Ahmedabad - Velavadar - Gir National Park - Jamnagar - Great Rann of Kutch - Little Rann of Kutch - Ahmedabad
13 Nights / 14 Days
The speciality of our Gujarat Birding Tour is the diverse bird habitats it covers. Drawing from decades of birding experience in this westernmost state of India, we pick out the choicest of Gujarat birding
Booked as per
request.
Included except arrival and departure city.
Private guide for complete tour.
Airport to Airport.
2-8PAX
Included
Do you enjoy birding tours? You're in good hands!
So if you are planning a birding tour with your family, we recommend the Fixed Departure Gujarat Birding Tour for bird lovers like you.
Book our Fixed Departure Gujarat Birding Tour and get ready for an unforgettable experience! Our Gujarat Birding Tour is unique as it covers a variety of bird habitats. To guarantee the most significant number of sightings during your India birding vacation, we’ve selected the best Gujarat birding hotspots based on decades of experience birding in this westernmost state of India.
Can you believe that more than 600 species of both migratory and resident birds call Gujarat home or use it as a wintering ground? Our birding trip there takes you through national parks, bird sanctuaries, and marsh flatlands. Because of the enormous fauna you witness, the national parks, particularly, lend a touch of excitement to the Gujarat birding vacation.
On this tour, our first stop is Velavadar National Park, popularly known as Blackbuck National Park, for the antelope whose protection it supports.
At Gir National Park in south Gujarat, the Asiatic Lion is a popular attraction. The park is an abode to over 350 bird species due to its location in the Kathiawar-Gir forest ecoregion. Birds of prey, vultures, owls, nightjars, ducks, kingfishers, herons, egrets, storks, minivets, flycatchers, and many more species can be seen here on a birding excursion.
As we move north into the Gulf of Kutch, we get into a different part of the world. Aquatic birds thrive in the freshwater lakes and saltwater marshes of Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary. Due to the two water bodies' occasional coexistence, the refuge serves as a rich home for birds.
We save the best for last and take you on an intense week of birding to Little Rann of Kutch along with the Great Rann of Kutch.. Northern Gujarat's Thar Desert is located on the Rann of Kutch. A birdwatcher might initially be surprised by its salty marshes, flooded meadows, and challenging, fractured mudflats. But when you explore deeper into this enormous area, you begin to appreciate it as a premier birding location.
Dryland birds inhabiting the Rann include the Grey Hypocolius, the Marshall's Iora, sandgrouse, larks, coursers, plovers, chats, warblers, and babblers shrikes. Winter tourists appreciate the chance to see the rare Macqueen's Bustard. While aquatic birds like common Cranes, Greylag Geese, and various waterfowl may be seen splashing around in the lakes and marshes, birds of prey like eagles, falcons, buzzards, and harriers are frequent in saline desert stretches.
Our two-week birding tour of Gujarat will give you enough time to thoroughly and leisurely visit all these fantastic bird habitats. The itinerary includes many wildlife safaris and several daylong birding trips in Gujarat. Not to mention, we provide you with the most excellent birding guidance and suggestions you're likely to discover in India
You will have a ton of fun, excitement, and learning. You will be the first to have the opportunity to go on a Fixed Departure Gujarat Birding Tour.
So let's get started with the itinerary of this famous Fixed Departure Gujarat Birding Tour.
Enjoy!
Lodging: Whether you are comfortably off or traveling on a budget, we have a wide range of accommodations for you to choose from. We have singled out luxury resorts, hotels and camps at the locations where they are available, and we also give you the choice of budget lodges. Some birding locations are far off from urban centres and have limited options in terms of lodging, but rest assured you’ll be provided, at all times, comfortable accommodation with all the basic amenities. If you want a customized birding tour of Gujarat and wish for a particular kind of accommodation, do write to us with the details and we will arrange the lodgings that best meet your expectation.
Meals: For the most part of our Gujarat birding adventure, we get to dine and overnight at resorts and hotels that have been selected for their proximity to birding sites, their quality service, and the variety of meals, both Indian and Western, on their menu. Whether you are a vegetarian or a meat lover, we take care of your eating preferences. However, some birding locations on the tour take us far from urban areas where the meal choices may be limited. At times, even our own kitchen staff may take charge and cook some mouth-watering delicacies for you. Best hygiene practices are observed at all times.
Tour Difficulty: Birding generally doesn’t demand the physical rigours of many adventure sports, but a birder has to be fit and healthy to carry out long excursions into the birding sites of Gujarat. Our itinerary includes several days of birding from morning to evening. You should be able to put in the required legwork, with breaks in between, of course. Some days, we travel long hours in cabs (sometimes even other modes of transportation) to move from one birding location to another. The terrain at the birding hotspots in Gujarat is mostly flat and doesn’t demand the toil of mountain climbing. Still, we expect the birders to have the fitness to walk long distances while carrying their personal birding equipment, such as binoculars, camera, and field guide.
Tour Extension: More often than not, we have had birders requesting tour extension to include some popular tourist hotspots of India to add a holiday zing to their birding vacation. We are totally game for such requests, provided they are made well in advance, so that we can plan and execute them to your satisfaction. The Gujarat birding tour extensions generally include a trip to the Taj Mahal (Agra) or a visit to the exotic Rajasthani cities of Udaipur or Jaipur. For wildlife lovers, we have tiger safaris at Ranthambore National Park (Rajasthan) or Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand) to offer. The duration of each of these trips usually doesn’t extend a day, but exceptions can be made on special request.
Climate: Gujarat lies on the Tropic of Cancer. Understandably, the summer here is quite hot and humid. The winter is pleasant and there are places like the Rann Of Kutch where night temperatures can plummet very low. Winter is the best time to do our Gujarat birding tour – not just because of the weather, but also because one stands a good chance to see a lot of migratory birds flying in from the colder regions of the north. This peak season lasts from November to February. You don’t need heavy woollens for Gujarat’s winters. Bring in clothes appropriate for dry warm days and mildly cold evenings and mornings.
You may use a train or a plane to go to Ahmedabad, Gujarat. After picking you up at the airport or train station, the chauffeur or tour guide will drive you 140 kilometres to Velavadar, where the Blackbuck National Park is. We arrive at the resort we have reserved after a maximum of 3 hours of driving.
You enjoy the evening relaxing at the resort or walking to get to know the area. Holding off on being enthusiastic and saving your energy for the morning is preferable. We will stay the night at the hotel and take a rest.
Previously used by the Maharajas for hunting, Velavadar National Park has since dedicated itself to preserving the Blackbuck. The park, which is 34 square kilometres in size, is surrounded by grasslands and bushes where you can watch a variety of birds.
Trust us; you will love this National Park.
The target birds of our daylong birding at Velavadar include Western Marsh Harrier, Rufous-tailed Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Ashy-crowned and Black-crowned Sparrow Lark, Indian Nightjar ,Indian Bushlark, Singing Bushlark, Crested Lark, Painted and Grey Francolin, Hen Harrier, Desert and Variable Wheatear, Pallid Harrier, Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgrouse, Painted Sandgrouse, Quails and Saras Crane, Laggar Falcon, Eurasian Hobby, Kestrel, Indian Courser, Red-necked Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Montagu's Harrier, Eurasian Imperial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, and Short-toed Eagle.
We leave Velavadar after a hearty breakfast and go 220 kilometres south to Gir National Park, the only spot in the world where Asiatic lions may live naturally. We often reach and check into the resort early in the afternoon, following a 5-hour journey. After some rest, we depart for an afternoon safari in Gir National Park.
This national park, frequently referred to as Gujarat's ecological "jewel," has amazing biodiversity. The Gir area has up to seven perennial rivers, and its dry deciduous woods are home to various of plant and animal species.
Fantastic, right?
At Gir National Park, 300 different bird species have been recorded, and an afternoon safari shows a variety of animals, such as the Asiatic Lion, Striped Hyena, Indian Leopard, Golden Jackal, Jungle Cat, and numerous herbivores like nilgai, chital, sambar, chinkara, wild boar, etc. The Asiatic Lion species in Gir National Park has expanded from barely a dozen at the end of the 19th century to 523, as per the census conducted in 2015.
The safari travels via the areas where it is most probable that visitors will get good views of these imposing carnivores, who are occasionally spotted in groups.
After a worthy birdwatching session, you will then return to your hotel for dinner and relax for the night.
Gir National Park has enough bird species to keep you occupied for the entire day. We take two safaris in the national park to make the most of our stay. The aim is to cross off as many birds as possible from the checklist.
Amazing, right?
The target birds will be Grey Frankolin, Indian Peafowl, Shikra, Small minivet, White browed fantail, Great Tit, Grey Breasted Prinia, Oriental White-eye, Oriental Magpie Robin, Indian Robin, Chestnut-shouldered Petronia , Indian Roller, Pied Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Lesser Golden Back & Golden Oriole, Ashy Prinia, Common Tailor Bird , Clamorous Reed Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warblar, Greenish Warblar, Tawny Bellied Babbler, common babbler, Red-Naped Ibis, Rose Ringed Parakeet, Crested Tree Swift, Green Bee Eater, Coppersmith Barbet, Rufous Treepie, Dusky Crag Martin, Indian Black Bird, Tickell’s Blue flycatcher, Purple Sunbird, and Indian Silverbill. After a busy day of birding at Gir National Park we return to our resort for dinner and well-earned rest.
After breakfast, we will leave for Jamnagar from Gir National Park. The 230-kilometer travel to Gujarat's western coast takes five hours. We will check into a lodge after arriving in the late afternoon. After some rest, we go for an evening birding excursion in and around Jamnagar.
Here, you can watch many species of birds that do not nest elsewhere in peninsular India.
The target birds at Jamnagar are Lesser and Greater Flamingos, Dalmatian Pelicans, Greylag Geese, Demoiselle Cranes, Common Cranes, Great Crested Grebe, Crab Plovers, Eurasian Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Common Redshank, Black tailed Godwits, Common Greenshank, Bar tailed Godwit, Pallas’s Gull, Heuglin’s gulls, Little Tern, Caspian Tern, Slender billed, Brown headed and Black headed Gull , Northern Shoveller, Gadwall, Gargeney, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Wigeon, Tufted Pochard, Common Pochard, Lesser Whistling Ducks , Spotbilled Ducks, Comb Ducks, Cotton Pygmy Duck, Black necked Grebes and Crested Grebes, among many others.
Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary and Marine National Park are two significant bird habitats in the Jamnagar district. Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, only 10 km from Jamnagar, is home to numerous migratory and local birds thanks to its freshwater and saltwater lakes, mudflats, streams, and mangrove scrubs.
During the winter, Khijadiya has recorded seeing almost 300 different bird species. The Gulf of Kutch's Marine National Park is home to abundant marine species. Additionally, it results in some intriguing bird sightings.
Birding may be quite rewarding for a whole day in these two areas. We will return to our hotel for a delicious dinner and relax.
After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we will load up and travel 350 kilometres to the Great Rann of Kutch. It might take up to 8 hours to drive there. We will stop for lunch enroute, then check into a hotel for dinner and the night.
An especially rare and flourishing bird habitat is The Great Rann of Kutch. It is one of the world's biggest salt deserts, covering an area of 7500 square kilometres. Every year, the summer rain transforms the mucky flatland into lakes. Banni Grassland, located on the southern border of the desert is a biodiversity hotspot with abundant avifauna.
There are some hillocks and dry riverbeds on the mainland. Thousands of birds flock to these locations every winter, so many that three full days of birding are required to explore their possibilities properly.
The birds to go after are: Great Indian Bustard, Indian Courser, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Syke's Lark, Long-billed Pipit, Stolickza's Bushchat, Black and Grey Francolin, Tawny Eagle and Bonnelli’s Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Steppe Eagle, White-backed and Long-billed Vulture, White-naped Tit, Desert Warbler, Common Crane, Demoiselle Crane, White-naped Tit, Marshall's Iora, Montagu's & Hen Harriers, Crab Plovers, Oystercatchers, Bluethroat, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Isabeline Shrike, Red-necked Phalarope, Isabelline & Variable Wheatear, Hoopoe Lark, Rosy & Dalmatian Pelicans, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Short-eared Owl, Black Francolin, Steppe Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Laggar Falcon, Eurasian Hobby, Long-legged Buzzard, Desert Warbler, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Flamingos, Collared Pratincole, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Quails, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Orphean warbler, Grey-necked, Red-headed and Black-headed Buntings, Chestnut-bellied and Spotted Sandgrouse, Indian Courser, Grey Hypocolius, European Roller, and Eurasian White Stork, besides many more.
We will depart the Great Rann of Kutch for the Little Rann of Kutch to the east after three full days of birding. It takes most of the day to complete the lengthy journey. We will stop for lunch and reach the resort in the early evening. You are welcome to rest and unwind while lounging around the resort, or you may go bird-watching if you'd like. Lastly, you will eat dinner there and spend the night.
Due to its proximity to the Gulf of Kutch, the Little Rann of Kutch differs in specific ways from the Great Rann of Kutch to the north. Low-lying places periodically flood as a result of proximity to the sea. In addition, monsoon rains provide marshy terrain and thorny flora that draw a variety of species.
The Little Rann of Kutch is situated at the meeting point of bird migration, making it excellent from a birding perspective. Each winter is teeming with numerous feathered marvels. Along with the Indian Wild Ass, you could spot sizable groups of other water birds here.
We will depart from the hotel in the morning and drive you 160 kilometres to Ahmedabad. The journey might last up to four hours. We will guide you to the airport so you can catch your next flight. The birding trip in Gujarat comes to a successful conclusion with many enjoyable sightings.
