Che Viaggio!: 1983 India: Gir Forest (11/1-2/1983)

Tuesday, November 1, 1983 (continued)
Arrived at 14:00 in Porbandar, which is 191 km/118 miles from the Gir Forest.
The drill was to become: when arriving at an airport, one is besieged by taxi drivers. You pick one, and then bargain for a price. I was not comfortable with bargaining, but I hate being cheated. So I bargained hard, only to much later realize that what I was actually paying was incredibly cheap.
The trip from Porbandar to the Gir Forest took hours and hours. But I was in open countryside and could take a deep breath away from the 'overwhelmingness' of Bombay.
Arrived at 17:30 at the Sasan Gir Forest Lodge and went out to take some photos.

View from Sasan Gir Forest Lodge on the Hiran River;
the women on the opposite bank may be doing their laundry

Unidentified animal and bird!

The green parrots are really well-camouflaged!

Fast camel transport

Water buffalo

Later I sat at the desk in my room to write postcards. The ceiling fanned whirred overhead, and then I noticed a flapping sound. A bat! Oh, well, and I continued to write out postcards when a "flap, flap, flap, thunk, plop!" was heard. The bat, despite sonar, got whacked by the ceiling fan. I went down to tell reception, and went to dinner while they dealt with the body in my room.

Sasan Gir Forest Lodge room

Sunset

Wednesday, November 2, 1983
Up very early for a jeep safari into the forest to see Panthera leo persica/Asiatic lions that are protected here. After a couple hours, we did not see a single one.
We drove out to the reservoir to walk around and watch the sun rise.