General Information
Note: The information presented here is an abbreviated version of our formal General Information for Tours to Western India. Its purpose is solely to give readers a sense of what might be involved if they took this tour. Although we do our best to make sure that what follows here is completely accurate, it should not be used as a replacement for the formal document that will be sent to all tour registrants, and whose content supersedes any information contained here.
TRAVEL TO INDIA: This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird. Please read the Important Travel Information for Participants on Sunbird Tours.
ENTERING INDIA: United States citizens will need a valid passport and a tourist visa. Note that your passport must be valid for six months after you plan to return from India.
MAPS AND COUNTRY INFORMATION: You can view maps of India in the University of Texas series here. You can review the U.S. Department of State background notes on India here.
HEALTH: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently recommend taking an anti-malarial drug when visiting India. The drug of choice for India is Lariam (mefloquine). Further, the CDC currently recommends the following vaccines: Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG); typhoid vaccination is particularly important because of the presence of S. typhi strains resistant to multiple antibiotics in this region; and as needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles, and a one-time dose of polio for adults. As some of these inoculations cannot be given concurrently, you should contact your doctor about when to start your treatment. You can review the latest CDC advisories here.
CLIMATE: The temperatures throughout this tour will not vary very much. Daytime temperatures will range from about 78-95°F. However, the early mornings and late afternoons can be cool, with temperatures perhaps dropping to 60°F. Moreover, since we’ll be exploring some areas in open-topped jeeps, the wind can make it feel quite cold. A warm sweater and even a warm hat and gloves should prove useful for some of the early morning game drives. Gujarat is an arid state and the humidity is comfortably low throughout this tour.
PACE OF TOUR AND DAILY ROUTINE: Given that midday temperatures are high, we will make a number of early starts and will aim to be out in the field for dawn most days. This will often entail leaving our accommodation at 5:45 or 6:00 am. On a couple of days, we will start even earlier, possibly at 5:00. Most days we should finish at dusk, around 6:30 pm, and we usually manage to have about a one-hour break before the checklist and dinner. There may be one or two days when we return after dusk, thus shortening our break before dinner.
In the Little Rann of Kutch, our early morning drives will typically last three or four hours, after which we will return to the lodge for breakfast and a midday break. There will be an optional further excursion in the afternoon. The similar safaris at Gir National Park will also start in the early morning. Snacks will be available before we leave the hotel. The game drives here usually last between four and five hours, after which we will return to the hotel for a late breakfast or brunch. On several days, there will be a further game drive in the afternoon.
There is a reasonable amount of walking on this tour, although none of it is particularly strenuous. We are not allowed to walk inside Gir Sanctuary (there are lions and leopards!), and so we use open-topped jeeps to explore the reserve. We’ll use similar vehicles to explore the Little Rann of Kutch, but since there are no dangerous large animals here, we are also allowed to walk about, as we are at parts of Velavadar (Black Buck) National Park and at the sites we will visit around Bhuj.
ACCOMMODATION: Our hotel in Mumbai (Bombay) is good. Our lodgings in Bhavnagar, Dasada, Jamnagar, and Diu are clean, and the rooms have private bathrooms. South of Bhuj, we’ll stay in a small guest house owned by our local guide; all the rooms have two beds, and the showers and toilets are in the main hotel courtyard. The owner is building additional cabins, but if construction is not finished, some of us will stay in a hotel in the nearby town; the rooms there are clean and have private bathrooms and air conditioning, but the hotel’s standard is below what we normally stay at on a WINGS tours, and hot water must be delivered by hand in buckets. There is no accommodation inside Gir Lion Sanctuary and National Park, and we’ll stay outside the reserve in large, comfortable, walk-in tents on a permanent concrete base. All have electricity, large beds, tables and chairs, and private bathrooms with western toilet, shower, and washbasin. We expect to arrive back in Mumbai in the early evening of our last full day. We will have two day rooms in a hotel close to the international airport.
MEALS: Throughout the tour we are served a wide variety of good quality Indian food, always including a good selection of vegetarian dishes; salads and salad garnishes should be declined or left on the edge of your plate. In some of the places that we stay, meals are buffet-style with several different dishes available, while in other places set meals are provided. “Western” food is not available at most of the places we will stay, but if a buffet is served, it normally includes a western-style dish or two. If you require western-style food and cannot eat Indian food, please advise the WINGS office in advance and the leader once you are on the tour.
DRESS: Dress is informal throughout. Laundry facilities are available at Rann Riders in Dasada, at our hotel in Jamnagar, and at the safari camp at Gir.
TRANSPORT: We will fly between Mumbai (Bombay) and Bhavnagar and again between Diu and Mumbai. Much of the rest of the time we will use a fleet of (probably three) comfortable small vehicles, such as a Toyota Innova or similar. In the Little Rann of Kutch and again in the Gir Lion Sanctuary and National Park, we will use a fleet of open-topped jeeps.
SMOKING: Smoking is not allowed in the vehicles or when the group is gathered for meals, checklists, etc. If you are sharing a room with a non-smoker, please do not smoke in the room. If you smoke in the field, we ask that you do so well away and downwind from the group if possible.
GENERAL INFORMATION & CONDITIONS OF WINGS & SUNBIRD TOURS: Please take a moment to read the WINGS General Information & Conditions. This section contains important information about how we conduct tours, e.g., what is included in the tour price, refund and cancellation policies, pace of the tours, and other information that will help you prepare for the tour.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A more complete General Information for Tours to Western India will be sent to each registrant on receipt of their booking. Final information with instructions for meeting the group, hotel addresses, etc., will be mailed about three weeks before trip departure. Other news will be communicated as necessary. If you have any questions, please contact us.