Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary in Little Rann of Kutch

A herd of Indian wild asses should have been a common sight in India but that is not the current scenario as they were in very less numbers. So we had to travel thousands of kilometers to see a herd of these gorgeous Indian wild asses in Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch.

After spending some good time in the waters of Nalsarovar we headed to Little Rann of Kutch in our Gujarat Road Trip. We had booked a hotel in Patdi which is located around 70 kms from Nalsarovar. Our plan was to visit Wild Ass Sanctuary in Little Rann of Kutch and do some casual birding outside the sanctuary. When we reached near Patdi, we saw a different temple with many unique sculptures and there was a small pond next to that temple with lots of waterbirds. We decided to come back to that pond after some quick refreshment in the hotel as we had crossed many dusty roads. We were not very confident about the hotel we had booked in this place , so we felt reassured when we saw many other guests with full wildlife gear. After drinking some tasty lassi, we went back to the pond. In the evening light we saw Ruddy shelducks, Greylag geese and few other waders.

Plovers are always lovely to watch. This Kentish plover was continuously pecking the ground and moving very quickly as if some wheels were tied to its legs.

While watching the birds, we heard some loud crackers from the temple. Out of curiosity, we decided to visit that Shakti Mata temple. The temple was full of lights and the statues were very different from the South Indian temples. The goddesses were having handbags and shining with their ornaments. A child god was drawn with lots of birds , so I have to say it was quite an interesting evening for us.

Wildlife Safari in LRK

Next day very early morning we headed to the ticket counter of Wild Ass Sanctuary. It was cold and very dark and there was no signs of opening the gates anytime soon. So we just waited in car and watched a petty shop which was opened even at that time. To our despair, a kid came to that shop in that early hour and bought a packet of chips. Vinod went to the shopkeeper and confirmed whether we were waiting at the right place, which he confirmed to our relief. After few minutes, the shopkeeper closed the shop. We were confused like “why did he open so early and why did he already close it”. He went inside his house which was behind his shop and came back with a small watercan. Few others also joined him and each with their own cans. Then only we realized they were going to do “Swach Bharat”. We couldn’t stop laughing to see this methodical early morning duty by a group of people. By this time two more cars joined us.

So what is the Entry Fee ? A Sanctuary which attracts international tourists should have a board in English. For a government which promotes tourism this is not the right thing to do.

Finally, the door was opened and we were the first one to get the tickets. We knew guide is mandatory in the park and we thought they would be waiting near the ticket counter for the forest officials to pick and assign like in Velavadar. But we didn’t seem to find anyone there, so when the forest official asked us who is our guide, we had no answer. The other two people in the queue had come down with their big cameras and pre-arranged guide. So they all got their tickets and started off. The forest official then called a guide and that guy was already booked, so he arranged an amateur guide for us.

We love to help local people who gets involved with wildlife in their area but the problem with birding guides nowadays is commercialization. Most bird photographers cannot spot a bird on their own, so they need spoon feeding. So for the big gear birders without a bird guide nothing can be done. Our style of birding is totally different , so we take a guide only when the park mentions it as mandatory and we are happy if the guide knows his terrain.

One of the big aspects of wildlife watching is the unpredictability that comes with it but with a guide who already knows the location of a bird that aspect is removed altogether.

So when a small boy came with us as a guide to Wild Ass Sanctuary, we didn’t complain. We went back to the main road and drove into the Wild Ass Sanctuary with a big board at the entrance. The Sanctuary is a very huge place to put an exact boundary. Once we entered inside the sanctuary, we were treated with total change in the scenery.

As Sunrise lovers, we had seen sunrises in beaches, mountains and deserts. But that was the first time we had seen a sunrise in a barren land. It looked like there was nothing in between us and Sun!

The Wild Ass Sanctuary is spread across and there is no well laid path inside the sanctuary. This gave all the tourists an opportunity to drive around the park in all directions. There were zigzag tracks everywhere and we didn’t want to put new track in that place. So Vinod just traced existing tracks and the guide also helped us in directions. Initially there was a small waterbody with lots of water bird activities. We got tempted to stop there but since that was the right time for raptors which we didn’t want to miss it and just drove across.

In the waterbody , on the first sight it looked like there were just cormorants and egrets. But we saw many Waders, Dalmatian Pelicans, Lesser Flamingos, Pied Avocets and many other water birds in this small waterbody.

We did make a lot of unnecessary stops though as I thought all the small mud rocks were some raptors. The place was just wide open barren land with just few bunds here and there. Occasionally we saw a shrub where shrike and drongo were sitting on it. After some drive , I spotted a raptor sitting on a Prosopis juliflora and we were all very enthusiastic to see the raptor closer. When we went closer, we realized it was the Common Kestrel. This happened few more times and when we were about to lose hope, Vinod spotted a tiny speck on a bund. He was very confident that was Peregrine Falcon and surprisingly it was.

The Peregrine Falcon! He is one of the most wanted raptors in birding community. We had seen this gorgeous falcon few times but this is the first time we saw him closely and in a terrain meant for him.

We had seen the Peregrine Falcon in few other places but it looked more beautiful in this terrain. After seeing the terrain of Wild Ass Sanctuary I was hopeless that we could spot any raptor in that wide open land. Now we had spotted Peregrine Falcon , I got my confidence back. We drove further more and stopped when we saw Wild Asses. They were just standing without doing anything and we had no clue what they got to eat in the barren land. Later we learnt that they feed on saline vegetation and pods of Prosopis juliflora. They are one of the fastest animals in India. Once they lived throughout Northwestern India but now they are only in this Wild Ass Sanctuary. That is pretty sad to know these very innocent species are also in Near threatened status.

A pair of Wild Asses were casually roaming around the park. They just stared at us and continued their walk.

Like I always say, we don’t feel elated when we see a rare species. Instead , we feel guilty that these beautiful, innocent wild creatures were pushed to Near threatened, endangered categories because of human activities. How I felt when I saw the Piping Plover in North Manitou many years before, the same thought came back.

By this time the sun was blazing but unlike our expectations the of a very hot weather in this Kutch area , the weather was considerably cooler. That was a big plus in our Gujarat Road Trip as we were able to stay outside the entire day. We drove in few more directions and Vinod spotted Eastern Imperial Eagle. Vinod was on full swing that day as he spotted all the raptors from quite a distance while driving very carefully on the mud road. The Eastern Imperial Eagle looked very majestic in that morning light and muddy ground. It had a direct eye contact with us but was not bothered about our presence.

Eastern Imperial Eagle is one of the majestic large birds of prey. We were delighted to see this raptor sitting on a bund and watching over.

After we had a good look on the Eastern Imperial Eagle we decided to return back to the waterbody inside the sanctuary. We saw few more wild asses before reaching the waterbody.

The waterbody was buzzing with activity and we saw Lesser Flamingos flying here and there. We had missed Lesser Flamingos in Pulicat Lake, so we were glad to see them here. The Pied Avocets were also in good number but we had seen them very closely in Chennai Pallikaranai Marsh area. The Lesser Flamingos were as graceful as the Greater Flamingos and I really enjoyed watching them. Flamingos can never bore you.

Flamingos are always mesmerizing especially when they dance. I love the way they fly and eat. These were Lesser Flamingos which was a lifer for us!

We decided to come for evening safari but maybe in a different route. It was around 11 AM when we finished the morning safari, so we dropped the guide and just roamed around to see the birds on the roadside.  We had many interesting sightings on the electrical wire itself. We were hopeful that in the evening safari we could sight more raptors as we now had a good look on the terrain. We started to the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the evening and on the way we had a surprise sighting. We saw a raptor sitting on a barren land and when looked closely thru camera we knew it was Merlin. We were delighted at our sighting and were excitedly continued our drive for the evening Safari. But the evening turned out to be a disaster as there was slight drizzling and lightning at distance. We could not drive inside the Wild Ass Sanctuary if the floor got wet even with little rain.

Merlin was a surprise sighting for us! Little Rann of Kutch is really the best place for raptors in India.

So we skipped the evening safari and next day morning we went around the neighborhood waterbodies. The roads were very good in few places but suddenly all the road disappears and just mud road appears. We didn’t continue our drive in the road as the local villagers were giving a strange look to us for trying to use a road,  where by the looks of it,  only cattle go. This happened few times in our Gujarat road trip where the Google Map showed us a perfect route but there was no road in the final stretch. 

I never expected that I will see Eurasian wryneck on an electrical line. That was another surprise sighting in our LRK birding.

So we stuck to the proper roads but even those yielded good results. We had good sightings of Eurasian wryneck, Humes whitethroat, Wire-tailed Swallow and many other small birds on the roadsides itself. So we explored few other roads and then started our long drive to Bhuj.

Good

Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary is spread across 4954 sq.km, which is quite big in the caders of Indian Sanctuaries.

Bad

Exploitation of natural resources in the form of mining.

Ugly

While exploitation of natural resources can be temporary, the damage done by water management was permanent. That will ultimately change the terrain. Even though these lands look barren, this land support wide variety of wild beings. This water management could change everything.