Gir National Park

Gir National Park (Sasan Gir), in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat near Junagadh, is the last refuge of the Asiatic lion — the only place on Earth where this subspecies survives in the wild.

• From fewer than 200 animals in the late 1960s, careful protection has brought the population to 674 lions in the 2020 census (up from 523 in 2015), a conservation success story that ranks among India's proudest.
• The park spreads across roughly 1,400 sq km of dry deciduous teak forest, acacia scrub, and grassland threaded by seasonal rivers and the Kamleshwar reservoir, and it shelters far more than lions: leopards, striped hyena, jackal, marsh crocodile, chital, sambar, nilgai, chinkara, and over 300 bird species including the rare critically endangered white-rumped vulture.
• The core experience is the jeep safari, which runs on 13 designated routes assigned by lottery at the Sinh Sadan gate — each route has a roughly equal chance of a lion sighting, and a dawn or late-afternoon drive through the golden teak light is unforgettable.
• Travellers short on time can visit the Devalia Interpretation Zone (the fenced "Mini Gir"), where a guided bus tour offers a near-guaranteed glimpse of lions and other wildlife in a natural enclosure.
• The park is closed each year from 16 June to 15 October for the monsoon breeding season; the best months are December to April.
• The Maldhari herders, who have lived alongside the lions for generations, are part of the Gir story, and the Kamleshwar reservoir within the park is a fine spot for marsh crocodiles and waterbirds.
• For vegetarian travellers, the surrounding Saurashtra countryside offers one of India's great pure-vegetarian regional cuisines — the Kathiawadi thali, with bajra and jowar rotla, ringan-no-olo (smoked aubergine mash), sev-tameta-nu-shaak, lasaniya bataka (garlic potatoes), chaas (buttermilk), and jaggery, served with generous ghee.
• Resort buffets near Sasan serve full Gujarati vegetarian menus, and the Junagadh road is lined with fafda-jalebi and ganthia stalls.