Rajkot: Plan your lion safari tour inside Girnar wildlife sanctuary which rolled off on Tuesday as part of Republic Day celebration. The safari will take you 13km inside the jungles till Paturan on the route that will start from Indreshwar, which is adjoining Junagadh city.
The safari destination will be well connected by rail and road and it also will ease the burden of tourists on Sasan, said authorities. The Girnar region that is home to 300 species of birds besides lions and other wild animals was declared wildlife sanctuary in 2008. Talking to TOI, Sunil Berwal, deputy conservator of forest, Junagadh said, “It’s a completely new place for lion sightings. There will be four trips in the morning and four in the evening. Very soon, tickets for this safari will be made available online.” Currently, the bookings are available at Indreshwar. The forest department, which had been toying with the idea of opening this route for safari for the last few years, has selected guides from the villages that fall under the eco-sensitive zones en route the sanctuary.
According to the forest department the safari will remained closed during Girnar Parikrama and Shivratri fair as lakhs of pilgrims visit Junagadh during these two festivals.