Wondering Where the Lions Are? Sasan Gir!

The only place in the entire world where Asiatic Lions roam free is a sanctuary in Gujarat in Sasan Gir and we had a safari booked in that very sanctuary!

The first part of our lion safari was arranging transportation. Our fancy Diu hotel advertised a 24 hr travel desk, but when we arrived on a Wednesday afternoon we were told it’s not possible to arrange a car before the manager came in the next morning. We explained repeatedly that we needed to leave the next morning. The woman at the desk kept telling us the manager would arrange. K went down early to see the manager and we were told he would be in at 10:30, which was after we needed to leave. She convinced the lad at the desk to call the manager at home, who apparently refused to do anything. K had to lean on the young desk guy and press him to call us a taxi. To hear her tell it, he was sweating at the thought of doing an act of self-initiative, but he did call in the end and arrange us a taxi. After 2 stays there I would say the manager has the staff petrified into a state of complete incompetence. It was painful to watch them try to deal with our bill. We needed change, they had no change, what to do? They were paralyzed with no solutions. I stayed with our bags while K went next door and MADE CHANGE.  

The lion safari was a whole other experience. We stayed at the birding lodge recommended by our wild ass sanctuary guide and it was so serene. There was some confusion at the safari office but that was worked out and we were in our jeep. Everyone was concerned we were only taking one safari. How could we expect to see lions on only one safari? Well, the foreigner price for our one safari was expensive as hell, and I always see my critter! I was coming for an afternoon safari to see sleepy asiatic lions and I was going to see some. Naysayers, take a step back. 

Right off the bat we saw a lioness and her cub chilling under a tree. Bam! There were loads of spotted deer, sambar deer, langur monkeys, peacocks and peahens, a huge lizard, 2 very rare Mottled Wood Owls and a King Vulture. We sighted the balls end of a sleeping lion and then I spotted a wild pig moving in his direction. We rolled back a bit and watched as the lion woke up to watch the pig. It was all win win. The lion decided he wasn’t hungry enough to kill the pig, the pig lived, and we got to see more than the hind end of a male lion.

A bit later we came up on a female out in the open rolling on her back like she had been in the catnip. She was hilarious. A cub was a little ways away from her looking a bit embarrassed. Our guide thought it was maybe the same ones we had seen earlier. 

And then, just before the end, there was a big male also lolling in the grass. He looked like an adorable deadly stuffed toy giving us his come hither look. I just wanted to ruffle his furry mane.

Take that one safari naysayers! 4-6 lions depending on how you count them.  

Riding high on our safari luck, we did a birding walk at 7:30 the next morning. The birding specialist from our lodge was incredible. He knew what was around us by sound and picked out at least 30 birds to show us and photograph. He was superbly knowledgeable about the birds and where they would be and his passion was palpable, like the birder who had been our wild ass guide. He could have shown us birds all day. As it was, we were kilometres away on foot at the time when we were supposed to be having our breakfast, in advance of our check out and taxi back to Diu. He had to illegally sneak us through the National Forest lands to get us back in time for late breakfast and run to the taxi. He brilliantly also send us photos of us and the birds, all labelled with the names. It was a pretty great morning. 

The safaris have clearly been the highlights of this trip. The animals are gorgeous, the recommended lodges comfortable with good food, and the safari people are all knowledgeable and passionate about ecology.