline. This variety is naturally reflected in the remarkable diversity of resident species to be found in the region, and in the presence during the winter months of migratory species in their thousands. Our itinerary takes us through these contrasting environments and some of India’s largest protected areas which, in addition to their diverse avifauna, harbour some of the subcontinents most endangered and distinctive mammals.

Day 1:  Mumbai

Arrive in Mumbai.  Transfer to hotel for overnight stay with the remainder of the day at leisure.

Days 2-3:  Mumbai – Bhavnagar, Velavadar

Depart Mumbai on a morning flight to the town of Bhavnagar along the southern coastline of Gujarat’s Kathiawar peninsula.  Spend the remainder of the afternoon and following full day at nearby Velavadar National Park, the only tropical grassland in India to be designated this level of protection.  Primarily established to protect the country’s highest concentration of the endemic antelope Blackbuck, this extensive savannah is also home to an important population of Indian Wolf, the park’s primary predator.   The grasslands are an ideal wintering site for harriers, hosting one of the largest roosts –of Eurasian Marsh, Pallid, Montagu’s, and Hen – in the world.  Other key species include Desert and Variable Wheatears, Sirkeer Malkoha, Chestnut-bellied and Painted Sandgrouse, Painted Francolin, and White-browed (Stoliczka’s) Bushchat in patches of thorn scrub.

Days 4-6:  Gir

Depart for the drive to Gir National Park (4hrs), thorn 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, the last refuge of Asiatic Lion, a highly endangered species whose range once extended as far as Greece.  Today the population of this species stands at around 300 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.  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, Rufous Treepie, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Marshall’s Iora, Tawny-bellied and Yellow-eyed Babblers, Rufous-fronted Prinia, and Black-headed Cuckooshrike.  Spend the afternoon of day 4, all of day 5, and morning of day 6 exploring the forests from open jeep, before departing to start our drive across Gujarat to Jamnagar, halting for the night in the princely town of Gondal (3hrs).

Day 7:  Jamnagar

Depart Gondal for the drive to Jamnagar (3hrs) on the southern shore of the Gulf of Kachchh.  Over 200km of this coastline is protected as a Marine National Park, the resultant productive marine environment supporting good numbers of gulls, terns, and waders, including the striking Crab Plover, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Black-bellied and Whiskered Terns, and Great Black-headed Gull.  We have the remainder of the day to spend birding along the coast, at Narara Bet, and nearby Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary where there is a chance of Indian Skimmer alongside overwintering cranes, storks, flamingos and pelicans congregate in their thousands.

Day 8-10:  Little Rann of Kachchh

Depart Jamnagar in the morning of day 8, heading east along the coastline of the Gulf of Kachchh to the Little Rann of Kachchh Wildlife Sanctuary (5hrs). At its furthest extension the gulf has been transformed by geological uplift and the resultant marine transgression into an immense region of salt flats, inundated to a depth of about 0.5m during the monsoon when it becomes one of the world’s largest saline wetlands. The Little Rann of Kachchh preserves this unique environment, as part of the largest protected area in India - the principal role of which is the strict protection of the last remaining population of Khur, or Asiatic Wild Ass.  Spend the remainder of day 8, followed by a further two full days exploring the birdlife of the Little Rann, astonishingly rich given the inhospitable conditions and almost featureless landscape.   Birds are concentrated around the bets, elevated patches of salt-free scrub and grassland, as well as around Bajana Creek and nearby Nawa Talao., key species including Bluethroat, Blue-headed Rock-thrush, Desert Warbler, Graceful Prinia, Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin, Spotted Sandgrouse, Yellow-legged and Barred Buttonquails, Indian Courser, rarer Cream-coloured Courser, and White-tailed Lapwing, with the possibility of rare Sociable Plover.  13 species of Lark have been recorded in the area, including Greater Hoopoe, Bimaculated, and Sykes’s.  Resident Sarus Cranes and Lesser Flamingos are accompanied in the winter months by thousands of Demoiselle and Common Cranes, and Greater Flamingos, alongside Great White and Dalmatian Pelicans, Painted, Black-necked, Black, and White Storks, Black, Glossy, and Black-headed Ibis, Collared, Oriental, and Small Pratincoles, and huge congregations of ducks. 

Day 11:  Little Rann of Kachchh – Moti Virani

Depart the Little Rann of Kachchh early morning for a full day driving north and east into the Great Rann of Kachchh to Moti Virani near the town of Bhuj (7hrs), birding en-route where we can expect to find many of the region’s numerous raptors, which include Bonelli’s, Short-toed, and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Long-legged Buzzard, Red-headed Falcon, and six species of vulture. 

Days 12-14:  Great Rann of Kachchh

We have three full days to explore what is perhaps the bleakest, dustiest, most desolate region in India, a part of the Thar Desert which stretches north and west to Rajasthan, and into the Sind district of southern Pakistan.  During the dry season this is a land of desert and sun-baked alluvial mudflats, however the inherently saline soil is naturally suited to the growth of nutritious grasses which, along with great stretches of water in the dhands, natural depressions left by the monsoon, and dry thorn forest that punctuates the otherwise flat landscape, provide refuge to a number of sought after birds.  Despite fist appearances the region is particularly rich in birds, in particular raptors, waterfowl, waders, and larks, and is the only known wintering site of Grey Hypocolius in India, which we will search for in the grasslands of Banni.  Two of our primary targets in the region are Great Indian and Houbara Bustards in the Naliya Grasslands, 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 include White-browed (Stoliczka’s) Bushchat, Trumpeter Finch, White-naped Tit, Marshall’s Iora, White-bellied Minivet, Indian Courser, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Merlin, waterfowl including scarce Marbled Duck and rarer Baikal Teal in Chhari Dhand, and a host of gulls and waders along the coast.  Some of the more distinctive mammals of the region include Hyaena, Desert Cat, rarer Caracal, Chinkara or Indian Gazelle, Long-eared Hedgehog, and Indian Desert Jird.

Day 15:  Bhuj – Mumbai

Depart Moti Virani for Bhuj, from where we will take a flight back to Mumbai.

Day 16:  Depart

Depart Delhi on your onward journey.

ACCOMMODATION

We will use comfortable hotels, heritage hotels, and wildlife lodges, all with private en-suite facilities, at all locations except Moti Virani, where our accommodation, run by a research and conservation organization, will be basic but comfortable.

TRANSPORT

Domestic flights (1hr) will take us from Mumbai to Bhavnagar and from Bhuj back to Mumbai.  In Gujarat we will use jeeps, cars, or minibus to travel, and 4x4 jeeps for game drives at Gir and the Little Rann of Kachchh.  In the Great Rann of Kachchh most of our birding will be on foot.

CLIMATE          

Temperatures are expected to be warm to hot by day, with cool to cold nights and early mornings.  These extremes will be especially pronounced in the desert environment of the Rann of Kutch.  Rain is unlikely. 

For more detailed information, or to book a place on this tour, please contact us.