What to do and see in Gujarat, India: The Best National Parks

April 24, 2022 Enriqueta Cusson

The state of Bombay was divided into two states i.e. Maharashtra and Gujarat by the Bombay (Reorganisation) Act 1960
Restaurants in Gujarat

1. Narara Marine National Park

Near Vadinar, 361010 India
Excellent
64%
Good
28%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 169 reviews

Narara Marine National Park

Reviewed By mirathod - Bangalore District, India

Place is located near vadinar. Nearest city is jamnagar which is around 40-50 kms away. Best time to visit this place is early morning because sea water is very less and you will see most of sea animals like octopus, star fish, jelly fish, crabs etc. Better to hire guide so that they will help you find sea animals. Place is quite peaceful and should be visited with friends and family on weekends.

2. Blackbuck National Park

Circle, Near Ch - 3 Sector-10 A, Bhavnagar 364313 India +91 99297 30786 [email protected]
Excellent
53%
Good
31%
Satisfactory
11%
Poor
3%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 74 reviews

Blackbuck National Park

Reviewed By Escape181718 - Ahmedabad, India

Had a great experience of Grasslands . Black bucks was the beauty and heart beat of place besides local birds and animals. Mr Amit of Blackbuck Safarai Lodge was a great guide cum driver.

3. Little Rann of Kutch

Thar Desert, Kutch India +91 90994 42888 http://www.littlerann.com
Excellent
52%
Good
45%
Satisfactory
2%
Poor
0%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 85 reviews

Little Rann of Kutch

Reviewed By BhaveshR85 - Mumbai, India

One the best place to see Peregrine Falcon, Mcqueen;s Bustard, Imperial Eagle, Harries, Flamingos and many many more birds. Last refuge for Wild Ass. Sunset is the best here. Can contact www.wild-india.in for wildlife tours here.

4. Velavadar Black Buck National Park

Adhelai-Velavadar Link Road, Velavadar 364313 India https://bhavnagar.nic.in/tourist-place/velavadar-black-buck-national-park/
Excellent
65%
Good
25%
Satisfactory
9%
Poor
0%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 102 reviews

Velavadar Black Buck National Park

Reviewed By AlgarveMon - Albufeira, Portugal

Went on both morning & late afternoon safaris. No rushing and bustle of other vehicles as in other parks. Drivers & guides extremely attentive and knowledgeable, which resulted us seeing a wide collection of Birds & mammals which included, several large & small raptors, owls, water birds and many others. Also a family of 5 wolves, 2 hyenas, fox, Nilgai and of course, several hundred Black Buck. Don’t forget your binoculars to get the best out of your time in the park.

5. Janki Van Forest

Vasda Unai Road, Bhinar 396590 India
Excellent
67%
Good
33%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 3 reviews

Janki Van Forest

Janki Van is a planned forest developed by the Gujarat Social Forestry Department. Spread over 10 acres, Janki Van is all set to become the next-big-thing in the Gujarat tourism circuit. Located in the village of Bhinar near Vansda, the forest has been designed on the Ramayana theme. Janki Van has 50,000 trees of different species, thus claiming the title of ‘tree library’ amongst the Surat visit

6. Althan National Park

Mahabir Nagar, Gandhi Nagar 4.11 Away from Center of Nanpura, Surat India
Excellent
27%
Good
67%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
6%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 15 reviews

Althan National Park

7. Devalia Safari Park

Malia Sasan Road, Sasan Gir, Gir National Park 362135 India 02877-285621 [email protected] https://girlion.gujarat.gov.in/AboutDevalia.aspx
Excellent
34%
Good
33%
Satisfactory
26%
Poor
4%
Terrible
3%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 409 reviews

Devalia Safari Park

Reviewed By NEERAJKUMR - Ahmedabad, India

Its a good place to go with kids. I suggest don't waste safari jeep to see this place. take a bus and it would be a wonderful experience as well. We need three hours jeep safari in GIR and was lucky to see tigress. Just to give our child an experience we once again went to Devaliya. Ticket you can book online. Bus ticket is Rs.150/- and you can book at counter also. Its an half an tour. They will show you one lion and lioness for sure. Also you can see cheetah and Neil guy. The trip is worth the bus ticket. You can also sit in the entry gate where they have maintained it very well. Souvenir shop is there as well. Food restaurant is also there. Do stop over at local restaurants when you come out of the park and enjoy tea etc. They keep rabbits etc. for kids to play with.

8. Sasan Gir National Park

Sinh Sadan Gir Somnath District Sasan Road, Sasan Gir, Gir National Park 362135 India +91 88601 25900 [email protected] http://www.sasangirnationalpark.com/index.html
Excellent
53%
Good
29%
Satisfactory
12%
Poor
4%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 975 reviews

Sasan Gir National Park

The Gir National Park is open from Mid - October onwards till mid June & The Devaliya Safari park (Gir Interpretation Zone) is open throughout the year. The Devalia Safari Park closed on every wednesday.

Reviewed By aadeeshd - Mumbai, India

About National Park: Gir is the last remaining abode of the Asiatic Lion and one of the most successful wildlife conservation projects of India. The forest is spread across Junagadh and Amreli districts. It covers approximately 1,883 square kilometers of area. National park is part of 1,412 square kilometers protected area and covers 259 square kilometers. The forest is dry deciduous teak forest and is dry for most of the year except monsoons. Flora & Fauna: The forest has more than 400 species of plant, 38 species of mammals, 300 species of birds and 37 species of reptiles. Main carnivores of Gir are Asiatic lion, Leopard, Jungle cat, Hyena, Jackal and Mongoose. The main herbivores are Chital, Nilgai, Sambar, Four-horned antelope and Chinkara. Chital, Sambar, Peacocks and Monkeys are easily spotted during the safari. How to reach National Park: Train: Junagadh and Veraval are nearest railway stations. You can book a cab from the station to Sasan Gir. Air: Rajkot is the nearest airport. You can book a cab from Rajkot to Sasan Gir. National Park Timing: Gir Jungle Trail is closed from 16th June to 15th Oct every year. For rest of the year there are two morning safaris from 6 AM to 9 AM, from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM and one evening safari from 3 PM to 6 PM. You can enter the forest in an open gypsy that can be booked at the reception center. It is highly advisable to book entry permit online well in advance as only 50 permits are allocated for each safari. Each permit allows 6 adults and one child. You need to carry print out of the e-permit and original ID proof that is used during booking of the e-permit. Once you report at the reception center at the reporting time you have to stand in a queue to get the print out and ID authenticated. One gypsy, route and guide is allocated at the center per permit. There are 13 routes, each route is almost 35 kms. Gypsy, guide and camera fees has to be paid in cash. The safari can be booked at girlion(d0t)gujarat(d0t)gov(d0t)in. Please select Gir Jungle Trail option. My experience: We visited Sasan Gir National Park on 23nd Feb 2019. This was my second trip, I had last visited in April 2012. I always prefer and recommend to opt an overnight train from Mumbai to travel to Sasan Gir. We boarded Saurashtra mail from Borivali at 10 pm on 21st Feb, 2019. It is a fifteen hours journey from Mumbai to Junagadh. We reached Junagadh at 1 pm. You can have lunch near Junagadh railway station at any of the famous Gujrathi thali places – The Lotus restaurant, The Janta Lodge, Petals Restaurant or Geeta Lodge. As Ola/Uber services are not available in Junagadh, I will recommend to book a cab in advance. One way AC cab till Sasan Gir can be booked at Rs. 2,000. To book, call Manoj - +916352012621. It is a one and half hours smooth drive from Junagadh to Sassan Gir. At Sasan Gir always prefer to stay near Sinh Sadan as there is no local transportation available. You can request the hotel reception to arrange a pick up and drop. We stayed at Amidhara Resort in Sasan Gir. The gypsy driver charged additional Rs. 400 for pickup and drop. Our first morning safari was on 23rd Feb 2019. We reached the national park reception center at 5:45 am. There are souvenir shops, breakfast joints and toilets at the reception center. After all formalities we entered the forest at 6:20 am. We were allocated route no 13. While I was completing the formalities, my wife could hear a lion roar near the reception center. It is very common for the lions to come out of the forest. Till sunrise it was pitch dark in the forest and we couldn’t even see deer and sambars. If you are lucky, you can spot hyenas when it is dark. In almost half an hour we reached Kamaleshwar Dam watch tower. We can get down at this point and climb the watch tower. If you are lucky, you can spot crocodiles in the dam. We watched sunrise and left the spot. After almost an hour a jackal came running towards our gypsy. In just a few minutes, we saw a huge lioness sitting just along the road. The lioness wasn’t bothered by our presence. In fact, in sometime she came very close to our gypsy and sat next to it. We clicked few good pictures and left the spot. A few meters away we saw a lion sun bathing. He was sitting few meters away from the road. We waited for a couple of minutes and thanks to our luck he walked towards us and crossed the road. There was one more lioness sitting nearby. He started roaring after seeing the lioness. We left the spot at 8:30 am and came out of the forest at 9 am. The afternoon safari started at 3:20 PM. It was very hot and it is advisable to carry a cap and scarf for afternoon safari. Forest department has built lot of water holes in the forest for animals. There is a high chance of spotting lions around these water holes, especially in afternoon safaris. Lions prefer to sleep in afternoon, hence leopards venture out to hunt. We spotted two young crocodiles, female nilgai, two lionesses and cubs. We were surprised to see a group of forest rangers peacefully having their lunch just hundred meters away from a sleeping lioness and a cub. The safari ended at 6 PM and we were back to our resort by 6:15 PM.

9. Vansda National Park

Vansda- Waghai Rd., 394710 India https://www.gujarattourism.com/destination/details/12/130
Excellent
25%
Good
17%
Satisfactory
33%
Poor
17%
Terrible
8%
Overall Ratings

3.5 based on 12 reviews

Vansda National Park

Reviewed By nish_vin - Mumbai, India

I visited this place with a few friends. We reached evening around 4:30 - 5 pm, as we planned to reach in day light. We took tent accomodation at Kilad Campsite, which is like 1 km from National park entry gate. While we realized, campsite had rooms accomodation as well, and it is very beautiful as room windows open upon Ambika river which flows next to campsite. Evening we enjoyed the campsite location, it's a clean, green, riverside site. It also has a small park for children's play area and even adults can sit and laze around. We missed carrying bat/ball or football along. Next morning we got up by 7am types and visited riverside. It was winter and experience was chilling and teeth chattering. Stream had water flowing, though scanty, and there was dense fog cover over the surface of stream. Stream had lot of rocks which allowed us to sit and hang around the place and spend some pleasant time. There is also a small 'baandh' over the stream at same location, where too you can spend some time around. Selfie/photography kings and queens would enjoy this spot to core. Breakfast is available at some stalls put up by villagers, just before entering the National park. Breakfast and tea is good here, particularly winter makes the hot tea and b'fast very desirable. After breakfast, we visited National park on foot. We walked pretty deep into forest, almost 4-5kms. It was one awesome experience. Nature is undisturbed. Trees are thick and tall. There are few villages inside park which you pass by while strolling the park and you keep wondering, how blessed these villagers are to live in the Nature's lap. There is a watch tower after 4-5kms, which we penned down as our spot of return as walking started to get tiresome. (Personal vehicle is allowed inside, however, we wanted to feel nature upclose and walked). One can spend some leisurely time at watch tower chit-chatting with friends n all. While one's not in group, either with soulmates or family, too can spend good time here. We actually also took a power nap here. There are some toffee sized bees, spiders and other insects here, so stay little attentive. Watch tower halt served as a good rest stop, post which, we started returning back to campsite. We reached back to campsite by 3 pm types where we had lunch provided by village ladies. Lunch too was very tasty and you have to order it to co-ordinator in morning itself before leaving for park. Whenever I search a National park for my next outing, this spot never pops up. Our visit to this place was pretty memorable one. It's a peaceful, neat and clean, green and serene place. Truely 'An Off beat Hidden Gem'. Mamuli toh tumhari bachpan kee gali mai kaa wah nukkad, wah katta bhi thaa, Fir bhi param jeevan tumhe yaadgaar hai, Kyunki usme thee kuch dost, kuch masti, ek local ambience aur pyaar.

10. Bharthana National Park

Mahabir Nagar Gandhi Nagar, Surat 395007 India
Excellent
31%
Good
62%
Satisfactory
8%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 13 reviews

Reviewed By NupurS123456

Full of natural beauty p, very big and beautiful in size with lots of birds singing make this place good

ThingsTodoPost © 2018 - 2024 All rights reserved.