Barda Hills Wildlife Sanctuary

The Barda Hills — Barda Dungar to everyone who lives around them — rise abruptly out of the flat Saurashtra plain a short drive inland from the Arabian Sea, and most travellers on the Dwarka–Porbandar circuit pass straight by without realising a full wildlife sanctuary sits above them.

• Notified in February 1979, Barda Hills Wildlife Sanctuary protects 192.31 square kilometres of hilly dry-deciduous woodland, Euphorbia scrub, thorn forest and bamboo brakes straddling the boundary of Porbandar and Devbhumi Dwarka districts.
• The ground climbs from about 79 metres to a high point of roughly 618 metres, folded around the Bileshvary and Joghri rivers and two small reservoirs, the Khambala and Fodara dams, which draw animals in through the long dry months.
• Until it was notified in 1979 the range was a private reserve of the rulers of Porbandar and Jamnagar, which is one reason its forest survived largely intact.
• Barda's reputation today rests on the Asiatic lion.
• The Gir–Barda Project, launched the same year the sanctuary was notified, set these hills aside as a satellite habitat for a species then confined entirely to Gir, and for four decades the plan stayed largely on paper.
• That changed on 19 January 2023, when a male lion walked into Barda on his own — the first resident lion here in roughly 143 years.
• Five lionesses were subsequently moved in under supervised translocation, and the 2025 Asiatic lion census counted seventeen lions in the Barda landscape, six adults and eleven cubs, making this the first fully protected satellite lion population outside Gir.
• Gujarat opened its fourth lion safari here on 17 October 2024, a guided run in a six-seat open forest gypsy on a permit booked in advance rather than bought at the gate.
• Lions are far from the only draw, and they are not the animal you are most likely to see.
• The forest holds leopard, striped hyena, jackal and jungle cat, smaller carnivores such as the small Indian civet and Indian grey mongoose and the occasional ratel, and plenty of wild boar, nilgai and chinkara; chital and sambar were recorded here historically, and a breeding centre has been established in the hills to rebuild both deer populations.
• The birding is genuinely good — peafowl, partridge, owls, crested serpent eagle and other raptors, plus waterbirds around the reservoirs in winter.
• Botanists rate Barda even more highly than birders do: Gujarat Tourism credits the range with the richest floral diversity of any protected area in the state, some 650 recorded plant and tree species including gorad, babul, dhav, rayan, ber, jamun, amli and bamboo, and the hills have long supplied medicinal herbs to healers across Saurashtra.
• People are part of the landscape too.
• Around 750 Maldhari herding families — the pastoral Rabari and Bharvad among them — live in some 68 nesses, or cattle settlements, inside and around the forest, grazing along the same tracks the lions now use.
• The Kileshwar temple stands high in the hills, and the ruined Jethwa capital of Ghumli, with its Navlakha temple and the vast Vikia Vav stepwell, lies at the northern foot of the range — both are covered separately and deserve their own visit.
• Everything else here runs on the Gujarat Forest Department.
• Book the safari before you travel rather than turning up at the gate; budget about ₹400 each for the permit and the guide plus a vehicle charge on top, and confirm the current tariff, slot times and reporting gate when you book, because published figures vary and safaris currently start from the Kapurdi forest checkpost.
• The jungle safari is closed every year from 16 June to 15 October, so aim for November to March, when mornings are cool and clear.
• Tracks are rough, signage is sparse and no public transport enters the forest.
• There is nothing to eat inside the sanctuary, so plan your meals in Porbandar and carry a packed vegetarian tiffin and plenty of water for the day in the hills — and check that the kitchen you buy that tiffin from is fully vegetarian.
• Porbandar's town centre, the Sudama Chowk area and the streets near the bus stand have long-standing Gujarati and Kathiyawadi thali houses serving unlimited rotli, shaak, dal, kadhi and bajra rotla with garlic chutney — many are pure-vegetarian, but this is a busy coastal town with mixed kitchens, so confirm the kitchen is fully vegetarian before you order.
• The same applies to the farsan counters and snack cafes selling dhokla, khaman, fafda-jalebi and ganthiya for an early breakfast, and to the South Indian eateries doing dosa and idli in the town centre.
• If you avoid onion, garlic and root vegetables, ask whether a Jain preparation is available — Jain cooking leaves out root vegetables, which plain pure-vegetarian cooking does not.