Thol Bird Sanctuary

                                     Thol Bird Sanctuary is situated about 30 Kms from Gandhinagar.  It is very close to Vadsar village where there is an air force base.

We decided to take an early 5:30 am ride to Thol as Ahmedabad has a very hot climate during this time of the year. We could easily make it toThol, but it was difficult to locate the bird sanctuary. We tried asking few villagers, but they responded as if they heard about it for the first time in their life. After going for few more kilometers we saw a sign board saying Thol Bird Sanctuary is ahead. We traveled for another 2-3 kilometers but could not find anything. Moreover, google maps was indicating that we were moving away from the destination. So, we decided to turn back and again read the sign board carefully. However, we couldn't find anything new on the sign board, but there was a narrow road near the board. We decided to take a chance and go in that direction. We went for about 2 Kms, but then we started finding it difficult to ride on the bike because there was dust all around us. Luckily we saw a guy and asked him if it is the way to bird sanctuary. He said yes. We continued for 2 more kilometers somehow. Finally, we saw a board. We could easily read Thol bird sanctuary even though it was written in Gujarati. But then we struggled in understanding the paragraph which was written below it. After few minutes we could solve the puzzle. It was written in Gujarati that entering this Sancuary from this direction is an offense and the trespassers will be punished by the government. We didn't take that risk and then turned back again. Reached the main highway in few minutes and asked few more people. One fellow, who was looking little educated, jumped out and said that for the main entrance I will have to go 4 kilometers straight and then take the left turn and again 4 Kms. He also mentioned that there will be an entrance fees from the main gate and that I could easily get in from the other way from which I had just returned. 


How is it?
We took the longer route and finally reached Thol Bird Sanctuary. The guy at the security gate charged us just Rs. 20 per person. We parked our bike after getting in and the view of the lake and greenery made us really happy. It was worth getting up early in the morning and traveling 30 Kms.

There were stretches of land which were surrounded by lake water and were inaccessible to visitors. We could see a number of birds sitting on these isolated portions of land. Though it looked extremely beautiful from distance, we were missing a binocular. A binocular would have really made it easy for us to observe the beauty of the birds. From the distance we could not see any details of the birds but only their shapes.

Anyway, we decided to take few photographs and then sit on the bedsheet that we brought from home. It was a pleasant experience, sitting near a lake surrounded by greenery. I spent my time reading a book that I had kept with me. 


You can easily spend the entire day there if you have taken enough food and water along with you. There are plenty of trees and you can easily find a place to sit down in shade even on a very hot day.

I would recommend that you definitely go here if you are a nature lover.