Gujarat - The Highway Diaries - III

Day 6 - 25-Jan-27

Ready for the jungle trail
We reached the Safari booking office at 8 AM. Problem was, we had made a booking for 4 and there was a last-minute addition. The bookings for Gir Safari can be made online only they informed. So after begging the guy there and telling him that we had come a long way to Gir, he agreed - without additional charges! Once this was sorted, we had a traditional Gujarati breakfast of Faafda-Jalebi and a cup of tea. And by 9 AM, we were on our way through the jungle road. We were excited, and really wanted to spot a lion. I had seen it on my last visit to Gir, but none of the others had seen one in its natural habitat before. We started off with a few deers, fancy looking birds and Sambar, but no lion. The guide informed that it was really rare to see a lion this late in the day. He tried to find a lion, getting in touch with the forest rangers and trackers. But to no avail. We saw jackals as well, and peacocks. But no lions. At the end of three hours, we were dissapointed to have missed out on seeing a lion but glad that the safari was a part of the itinerary. 

      We freshened up at the hotel, had our lunch and started the return journey to Ahmedabad which was around 350 kms. 
Indian scops owl

The return journey was quite uneventful, apart from a few close shaves on the highway. We reached Ahmedabad at 11 PM after quite a few halts since everyone was tired, dropped off Jaggu and Pakya and started our return journey for Mumbai at 12 midnight.

Day 7 - 26-Jan-17

Deer, posing for a picture
The way back was on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway, and the expressway was so good, the speed was constantly around 80-90 km/hr. We wanted to visit Dumas beach near Surat, which is one of the most haunted places in the country. But by the time we reached there, it was already 6 AM and there were quite a few joggers there. We had a quick nap in the car for a couple of hours and started the return journey for Mumbai. Again, not much to write about the return journey. It was a little dull, since the end-of-vacation feeling had set in. Driving was easy till the Fountain Hotel were traffic set in, again. We had lunch together, this time in Mumbai, comprising more of non-veg coz we missed it, before setting off home.

I reached home by 6 PM and was already missing the road. It was the second road trip of the year in less than a month. I was exhausted, and fell right onto the bed. It is one of the best feelings ever. It was time to catch up with all the sleep that I had skipped during the journey. After all, vacations are not for sleeping, are they?

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