Travelling Around Britain and the World

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Palitana and the Temples on Shatrunjaya Hill: Gujarat Part 8

Gujarat: The What, Where, When and Who


India
Gujarat

This post covers day 8 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

Day 8 takes across the south of the Kathiawar Peninsula from Bhavnagar to Sasangir via Palitana and its Temples

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States retained considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat became part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been seafarers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

-o0o0o-

Bhavnagar to Palitana

We crept from our Bhavnagar hotel at 5.30 clutching our breakfast boxes and left the city along dark, quiet streets. Palitana was just over 50km away, an 80 minute journey on Indian roads, and we needed to be there early.

It was still dark when we stopped for Vijay and L to get a cup of tea and a bite to eat. Vijay suggested we eat our breakfasts, too. ‘There is a cheese and chicken sandwich in there,’ he said pointing at the breakfast boxes we had yet to open, ‘you can’t eat chicken in Palitana.’

We did as we were told, there was no point being difficult, and there really was a cheese and chicken sandwich in the box, an unusual combination, but not unpleasant. Palitana, a major centre of Jain pilgrimage, claims to be one of the first two vegetarian cities in the world – though where the other one is no one is telling. It is illegal to buy or sell meat, fish or eggs, or to go fishing or pen 'food animals' in the city, so we could not even sell our chicken sandwiches

Having consumed the evidence of our evil ways, we crossed the surprisingly chilly car park to join L and Vijay for a cuppa. Hot, sweet, milky Indian tea is dispensed in tiny cups at tiny prices. L, Vijay and a couple of lorry drivers were drinking from metal cups but we were, as always, given disposable paper cups. Stalls cannot keep these just for foreigners, because most never see any foreigners, yet they all have them - but who else uses them? In Uttar Pradesh we encountered tea in little earthenware cups, which can be recycled just by dropping them on the ground. Unfortunately, the stall keepers of Gujarat apparently believe the same is true of paper cups with their plastic waterproofing.

No one would be interested in a picture of paper cups, but these are earthenware cups photographed in 2013 somewhere on the road between Allahabad (now known as Prayagraj) and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh

The Ascent of Shatrunjaya Hill

Palitana seemed a tidy town of some 65,000 people. It was a Princely State during the Raj, but a minor one ruled by a Thakur (only worth a 9-gun salute!) not a Maharaja. As in Bhavnagar, the rulers were Gohil Rajputs, but paid tribute to the Gaekwar of Baroda and the Nawab of Junagadh (next post).

We had arrived at 6.30 to visit the Jain temples located on the top of Shatrunjaya hill. As the only way to get there was to walk up the hill, it seemed better to try this in the cool of the morning, than the midday heat.

Shatrunjaya is a major pilgrimage site and a well-made path starts at the edge of town, but first there was a check point where a very polite Sikh security man looked me over. Fortunately, he was more polite than thorough, my leather belt (a no-no in a Jain temple - but essential to stop my trousers falling down) lurked below my untucked shirt, my trainers probably had leather parts and I was carrying plastic water bottles, though inside a canvas carrier slung over my shoulder. ‘Water?’ the security man asked, pointing. I nodded and he waved me through. Plastic is not allowed on the mountain, water is available and the cleanliness is probably alright, but we did not want to risk it. In my defence, I brought the plastic bottles down and disposed of them responsibly - in so far as that is possible in India. We carried no food, vegetarian or otherwise, as that is also not permitted.

The start of the trek up Shatrunjaya
When I was first considering this itinerary I read Wikipedia and was, for a moment, frightened. From Palitana at 66m (217ft), it said, we must climb 3,750 steps to reach the temples at 2,221m (7,288ft). Tripadvisor suggested a reasonably fit person of any age could do the climb in 2-3 hours. I seriously doubted I could manage the equivalent of 2 Snowdons in that time – if at all. Then I realised the average step would have to be an unlikely 60cm high. Wikipedia, I decided, must be in error (and that’s never happened before!)

But they were not wrong about everything, there really are 3,750 steps, though of modest height. The temples are at 603m (according to the same page) and that is manageable, though still quite a climb on a 3.4km long path. The page needs the attention of a numerate editor.

Made it up the first couple of hunded steps towards the Palitana Temples
In some places slogging up the steps was a chore…

A Jain nun follows us up a steep section of the path
….but once we reached the shoulder of Shatrunjaya....

Reaching the shoulder of Shatrunjaya Hill
...the ascent became less unrelenting. Many of our fellow climbers were the idly curious, like us, but those dressed in white were pilgrims; every Jain should make this ascent at least once in their life. The man immediately behind us in the photo below was escorting a sick relative being carried up in a litter. Others, less infirm maybe, but not up to the long slog up the steps could hire a ‘dolly’, a chair slung from a pole (or two) carried on the shoulders of two (or four) men. Two dolly men followed us from the bottom willing, indeed urging, one or other us to run out of steam and take a ride. We are made of sterner stuff and before we reached step 1,000 (painted numbers give encouragement every hundred or so steps) they gave up in disgust.

A pilgrim follows us up a less steep section with a sick relative on a litter, Palitana 
We continued the upward trudge, water stations appearing every so often. Descending Jain nuns passed us in white dresses and short white socks, skipping swiftly down the steps in a way I used to be able to do some decades ago. They were all smaller and lighter than I am, and most were considerably younger, but not all. I have no idea what time they set off to be already descending, but it must have been early even if they ran up and skipped down. The temples are so sacred that no one, not even a priest, is permitted to spend the night on the hill.
Approaching a water station of Shatrunjaya Hill
150 species of bulbuls, medium-sized passerine songbirds, live throughout Africa and southern Asia. In Malaysia we saw yellow-vented bulbuls by the thousand, on this walk every bush was alive with red-vented bulbuls, perching, hopping and singing. Not all bulbuls are named for the colour of feathers round their ‘vents’, there are brown-eared and hairy-coated bulbuls (among many others) though bulbuls have neither ears not hair. The vocal talents of red-vented bulbuls have made them valuable as cage birds and resulted in them being introduced into assorted pacific islands, the USA (notably Florida and Hawaii) and Argentina. They are on the IUCN* list of the World's Worst 100 Invasive Species, but not here, this is their native heath.

Red-vented bulbuls on Shatrunjaya Hill
We soon reached a second shoulder from which we had a fine view back over the path we had followed and the town of Palitana in the plain below.

Palitana and the path of our ascent
We paused on a flat section below the final ascent. The temple complex is visibly above and to the right of Vijay’s head.

Lynne and Vijay on Shatrunjaya Hill
Vijay told us not to stare, but to turn casually and glance away from the path towards a small stand of trees. There we saw a group of a dozen or more men sitting in the shade; they were obviously bare-chested but there was a little more (or perhaps less) to them than that.

Jainism would not be a religion if it did not have schisms. The earliest and most important, between the Digambara and Svetambara, probably occurred in the 1st century CE, each accusing the other of departing from traditional teachings. There are differences in doctrine, iconography and sacred texts, but to the layman the most obvious disparity is that Svetambara ascetics wear white (the word means ‘white-clad’) while Digambara means ‘sky-clad’. We were looking at a group of sky-clad Digambara monks.

 Taking the Jain principal of aparigraha (non-attachment to material possessions) to extremes they live and travel naked owning nothing (not even a begging bowl) beyond a picchi a broom of discarded peacock feathers used to gently remove insects from their path.

80% of Jains hold to the Svetambara tradition and the Digambara stronghold is in Karnataka, 1,000km south, where it is rarely if ever cold enough to need clothes, so they were a rare sight in Palitana. We visited the very old, very large and very beautiful statue ofa sky-clad Gomateshvara in Karnataka in 2010.

A long flat section led us to the final climb.

Approaching the final ascent, Shatrunjaya Hill
The last ascent was easy, 3,750 steps had passed more quickly and less painfully than we had thought possible. Eating is not allowed on the mountain, but an exception seemed to be made for a man sitting outside the walls of the temple complex selling yoghurt. We ate yoghurt, sweetened with honey and dusted with cinnamon, from stone bowls with wooden spoons - nothing could have tasted better. It was not yet 9 o'clock when we put away our cameras and entered the complex.

Palitana Temple Complex, Shatrunjaya Hill

I do not know how many temples there are on Shatrunjaya Hill. Various figures are quoted 750,  863 and ‘more than 900’ but it depends on what you call ‘a temple’. The tendency among both Jains and Hindus is to describe even the tiniest shrine or a statue set up on the roadside as a ‘temple’, so almost any number is ‘correct’.

It might be true that this is the world’s largest temple complex and the whole mountain is the Jain community’s most sacred pilgrimage place site. It is probably true that building started here in the 11th century but most extant temples are 15th century or later. It is undoubtedly true that photography is strictly forbidden.

In 2018 I took a photograph in Ranakpur Temple in Rajasthan of a sculpture/schematic representation of the temples on Shatrunjaya Hill. I doubt it will help the reader’s visualisation, but the other Ranakpur photographs will give an idea of what Jain Temples looks like.

Depiction of the Shatrunjaya Hill temple Complex, Ranakpur Temple, Rajasthan
Despite its beauty, history and wildlife Gujarat attracts few tourists and not many of those climb all the way up the hill, so it was just us and the Jain pilgrims. The Anandji Kalyanji Trust was set up in 1720 to look after the temples and still ensure their beauty is maintained and well cared for – a job they now also do at several other temples including Ranakpur and Chittorgarh. Fortunately, the relatively wealthy Jain community is willing and able to donate the considerable sums required for the Trust’s work.

The complex has a peaceful, almost spiritual air and I felt it was wrong to try to steal a photograph. I will, though, borrow one from Wikipedia, which may itself have been illicit but is now available for all.
One of the Palitana Temples,
photo by Bernard Gagnon, reproduced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
After all the steps it took to get there, there were many more in and between the temples. Eventually, in a temple on the southern peak, we emerged onto a balcony and found the whole complex laid out before us. It was a breath-taking sight and I reached for my camera before spotting I was being watched.

As we headed for the exit our path gave a view which was almost as good, and this time there was no one around.

The Palitana Temple Complex, Shatrunjayah Hill
I left the complex annoyed with missing the first opportunity, but perversely disappointed with myself for showing disrespect to our hosts by taking a photo at all.

Back Down to Palitana

The descent was quicker but hurt more, my arthritic knees reminding me at every step how much they dislike the controlled lowering of my bodyweight.

Heading back don Shatrunjayah Hill
About halfway down we were waiting while Vijay fetched some water and a voice behind us asked ‘Where do you two come from?’ Turning we found the speaker was a sari clad young woman perched on a wall. We gave our usual ‘between Birmingham and Manchester,’ reply which references at least one place most people have heard of. ‘I come from Northampton,’ she said. On that basis we offered a less vague location. She spoke mildly accented English with great confidence, and said she was staying with her sister (sat next to her on the wall) in Rajkot and seemed impressed that we had made it all the way to the top. We chatted until Vijay returned, then wished each other well and we headed on down.

It was becoming seriously hot and my knees were feeling weaker and weaker. We started to encounter people we recognised from the German coach party we had met in our hotel last night. They were not young, and some were already on the way down – we knew they had not been to the top – while others were looking at the numbers on the steps and deciding to give up. Rising at 5 o’clock been a challenge, but we were glad we had; we would have given up just as quickly in the midday heat.

My knees held it together to the bottom and walking on the flat to the car was like floating on air.

Lunch at the Vijay Vilas

Vijay had decided lunch would be in the countryside at the Vijay Vilas. Leaving town we encountered a street closure, the road having slipped into a small river. L, our driver, had shown an impressive knowledge of the highways and byways of Gujarat but the forced detour through a complicated residential area was the one time we saw him hesitant about how to get from where he was to where he wanted to be.

After some trial and error, we found the other end of the closure and headed off down tiny roads into deep country.

Vijay Vilas, outside Palitana
Vijay Vilas Palace was built in 1906 as a hunting lodge for the ruling Gohil Rajputs and is now a heritage hotel run by relatives of the current Thakur. It is a little down at heel, a house whose glory days are over, but they provided us with a fine (and substantial) vegetarian lunch.

Lunch at the Vijay Vilas, near Palitana

On to Sasangir

Five hours driving took us further west to Sasangir. All Indian road trips are interesting, but we were too tired to take much notice as we trundled across largely empty, flattish land.

Sasangir, the last haunt of the Asiatic lion, is one of Gujarat’s few real tourist centres and we checked in to the local branch of the upmarket Taj Hotel group.

The hotel also has a booze shop; we had not finished the bottles we bought in Ahmedabad (not both of them, anyway) but this was the only other shop on our itinerary. My licence allowed me two bottle every ten days and we were a few day’s short so Lynne had to apply for a licence. The process was simpler than it had been in Ahmedabad; (see Ahmedabad, Liquor Licences, Mosques and Tombs) the shop was in the hotel so all the necessary information was to hand – and the hotel employees’ attitude was helpful rather than officious.

After our large lunch we decided to skip dinner and with another pre-dawn start tomorrow we opted for an early night.

* International Union for Conservation of Nature

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Tuesday, 5 March 2019

Bhavnagar: Gujarat Part 7

Gujarat: The What, Where, When and Who

India
Gujarat

This post covers day 7 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

Today's journey takes us the short distance to Bhavnagar on the east coast of Gujarat's Kathiawar Peninsula

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States retained considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat was part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been seafarers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

-o0o0o-

Bhavnagar: The Capital of Another Former Princely State

Breakfast at the Blackbuck Resort, Valavadar

We had a leisurely start; Bhavnagar, our destination for the day was only 50km away – just over an hour’s driving on Indian roads. Breakfast at the Blackbuck Lodge, like our other meals there, was a multi-course affair and we were still on our yoghurt and muesli at 9 o’clock.

Breakfast at the Blackback Lodge, Velavadar

Bhavnagar

The port city of Bhavnagar (pronounced Bah-nagger) has an urban population of 1.6 million and is one of those enormous Indian cities that no one outside India (or in this case outside Gujarat?) has ever heard of. It is the administrative centre for a district of 2.9 million people.

In the 13th century, the Gohil Rajputs were pushed south from the Jodhpur region (Kingdom of Marwar) and founded their own Kingdom on the coast of Gujarat. They had various capitals, all of which proved vulnerable to attack until Thakur Bhavsinhji I Gohil founded a new capital in 1724 and modestly named it Bhavnagar after himself. The state he ruled became known as Bhavnagar (or, informally Gohilwad - Land of the Gohils) and became a British Protectorate as one of the ‘Princely States’ in 1807. In 1918 the Thakur Bhavsinjhi II Gohil was upgraded to Maharaja and in 1947 his son Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Gohil led Bhavnagar into the Union of India. Titles were officially abolished in 1971, so the current Maharaja Vijayrajsinhji Gohil, born 1968, succeeded to only a courtesy title in 1994.

Coat of arms of the Princely State of Bhavnagar, Barton Museum, Bhavnagar

The Nilambag Palace

The Nilambag Palace was built for the Royal family sometime between the 1850s and 1890s depending on which source you read. It is now a heritage hotel, though some say the Maharaja lives there too. The hotel website says it was designed by ‘German architect, Simms’ another source has Simsom (sic). I can find no evidence of either of them having existed – though Otto von Simson was a renowned German art historian. Wikipedia gives the credit to the eminent British architect Sir William Emerson, and Archinomy appears to offer an independent confirmation, so he gets my vote.

Regardless of who built it, we checked-in around 11.30 in the morning.

Nilambag Palace, Bhavnagar

The décor, in private and public spaces, had remained largely unchanged since the first half of the 20th century, but our room was large and comfortable. Updating the electrics would be a good idea; in this class of hotel I do not expect to have to use the back of a comb to operate a small, stiff, sharp, switch disappearing inside a metal panel just to turn the lights on and off.

A Bhavnagar Stroll

Short of cash, we went in search of an ATM, not that finding one is ever difficult in a major city, it was really an excuse for a walk. The hotel is set back from a busy road and we were soon admiring the traffic and breathing in the fumes of the tuk-tuks, trucks and scooters…

Bhavnagar

…but there were also temples to look at, through a screen of motorcycles ….

Some motorbikes and a temple, Bhavnagar

…and the biggest pile of melons we have seen since we were in Kashgar.

A well stocked melon stall, Bhavnagar

Back at the hotel we had a light lunch of masala dosas and when the heat of the day had passed, we set out with Vijay to see the sites of Bhavnagar. Vijay is himself a Gohil and when not guiding he works for the Maharaja, partly at the Nilambag Palace. I think he might be well connected in these parts.

Bhavnagar is a working city, not much visited by tourists, and most that do are, like us, passing through. Unsurprisingly that there is not much to see.

The Barton Library Museum, Bhavnagar

Colonel L C Barton was the British political agent here in the late 19th century. He donated his library to the city (or is it just named after him?) and it contains 60,000 volumes in Sanskrit, Gujarati, Hindi and English. According to Trodly.com the library and museum… have the greatest collection of books, manuscripts, coins, musical instruments, old armoury, wood carvings and other old works which gives one deep insight and knowledge about the history and culture of the city.

Jain carvings, Barton Museum, Bhavnagar.
We would learn more about the steps leading up to the somewhat schematic temples tomorrow

The library is only open in the mornings, so went unseen by us, but Lonely Planet describes the museum as a dusty but interesting collection contain[ing] Jain religious carvings, weaponry, betel-nut cutters, and a skeleton in a cupboard. ‘Dusty’ is the first and most important word in that quote.

A collection of betel nut cutters, Barton Museum, Bhavnagar

They might also have mentioned unattributed vases….

Unattribted vases and retired weaponry, Barton Museum, Bhavnagar

…and a rather sad display of stuffed birds.

A sad display of stuffed birds, Barton Museum, Bhavnagar

The staff were deeply uninterested in our visit, and positively hostile when asked if anyone would unlock the Gandhi Smriti Museum upstairs. Eventually one of them rose, grumbling, and fetched the key. ‘No photos’ he growled as we entered; a little unreasonable, I thought, as he had sold me a camera ticket earlier. He stayed to watch and ensure I complied. To be fair, the Gandhi section is cleaner and better laid out than the Barton Museum, but added little to what we had seen at Gandhi’s ashram in Ahmedabad

The museums/library are housed in an 1895 neo-gothic building which might excite those paid to write tourist blurb, but the truth is that the interior is a dusty warehouse, and the exterior impossible to appreciate or photograph because it is stuck on a busy road junction.

Bhavnagar Bazaar

Leaving the museum we headed towards the bazaar. Pausing at a food stall...

Food stall, Bhanvnagar

…Vijay decided to treat us to an afternoon snack. Indian street food is always regarded as problematic for the European visitor, but the more we visit, the more frequently we try it – and we can report no problems. Perhaps regular visits have improved the diversity of our gut flora, perhaps we have been in the company of locals who can pick the right vendor, perhaps Indian food hygiene has improved or perhaps we have been lucky. Maybe it has been a combination of some or all of these factors. It might sound churlish and ungrateful to add that these were not the finest pakoras we have eaten – but they did no harm.

Wholesome enough, but not the world's finest pakoras

We passed several interesting buildings, some in need of some tlc….

Old building in need of some care, Bhavnagar

…on our way to the colourful and busy bazaar.

Bazaar, Bhavnagar

Nearby, the former Durbar Hall is now the rather unappealing Hotel Vrindavan…

Bazaar and Hotel Vrindavan, Bhavnagar

…and the old Durbar Gate has been defaced by hotel signs. Alamy have a fine picture of the gate in the 1900s, looking as the designers intended. I am not reproducing the picture here – they would want me to pay – but you can see it on the Alamy website.

The former Durbar Gate, now the entrance to the Hotel Vrindavan

Continuing through the bazaar…

Bhavanagar Bazaar

…we reached the fruit and veg market. I particularly like the combination of the familiar – tomatoes, carrots and, just above the customer’s arm, cauliflowers - with the semi-familiar – aubergines, but small, almost spherical and with white bases and outsize purple spring onions – and the unfamiliar – assorted herbs, pods and squashes.

Fruit and Veg, Bhavnagar

Takhteshwar Temple, Bhavnagar

A short distance away sitting on a small knoll is the Takhetshwar Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

A marble staircase….

On the stairs up to Takhetshwar Temple, Bhavnagar

….leads up to a marble temple commissioned by Maharaja Takhatsihnji in 1893. Eighteen ornately carved pillars surround the main hall with its three-eyed Shiva idol,…

Takhetshwar Temple, Bhavnagar

….while a small marble Nandi sits outside.

Nandi, the Takhetshwar Temple, Bhavnagar

From the temple there is a view to the heavily silted Gulf of Khambhat. A deep-water channel and lock were built in the 1960s and Bhavnagar is still a working port. Alang, 50km down the coast has the world’s largest ship-breaking yard.

A distant view of the Gulf of Khambhat

Back at the Nilambag Palace

Back at the hotel the Maharaja's cousin, a large smartly-dressed man in late middle age (the older I get, the more generous my definition of middle age becomes) was making himself visible and shaking hands with customers. A German bus tour had arrived – large group tours are rare in Gujarat – and he had plenty of hands to pump. We had our turn; he was very amiable and had that gift of appearing interested in what you said, even when he had heard it a hundred times before. Having a member of the royal family wandering around chatting with guests is undoubtedly good PR.

The hotel advertised an outdoor restaurant, but when we arrived there was a large open space, empty but for a single lonely table where a couple were already eating. We stood around, looking perplexed but eventually a waiter arrived, unfolded a table from a stack and found some chairs. The table was laid and menus provided. We ate Mutton Mughlai which was very acceptable if not the finest we have encountered (see Lucknow) and watched in wonder as more people arrived, each party having a table specially set up for them.

With a pre-dawn departure tomorrow, an early night seemed apropriate.



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Location: Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India

Monday, 4 March 2019

Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar: Gujarat Part 6

Gujarat: The What, Where, When and Who

India
Gujarat

This post covers day 6 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

Today we drive from Bajana to Velavadar and the Blackbuck National Park

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States retained considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat was part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been seafarers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

-o0o0o-

A Village Festival and a Park Teeming with Wildlife

Bajana to Velavadar

After a breakfast of omelette, stuffed parathas and fruit we set off on the 3½hr journey south from Bajana to the Blackbuck Park. We drove through agricultural land growing wheat, cotton, sesame and cumin among other crops. As usual cattle, sheep and goats were being herded along the highway while yet more cattle wandered at will.

This time it's cattle causing the holdup

A Village Festival

After 80mins we stopped at a village – I am unsure of the name – where there was a market and celebration, something to do with Lord Shiva, Vijay told us. Makeshift stalls were laid out along the side of the road…

Stalls alongside the road, Gujarat village market

….in parked vehicles and on any available piece of ground.

Stalls in tuk-tuks and spreading up the alleys, Village market

As every English shepherd once had his crook, every Indian herder of beasts has his stick. Like the crook they are not for hitting, but for pointing, waving and generally being an extension of the herder’s arm. I would have thought that one would have seen out a lifetime’s herding, but business was brisk at the pole store.

Herders' sticks in the market

Being a holiday, there were entertainments for children. The bouncy castle looked a little underinflated and the round-about as minimal as they come, and both would have looked better without the litter - in India there is always litter – but for the village’s smallest citizens, I am sure they were objects of wonder.

Round-about and bouncy castle (not that it is, strictly speaking, a castle)

This was a religious holiday, so we joined the stream of people making their way to and from the small temple.

Lynne and Vijay make their way to the temple

We had plenty of stares, foreigners are rare round here, but inquisitive rather than threatening. At the temple Vijay said he would watch our shoes while we had a look, though elsewhere we just left them unwatched with all the others. Ours looked bigger, a little better quality but just as dusty as the villagers’ so we wondered why but said nothing.It was a small Hanuman shrine, with a simple idol and clouds of jasmine scented smoke; an attendant offered Lynne a tilak as we left. Vijay then asked us to watch his shoes while he paid his respects. They looked expensive and far cleaner than ours, but then he was always crisply dressed, regardless of the heat or dust.

The village temple and a collection of shoes

The Blackbuck Resort, Valavadar

After another 90mins driving arable land gave way to flat scrub, arid but less salty than the Little Rann of Kutch.

Arable farms give way to scrubby grassland as we approach Velavadar

We soon reached our accommodation, ominously appearing on our itinerary as the Blackbug Resort but actually the Blackbuck Resort. It consisted of large, comfortable well-separated traditional bungalows forming a loose semi-circle in the dry grass.

Our bungalow, Blackbuck Resort, Velavadar

We dumped our luggage and wandered back to the restaurant, a very smart affair with crisp tablecloths and quality china. Being on full board we ate a set meal, the smartly dressed waiter bringing a succession of small dishes, carefully explaining each. Peanut kofta, a variation on waldorf salad, murgh makhani, a vegetable curry based on bottle gourd, paneer with spinach, kulcha and pappads were all well-cooked, well-spiced and beautifully presented. A beer would have been a perfect accompaniment, but unfortunately Gujarat is dry (though not completely - I had a tourists’ liquor licence which allowed us a nightcap in the privacy of our room).

Returning to our bungalow during the midday heat, we sat on our large veranda facing the open savanna. Later we would visit the Blackbuck Nature Reserve, but the antelopes are common throughout the region and several visited as we relaxed in the shade.

A male blackbuck keeping a wary eye on us, Blackbuck resort, Velavadar

The Blackbuck National Park

A jeep arrived to take us the short distance to the National Park near the village of Velavadar.

In the tiger sanctuaries of Nagarhole and Ranthambhore (4 ‘safaris’ 0 tigers), where you can go is dictated by the terrain, in the Little Rann of Kutch we roamed freely but the savanna of the Blackbuck Park is neatly divided into rectangular sections by well-made, though unpaved, roadways.

We sat in the back of the jeep with Vijay, who enjoys these parks and has some knowledge of local birds, while in the front was a park ranger and a driver.

The park ranger with a remarkable talent, Blackbuck National Park

I had paid the expensive camera fee and hoped for some good pictures, Lynne’s phone camera was free but I doubted it would be much use in these surroundings. How little I know! Most of the pictures that follow were taken on Lynne’s phone by the ranger. We all had binoculars and he had perfected the technique of looking through one ‘nocular’ while holding the phone to the other and taking pictures. This would be easy for four-armed Lord Shiva, but the friendly ranger appeared to be an ordinary human.

A male blackbuck and part of his harem, Blackbuck National Park

Blackbuck were not difficult to find, the grassland on both sides of the road teemed with them and deciding which group to photograph was the biggest problem.

Juvenile blackbucks, Blackbuck National Park

Nilgai (also known as blue bulls), the other common antelope in this part of India, were present in slightly smaller numbers. Much stockier and less graceful than the blackbuck the males have stumpy little horns. Fully mature males look bull-like and really are blue, the nilgai below are juvenile males.

Nilgai, Blackbuck National Park

He also photographed birds. We saw both common and demoiselle cranes, they are similar, but we saw demoiselle cranes in Mongolia in 2007 and comparing photographs I think those below are common cranes.

Common Cranes, Blackbuck National Park 

Even more impressively he captured a series of sharp images of a montagu’s harrier in flight…

Montagu's harrier, Blackbuck National Park

…while I was still fiddling with the settings on my camera.

Montagu's harrier, Blackbuck National Park

The full bird list included snake eagle, short tailed lark, crested lark (flying up like a cloud from the roadway as we drove along), partridge, flamingo, spoonbill, bay-backed shrike, green bee-eater (brightly coloured little birds, I managed a reasonable photograph in Sri Lanka, laggar falcon, white-tailed bulbul and last, but not least, the very common red-wattled lapwing – my sole contribution to these photographs in the park.

Red-wattled lapwings, Blackbuck National Park

It was not just birds and antelopes, we may have failed to see any of the resident Indian wolves, but we did see a wild dog, and caught a fleeting glimpse of a hyena, though it ducked down into the long grass before even the ranger could raise a camera. A wild pig was more cooperative…

Wild pig, Blackbuck National Park

….and yet another male blackbuck crossed the path in front of us as we headed for the exit.

A blackbuck bids us farewell as we head for the exit

Back at the Blackbuck Resort dinner was as good as the lunch, the centrepiece being a fine vegetarian thali with a mixed salad.

Vegetarian thali at the Blackbuck Resort


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Location: Velavadar
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