17/10/19 : Khijadiya Bird Sanctury,

17/10/19 : Khijadiya Bird Sanctury,

Travelled early morning, took along packed breakfast from the hotel, to Khijadiya Bird Sanctury, 12 Kms from Jamnagar. We had pay entrance tax as well as for guide to take us around the place. Sanctuary is divided into 2 major parts of marshlands, mainly dividing salt water and fresh water marshlands, hence you can find both sea and shore birds. Migration of birds has just started but the best season is from Dec to Feb where you get to see more birds than trees. We got to see ducks, ibis, commorants, darters, Siberian cranes etc. We walked in hot sun along with the guide 4 kms stretch land. Good experience.

Bird lovers would go crazy looking out for birds in the air, trees and in the water.  You need to carry binocular, water , walking shoes and cap

Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary

The sanctuary is unique having both fresh water lakes, salt and freshwater marshlands. It is spread over an area of 6.05 km Before Indian independence, a check dam was built for storing the waters of river Ruparel just before it entered the sea. Over the years with fresh water of the rain and river on one side and salt water of the sea on the other side, a unique area was formed here. On the other side of the bund large creeks flowing from the Gulf of Kutch are located. These creeks support mangroves and other marine vegetation while on land side of the sanctuary inland vegetation like Deshi babul, Pilu, Prosopis and others are found profusely. The sanctuary is located at the watershed of Ruparel river and Kalindri at the North East coastal region of Jamnagar district in the Gulf of Kutch and has a very special and unique ecosystem. Further, as sanctuary is located near Narara Island, therefore it also has a beautiful and bio-diversified coral reef. It is also a good place to capture a perfect sunrise and sunset. One can find both sea and shore birds, Every year over a hundreds of migratory birds species visit here to feed. Among the other wildlife found here are blue bull, jackal, wolf, jungle cat, mongoose, Indian hare and snakes.

All the types of nests can be seen here, the ones on tree, on ground and floating nests on water. Varieties of ducks make floating nests. For instance, the black-necked storks, which are not found easily anywhere in India, are found here in abundance.

We returned tired and went back to hotel where we had lunch and then rest.  Again Mustak invited us to join him in the evening to explore the marshland near the Rozie port area.  We went in our car, he came and joined us in his  Royal Enfield. 

We saw Hanuman and also Durga temples in ruins, but we were not allowed to photograph but in the courtyard we got see her vahan, the tigers.

It was a different scene itself to see the sea, marshland, sunset and also flamingos.  You landed in a different world.  We returned tired but peaceful.

Again we went off to the market place to gallavant and shop around Supermarket, where there are small small shops selling cotton wares and other items. Returned back tired but had a lovely time in Jamnagar.  We had our dinner in the hotel which served non-veg food and it was delicious.