Jungle Trail

With an uncommon feel of being in someone else territory, we rode across the Gir forest. The land of great Asiatic Lion, whose foot prints extends far from the core jungle of Gir. Along the border of the Gir National Park is the ever so charming meter gauge railway, that still maintain harmony with the jungle and its habitat. Here are some pictures from the many routes, culture and people we discovered during the journey.

Date: 2013-12-13
Owner: Harish Kumar
Size: 72 items
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The two trains all set for their further journey toward Delvada and Dhasa (Raghu Jayaraman)

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The Delvada bound passenger exits Talala. Harish and Raghu took this train to Delvada (Benher)

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Naveen and Ben proceeded further to Sasan Gir where the 52946 Dhasa-Veraval passenger has a scheduled crossing with the 52929 Veraval-Dhasa passenger (Benher)

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The Keyman of Sasan Gir seems to be in pensive mood, as the wait continues for the passenger from Dhasa (Benher)

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...which eventually shows up, with a delay of almost 30 minutes (Benher)

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After a long wait, the Dhasa bound passenger leaves Sasan Gir (Benher)

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The deserted Sasan Gir station. Given the frequent visits of Asiatic lions, station staff prefer to stay indoors. (Benher)

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The entrance to Sasan Gir station (Naveen)

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Bovines laze around grazing (Naveen)

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Both Talala and Sasan Gir stations are infested with pug marks. Here is one! (Naveen)

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Another view of Sasan Gir station. According to the SM, after the previous evening's departure horde of Asiatic lions descended on the platform, and left the place at the break of dawn (Benher)

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While on the other side, the Delvada bound train had just reached Gir Hadmatiya. This railway line is aligned right at the edge of Gir National Park, all they way to Jamwala, from where the line takes a big right turn and heads south. Most stations here h

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A father loving sends-off his child and her mother, as the passenger train slowly accelerates out of Prachi Road Junction. (Harish Kumar)

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After Prachi Road station, the lines to Delvada and Kodinar split. Straight ahead is the line to Delvada and the one curving sharply to the right is towards Kodinar. (Harish Kumar)

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Indian Railways plays a vital role in their livelihood (Raghu Jayaraman)

Comments
This album is a treasure. Hats off to you guys for your courage.
Posted by Abhinav Bhattacharjee on 2013 Dec 22 19:17:20 +0000