Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks of Gujarat

Gujarat has 1600 km long coastal line which has given it a significant benefit over commerce and trade. Not only the coastal line prosperity but Gujarat also has affluent woodlands which has enabled wild creatures to sustain and grow in shadow of nature. To protect and nurture the wild animals, central government has made special amendments for their protection and banned hunting; trafficking or any sort of commercial activities which may endanger lives of wild animals. Such specially protected forests, landscapes and gardens are popularly known as sanctuaries or national parks where harassing, killing or stealing the wild creatures is a punishable offense.

Gujarat has many wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. The majorly known National parks are:

• Gir forest national park, Junagadh

  

  Lions in Gir National Park

  Gir forest national park is the widest national park in Gujarat, covering an area of approx 258.71 km². This is the home ground of Asiatic Lion. Along with the lions, the other major wild animals seen here are leopard, chausingha, spotted dear, hyena, sambhar deer, chinkara, etc. Gir also has the sanctuary where chital, sambar, crocodiles, birds, etc are found.

• Blackbuck national park, Velavadar

  

  Black Buck National Park, Velavadar

  A small national park just having area of 34.08 km² is situated in the Bhavnagar district. This is mainly known for lesser florican, Macqueen’s bustard, blackbuck & fox.

• Marine national park & marine sanctuary, Gulf of Kutch

  A marine national park situated near Jamnagar, which conserves many aquatic creatures like starfish, lobster, dolphin, dugong, pearl oyster, sea horse, jelly fish, sponges, corals, etc and a lot more. It approximately covers 162.89 km²

• Vansda national park, Navsari

  The smallest national park of Gujarat state, just having area of 23.99 km².  Despite of smallest national park, one cannot neglect the beauty and prosperity in terms of wild creatures available here. It is mainly crammed with leopard, chausingha, hyena and spotted deer.

Apart from these national parks, Gujarat also has really various wildlife sanctuaries full of life and wild animals with a huge variety in their species, sub species etc. Some of them are as follows:

• Desert wild life sanctuary & wild ass sanctuary, Kutch

  

  Wild Ass sanctuary, Kutch

  The biggest sanctuary of the state, covering approx 7506.22+ km²    The major part is the desert and barren land; still there is a rich ecosystem here. Here, you can find majorly, onager (wildass – ઘુડખર), chinkara, fox, flamingo, pelicans, hyena, nilgai, wolf, waterfowl, herpetofauna, etc a lot more.

• Shoolpaneshwar wildlife sanctuary, Narmada

  This sanctuary is situated in southern Gujarat belt in Narmada District. 607.70 km²  area is full of sloth bear, leopard, pangolin, barking deer, etc and some birds like Alexandrian parkeet, etc and lot other creatures.

• Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary, Kutch

  23 km²  wide belt is specially reserved for the desert cat, desert fox, hyena, green day, chinkara, jackal and many species of birds.

• Barda wildlife sanctuary, Porbandar & Jamnagar

  This is sanctuary is comparatively medium in size, just 192.31 km²  in area but an epicentre of some rare animals like blue bull, wild boar, jackal, etc. Also there are leopard, hyena and birds in the sanctuary.

• Jessore Sloth bear sanctuary, Banaskantha

  66 km²  wide sanctuary is mainly known for sloth bear, leopard, hyena, etc. There are herpetofauna and birds are also present in this sanctuary.

• Purna wildlife sanctuary, Dang

  This sanctuary is very scenic and really a beautiful landscape. This is full of nature and life. Barking deer, macaques, four horned antelopes, etc are the main attractions of this sanctuary; also there is a presence of other animals like leopard, sambhar, hyena, birds, etc. This sanctuary covers approximate 160.8  km²

• Nal sarovar bird sanctuary, Ahmedabad & Surendranagar

  

  Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary

  82 km²  area is kept reserved specially for birds. A huge variety of domestic and international birds are seen here. Some of them are flamingos, pelicans, coot, ducks, waders, storks, etc. Also found herons, waterfowl, herpetofauna and a lot more.

• Khijadiya bird sanctuary, Jamnagar

  This is very small sanctuary, only 6.05 km²  area but still giving a tough competition to other bird sanctuaries across the country; it has anthology of very rare and damn beautiful birds like Indian skimmer, ibises, painted storks, etc. It is also having the various species of cormorants, spoonbill, herpetofauna and other 220+ species of various birds.

The testimony doesn’t finish here; apart from the major sanctuaries mentioned above, Gujarat has many other sanctuaries like Porbandar bird sanctuary, Kutch bustard sanctuary, Gaga wildlife sanctuary, Hingolgadh nature education sanctuary, Thol wildlife sanctuary, Rampara wilde life sanctuary, Pania wildlife sanctuary, Ratnamahal sloth bear sanctuary, Jambuhoda wildlife sanctuary, Balaram ambaji wild life sanctuary, etc and many more.

Being a vigilant and caring human being, it is our moral & ethical responsibility to protect, conserve and nurture these national parks and sanctuaries so that we can give our upcoming generation a rich heritage in terms of natural ecosystem in future.