Gujarat – World Travel

Veraval Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:01:11 +0000

Veraval is cluttered and chaotic, and smells strongly of fish – not surprising given that it’s one of India’s major fishing ports (nearly 4000 boats work from here) and its busy harbour is full of bustle and boat building. On the south coast of Saurashtra, Veraval was the major seaport for Mecca pilgrims before the rise of Surat. In the west of town is the eerie Old Nawab’s Palace (closed to public). The main reason to come here is to visit the Temple of Somnath, 6km to the east.

JP Travels International (220110) changes travellers cheques and cash. The State Bank of Saurashtra (221266) will also change these on occasion. Magnet Cyber Café (Chandra-Mauli Complex; per hr Rs 25; 9.30am-midnight), in the same building as Hotel Ustav, allows you to slowly surf the internet. There’s an HFDC ATM near the municipal gardens.

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Velavadar National Park Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:01:13 +0000

This beautiful, off-the-beaten-track, 34-sq-km park (Indian/foreigner Rs 10/250, car Rs 20/250, 4hr guide Rs 30/250, camera Rs 5/250, video Rs 200/2500; 7.30am-6pm 15 Oct-15 Jun), 65km north of Bhavnagar, encompasses large areas of pale, custard-coloured grassland stretching between two seasonal rivers.

It’s famous for its blackbucks, beautiful, fast creatures, with around 3500 in and around the park, which sport elegant spiralling horns – as long as 65cm in mature males. It’s also good for spotting birds such as wintering harriers, and the strange nilgai, which look half-horse, half-cow. You can explore by car or by walking. Local guides don’t tend to speak English.

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Vadodara Baroda Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:01:19 +0000

Vadodara (or Baroda as it’s often known) is a cultured, harmonious university town 100km southeast of Ahmedabad, which explodes into life during festival season. The impressive museum, overwrought Indo-Saracenic palace and beautiful Tambekar Wada can be visited in a day or two, but the main reason for coming here is the nearby, wonderful Unesco World Heritage site Champaner, with its mosques lost in the landscape.

Prior to Independence, Vadodara was the capital of the princely Gaekwad state, and today prides itself as an educational centre, and home to the sprawling MS University.

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Surat Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:01:37 +0000

On the Tapti River, Surat is a busy commercial centre for textiles and diamonds. It’s long attracted outsiders: Parsis settled here in the 12th century, it later became a vital Mughal port and transit point for Mecca, and in 1613 was the first English settlement in India.

Once India’s chief trading port, it declined when the East India Company shifted to Bombay. In 1994, there was an outbreak of the plague, and it was rated as India’s filthiest city. Big cleanups have reportedly left it the second cleanest and healthiest (after Chandigarh). You might be inclined to rate it most exhausting and noisy, but travellers with an interest in colonial history might be tempted to stop.

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Somnath Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:01:06 +0000

Somnath consists of a few streets leading away from its phoenix-like temple. The rugged sea below gives it a lonely, wistful charm. The pilgrim trade is constant, but merchants are surprisingly relaxed – perhaps in deference to the shadows cast by the awe-inspiring temple.

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Saurashtra Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:01:16 +0000

Saurashtra, also known as the Kathiawar peninsula, is the poster child for Gujarati diversity. Never part of British India, it consisted of 200 separate princely states until Independence during which time the laid-back landowners had amassed considerable feudal wealth. Head to toe in white, with turbans, pleated jackets and jodhpurs, and huge, golden stud earrings, these men are marvels of modern India, while the rural women are as colourful as those of Rajasthan and wear embroidered backless cholis and heavy jewellery. City folk, meanwhile, continue to be hard-at-it and industrious.

Saurashtra has a reputation for being fond of its sleep, and siesta takes place from at least 1pm to 3pm. Traffic moves slower than the flowery fields grow, and the sea breeze is never far away.

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Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:01:17 +0000

The last refuge of the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) is 59km from Junagadh via Visavadar. The rugged, hilly, 1400-sq-km sanctuary feels beguilingly uncommercial, and encompasses some beautiful forested land. It was set up to protect lions and their habitat: since 1980 numbers have increased from fewer than 200 to an estimated 325 in May 2004 – a trend unheard of in modern India. However, while lions have been lucky, the distinctively dressed local maaldharis (herders), a devout, nomadic community, have lost valuable grazing land. In recent years the lions have been wandering outside the limits of the sanctuary in search of easy game – namely calves. One ended up on the beaches of Diu! The problem is compounded by the declining areas of forest outside the sanctuary, forcing villagers to forage for fuel within its precincts, reducing the lions’ habitat.

Sasan Gir is not big enough for the number of lions, but moves by the Madhya Pradesh government to transfer 200 lions to the Pulpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh were unceremoniously canned by the Gujarat government, and there are no concrete plans to address the difficulties caused by the competition for scarce resources.

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Rajkot Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:01:35 +0000

This former capital of the princely state of Saraushtra has matured into the second city of Gujarati affairs. Once a base for the Western States British government office, Rajkot rapidly expanded into a prosperous, lively business centre, with an evocative old city. It’s also a testament to modern Gujarat, where farmers sell ghee on street corners, and mall-dressed young professionals race to lunch through lanes selling fresh produce.

Mahatma Gandhi lived here; you can visit his family home.

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Porbandar Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:01:00 +0000

The port town of Porbandar, located between Veraval and Dwarka, is famed as the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. This friendly beachside town on the southeast coast is Gujarat now builds its reputation on cement and soda ash, and is well off the tourist map. You can’t swim here due to rough, repugnant seas; in fact, you can’t do much except stroll the tree-lined streets enjoying the invigorating sea breeze, visit the former house of the loin-clothed fakir, or pay respects at a neighbouring shrine. Back towards Jynbeeli bridge you’ll find some lovely mangroves replete with birdlife.

In ancient times, the city was called Sudamapuri after Sudama, a compatriot of Krishna, and there was once a flourishing trade from here to Africa and the Gulf. The Africa connection is apparent in the number of African-Indians, known as Siddis, who form a separate caste of Dalits.

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Palitana Gujarat India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:01:11 +0000

The hustling, bustling town of Palitana, 51km southwest of Bhavnagar, has grown up to serve the pilgrim trade around Shatrunjaya.

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