This time I kept a daily journal of our trip and I am reproducing it here as it was written without any changes…
21st Jan, 2010: We started from home at 7:50am, a wee bit late by my estimate but Swati was cool with it so I did not say anything. Flight was on time, Security people did not question too much about the Camera gear we were carrying.
We had a 3-hour layover at Mumbai, while on the customary “browse the bookstore” round I found a new book by Richard Bach “Hypnotizing Maria” – more on that book perhaps in a separate post later. The flight to Bhuj was delayed by an hour. As we came into land at Bhuj, Aasim remarked, “Looks like we are landing in middle of no where!” We got out of the aircraft to the thundering sound of fighter jets on low flying sorties. The Indian Air Force shares the Bhuj airport.
Our entire luggage arrived despite a thru check-in and a Trax, which was our mode of transport for next 4 days, was waiting. We drove to Nakhatrana and then to Virani about 60km from Bhuj to CEDO – Center for Desert and Ocean. We dumped our luggage in to a room that was basic but bigger and better than what we expected. Tea was served immediately and within 15 minute of arriving we were off to the Bani grasslands. The time was 5:10pm; we had about 90 minutes of light.
The first good sighting was a Steppe Eagle which while not really a lifer, I had never seen so close. The second lifer was the Common Crane which are really very common here and we saw them in thousands. The third lifer was the Indian Fox, unfortunately the light till then had faded and I could not get a photo.
We returned to a hot home cooked vegetarian meal. Swati’s system decided to hit back at the viral infection she carried from Nagpur and she developed a fever. I have given her Paracetamol and she is sleeping peacefully as I write this. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow. Tomorrow is a long day and it starts at 6:30am.