Porbandar Bird Sanctuary

Tucked improbably into the middle of Porbandar town, the Porbandar Bird Sanctuary is one of the smallest wildlife sanctuaries in India — a shallow, reed-fringed freshwater lake ringed by the everyday bustle of a working coastal city.

• Notified as a sanctuary by the Gujarat Forest Department in the late 1980s and covering barely a square kilometre, it is the kind of place that surprises first-time visitors: you turn off an ordinary street, and suddenly there is a sheet of water alive with wings.
• For birdwatchers travelling the Dwarka circuit, it is an easy and rewarding half-hour detour, all the more remarkable for sitting so close to the town's temples, markets and the Kirti Mandir heritage quarter.
• The star attractions are the flamingos, which by tradition draw the most cameras — their pink-and-white flocks wading and filtering through the shallows in the cooler months.
• Around them gather a rotating cast of migratory and resident waterbirds: pelicans, painted storks, ibises, spoonbills, cranes, coots, ducks and assorted waders that use the lake as a feeding and roosting ground along the Saurashtra coast.
• The birdlife peaks in winter, roughly November through February, when migrants arrive in numbers; early morning and the golden hour before sunset offer the best light and the most activity.
• Because the sanctuary is compact and largely viewed from its edges, it suits families, casual visitors and serious birders alike — bring binoculars and a zoom lens, tread quietly, and let the lake reveal its residents.
• Practically, the sanctuary is best treated as a peaceful, unhurried stop rather than a full-day expedition.
• There are no elaborate facilities; the pleasure is simply in the watching.
• Please keep to viewing areas, avoid disturbing nesting birds, and carry your litter out.
• Combine it with Porbandar's Kirti Mandir and the town's other heritage sights for a well-rounded day before continuing along the coast toward Dwarka.
• For food, Porbandar is comfortably pure-vegetarian territory, and you are never far from a good thali.
• Near the sanctuary and the town centre you will find pure-veg Gujarati and Kathiyawadi thali houses serving unlimited platters of rotli, shaak, dal, kadhi, rice and farsan, along with simple bhojanalayas near the Kirti Mandir quarter and busy farsan-and-sweet shops in the Porbandar bazaar for dhokla, khaman, fafda and jalebi.
• Stick to the town's many pure-veg restaurants and you will eat very well.