The
range of the Asiatic Lion at one time stretched from northern Greece
across southwest asia to eastern India. It became extinct in eastern
Europe around A.D. 100, and in Palestine around the time of the
Crusades. Till the mid-1800's it remained widespread elsewhere.
The
invention of gunpowder and the advent of 'sport' hunting throughout the
British Empire decimated the lion population. By the late 1800's, lions
had disappeared from Turkey, and the last reports from Iraq and Iran
date to 1918 and 1942 respectively. The lion continues to be an
important part of Indian Wildlife and is preserved in the Gir National
Park, in Gujarat, India.
The Gir forest was constituted a
wildlife sanctuary in 1965 and expanded to its present size of 1153 km²
in 1974. A tract of land, nearly 150 km², was declared a national
park in 1975 and enlarged to its present size of 259 km² in 1978.
Dry deciduous forest, dominated by teak (Tectona grandis), covers nearly
70% of the Gir PA. The remaining eastern portion has thorn savannah with
various Acacia species. Five perennial rivers drain the PA with
evergreen vegetation along their banks. The mean annual rainfall in
western Gir is 1000 mm and in eastern Gir 650 mm. Temperatures recorded
at the Sanctuary headquarters in Sasan range between 7°C and 46°C.
The main
attraction of the place is the "lion shows", organized by the
park authorities in the Dewaliya area, which are a sure-shot way of
seeing the magnificent big cats. These "spectacles" for the
public are hopefully soon going to be axed, as is proposed by the more
thoughtful of the governing bodies, and a safari park instead is to
replace them with an area of around 1000 acres being set aside with a
higher population density of lions to enhance sighting chances. The Gir
National Park in India proves to be a protected area for the lions but
threats like human settlements, loss of habitat and prey species are
obvious. The biggest threat to the lion population is poaching. Though
the punishment for poaching is exemplary, poachers do make bids to bag
lion skins. Even the nails of a lion are at a premium. It is believed
that since a lion himself is brave and majestic, some of those qualities
must be inherent in his body parts. Hence the non-perishable nail,
mounted in gold and worn as a talisman, chiefly to infuse courage into a
timid person.
Of major importance is the fact that the Gir has
become a very stable ecosystem with tremendous regenerating abilities
and is self-supporting and sustaining due to its rich and diverse flora
and fauna. The Gir is a unique ecosystem which harbours over 450 plant
species, 32 species of mammals, 24 species of reptiles, over 310 species
of birds, and more than 2000 species of insects.
Forest
type
- Dry Deciduous Teak Forest
Tectona grandis, Diospyros
melanoxylon, Terminalia, Mitragyna parvifolia, Wrightia tinctoria,
Aegle marmalos,Butea monosperma, Balanites aegyptica
- Dry Deciduous Mixed Forest
Terminalia crenulata,
Garuga pinnata, Lannea coromandelica, Acacia catechu, Xeromphis
spinosa, Grewia spss, Ficus sps.
- Open Scrub Forest
Acacia nilotica, Acacia
leucophloea, Zizyphus sps, Balanites Aegyptica, Carissa sps,
Wrightia tinctoria.
- Riverine Forest
Emblica officinalis, Terminalia
crenulata, Tamarindus indica,Vitex nigundu, Helicteris isora, Ficus
racemosa, Jamun.
- Thorn Scrub Forest
Acacia nilotica, Acacia catechu,
Acacia leucophloea, Aegle marmalos, Zizyphus sps, Balanites
aegyptica, etc.
- Savannah
Acacia sps. Grasses like Sehima nervosum,
Dicanthium Annulatum, Cymbopogon, Chrysopogon, Apulda
mutica,Heteropogon, Aristida etc.
Jeep Safari
The
best way to observe the big cats is, of course, in their natural
surroundings, at dawn and dusk, when they are on the prowl. Wildlife
viewing in the Gir's is best done, by driving via jeep around the
forest.
ClimateThe temperatures at the park vary
to extremes, as they do with most of the country too. In winters, the
temperatures go down to as low as 6 degrees centigrade, while soaring up
to a scorching 46 degrees in the summers. The park is open to visitors
from November to May but the best time for visiting the park, taking
comfort and wildlife viewing into consideration, is December to March.
The park offers many excellent drives through scenic areas.
How
to reachState transport buses make the two hour trip between
Junagadh and Veraval via Sasan Gir, four times a day. Slow steam trains
run to Veraval twice daily, and to Delwada and Junagadh once a day.
