Gir Santuary reopens - Tourist Season 2008-09

Gir National park is the only natural ebode left for Asiatic Lions. It is situated in a western-most state of India - Gujarat & is just 65 kms away in south-east of the district headquarters - Junagadh. Gir has achieved first position among National Parks & Sanctuaries all over India this year. It gets most of the tourist flow from foreign countries, being on top priorities on anyone's list who visit India.

Every year Gir National Park gets closed for tourists during four month long monsoon period, being it the breeding period for the very few left of the Asiatic Lions. Thus, this gives optimum time for the wildlife to flourish during monsoon & thus, tourists can savour the beauty of the only habitat of Asiatic Lions all over the world, as its gates are reopened.

This year Gir National Park (incl. Devalia Park for Safari) getting opened as per schedule on 16th October 2008, Thursday. However, the issues with roads affected by heavy showers lately this monsoon season is also been under consideration by authorities. Though, these areas are not on the main routes for Safari or forest trips, but still, authorities assured the issues would be settled before the tourist season for year 2008-09 takes pace. They are also aware of the rise in number of tourists right after the festival of Mount Girnar Parikrama (a sacred trek of 35 kms around the mountain) & thus, taking the event as their deadline.

Similar reading : http://girasiaticlion.blogspot.com/2008/10/gir-reopens-for-tourists.html

For more on Asiatic Lions, pl visit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_Lions

For more on Gir Sanctuary, pl visit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Forest_National_Park

For more on these in local language, pl read : http://www.sandesh.com/sandesh_article.aspx?newsid=20261

Preparations started for Girnar Parikrama

To know what it Girnar Parikrama, pl refer :

http://junagadhtourism.blogspot.com/2008/09/girnar-parikrama.html

Preparations have been started at big scale for parikrama this year. It used to have much of tourists attraction and thus traffic, so authorities need to be prepared to serve all at their best. This year it is going to be held during 9-15 November.

The collector had called a meeting to prepare action plan for the parikrama, which aimed to facilities and security as well. The basic facility includes logistics, electricity, water & health. Also, they aimed on regularisation of auto-fare, traffic & about maintaining law & order. Like every year, it was also decided to keep watch on pressure point for the comfort of visitors. Notabely this year, tobacco & plastic pouches of water are totally banned.

Some 7 km (1/5 of the total route) of the parikrama route is more or less damaged due to heavy rains in late monsoon this year. That is also to be repaired by 5th as per decided.

Yesterday, on 13th October 2008, school-students helped authorities to collect plastic waste along the route during a cleanup. They collected more than 1000 kgs of plastic waste leaving the trek better than before. Same excercise used to be held before & after Parikrama every year.

So, Junagadh is getting prepared for one of its exclusive (& big!) celebrations, which is going to increase the population of city (0.5 million) to three-fold, of course for a week of 9-15 November!

Educational Tourism at Junagadh : JAU

Junagadh Agricultural University (formerly, Agriculture college under GAU - Gujarat Agricultural University) was set up in the year 1972, at Junagadh in the state of Gujarat, India.

JAU is known to offer knowledge, instructions and education in the field of agriculture and allied sciences viz. agriculture, agricultural engineering and fisheries. The Institute recognized by the University Grants Commission, and the courses conducted are also UGC funded.

Teaching infrastructure of the University comprises of four faculties - Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Fisheries and Post Graduate Studies.

Other Info:- Graduate programs of JAU enroll 75 students in agriculture, 50 in agricultural engineering and 30 in fisheries faculty. Post Graduate courses in agriculture science, agricultural engineering & now even in fisheries, are also conducted by the University. There are 5 Research and 11 Testing Centers within the University for the Development of new varieties/hybrids of crops, vegetables, fruits & marine products like pearl-culture.

JAU motto :- “Education, Research, Extension”

Educational Programs :- The Junagadh Agricultural University has three colleges under it - Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Fisheries. Each of these colleges offers graduate and post graduate programs in concerned discipline. The Institute offers B.Sc and M.Sc in Agriculture, B.Tech and M.Tech in Agriculture Engineering and Fisheries.

Facilities : The University has a central library serving the students of agriculture with textbooks, referrals and documentation facilities. The library is connected to the campus LAN for networking, internet browsing and e-mail facilities.

The ideal location of Junagadh in terms of high-quality production of groundnut & Kesar mango helps students to do further research.

Also, the the presence of National level institute like NRCG (National Research Centre for Groundnut) (ICAR) & CBF (Cattle Breeding Farm) gives much more practical exposure & hands-on then any other place.

The University has got its own Research station around Saurashtra peninsula, active for marine project with various research interest from pearl-culture to bio-diversity studies.

The University also has Fisheries college at one of the most active fishing harbors of India, Veraval; which has recently commenced Master's course also.

Kind of University :– State University.

Contact Details: Address : Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh - 362001, Gujarat, India. Web Site : http://www.jau.in Phone Number : +91-285-2671018

Gir prooves itself king of Tourism in Gujarat

The following information is originally an article by the leading newspaper Times of India.

(Article link (courtesy) : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Gir_is_lion_of_all_sanctuaries/articleshow/3561630.cms)

"...Of four national parks and 22 sanctuaries in Gujarat, Gir in Junagadh and Nal Sarovar in Ahmedabad district top the popularity charts among visitors. The state tourism department seems to have failed to market sanctuaries in other parts.

According to official data, Gir Asiatic lion forest reserve alone has attracted 66 per cent of tourists in Gujarat and over 80 per cent of total foreign tourists visiting the state. Officials said that if the data of Nal Sarovar and Thol bird sanctuaries and Gir are put together, other sanctuaries in the state have just attracted seven per cent of the domestic tourists visiting Gujarat for wildlife tourism.

Forest officials say that the only reason why there are not many visitors at other sanctuaries is lack of infrastructure and not many people are aware that these exist.

Besides, the Devalia interpretation zone for Asiatic Lions and Sasan Gir fall in the pilgrim circuit of Somnath and Diu, for those wishing a boozing break. Officials also say that Sasan Gir is a hot favourite among Amdavadis. "Rest of the sanctuaries are isolated and it is only nature lovers from the state who visit these sanctuaries."

Bharat Pathak, conservator of forests (Junagadh) says, "A detailed analysis is required. But the immediate reasons are the popularity and good infrastructure in Sasan Gir. The other attractions are also the large variety of birds found here."

It is notable that the number of tourists to Gir is increasing every year. Which was stupendous 15% hike last year!

Read more in local language :

http://www.sandesh.com/sandesh_article.aspx?newsid=20841

If curious, here is a nice resource on Asiatic Lions & Gir :

http://girforestguide.blogspot.com/

Hotel Information for Tourist Season 2008-09

Junagadh has been a very popular place to those who visit Gujarat. In fact, the variety of interesting places has made it one of the must visit city for travellers of all kinds, from adventurers to pilgrimage. You can keep visiting this blog for the famous and newly developing interesting tourists sites in & around Junagadh. Budget-making and tour-plannings are main part of pereparations for any tourist. & Junagadh is dotted with Hotels, Resorts & Guest-houses to accomodate you as per your budget! In this post, we would like to present you a teriff-summery for some of the hotels in Junagadh, pl benefit & keep commenting... Notes: - All the information is given for tourist season 2007-08 (December-April) - All the teriff is given approx, yet we tried to keep it most accurate - It is always advisable to check information, by contacting personally - This is just for referrence & we take no responsibility behalf of anyone - The names are given alphabatically- All the fare are in Indian Rupees (INR), exclusive of tax, for 24 hrs, with chekout time 10am/12pm in general Hotel Anand Bus Station Road Ph: +91 285 2630657 Categories> Fare 2-Bed (non AC)> 400 2-Bed (AC)> 500 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Leo Resorts Girnar Taleti Road Ph: +91 285 2652844 Categories> Fare Delux> 2080 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel National Kalwa Chowk (cross-roads) Ph: +91 285 2620736 Categories> Fare 2-Bed> 300 4-Bed> 450 AC> 725 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel New Somnath Railway Station road Ph: +91 285 2627574 Fax: +91 285 2650919 Categories> Fare (Single Bed/Double Bed) Non AC(regular)> 300/350 Non AC(Delux)> 400/450 AC Delux> 650/700 AC suit> 750/600 - charges per extra person: non AC 150, AC 200 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Paramount Kalwa Chowk (cross-roads) Ph: +91 285 2650582 Categories> Fare (Single Bed/Double Bed) Non AC(regular)> 300/400 Non AC(Delux)> 350/500 AC Delux> 550/700 Super Delux> 700/900 Presidential Suit> 800/1100 - charges per extra person: non AC 100, AC 200 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel President Railway Station road Ph: +91 285 2625661 Categories> Fare (Single Bed/Double Bed) Non AC(Delux)> -/400 AC(Delux)> 700/750 AC Delux 101> 900/950 - charges per extra person: non AC 100, AC 200 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Shikhar Palace Jayshree Cinema Road Ph: +91 285 2626596 Categories> Fare Non AC(Delux)> 500 AC Delux> 800 Super Delux> 1100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Somnath Railway Station road Ph: +91 285 2625655/2624645 Categories> Fare (Single Bed/Double Bed) Non AC(regular)> 300-350/450-500 AC (regular)> 550/650 AC Delux> 650-700/750-900 AC Suit> 900/1200 - charges per extra person: non AC 100, AC 150 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Vishala In front of GSRTC Central Bus Station Ph: +91 285 2631599/2633106 Web: http://www.hotelvishala.com/ email: hotelvishala@gmail.com Categories> Fare (Off season/Tourist season) Non AC> 500/750 AC (delux)> 700/1000 AC (standard)> 1000/1500 AC Suit> 1500/2000 - Off season: Feb-Sep / Tourist season: Oct-Jan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Lotus Hotel Railway Station road Ph: +91 285 2658500/1/2 Fax: +91 285 2658503 web: http://www.thelotushotel.com/ email: info@thelotushotel.com Categories> Fare (Single Bed/Double Bed) Standard> 800/1050 Delux> 1000/1250 Super Delux> 1200/1550 Luxury> -/1750 - charges per extra person: 250