Barda Hills Wildlife Sanctuary Trails

The Barda hills rise behind Porbandar on the Saurashtra coast, a compact range of low volcanic hills covered in dry deciduous and thorn forest and protected as the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary. For decades the sanctuary was a footnote to Gir, but it has become significant as a second natural range for the Asiatic lion, with animals dispersing here from the Gir landscape and breeding successfully, which has raised its profile with wildlife authorities and visitors alike. Walking is on forest department tracks and pastoral paths rather than waymarked trails, with typical outings of five to twelve kilometres over rolling ground that reaches about 600 m at the highest points. Permission and a forest guide are arranged through the range office, and independent off-track walking is not appropriate given the presence of lions, leopards and hyena. Beyond the large mammals, the sanctuary supports chinkara, wild boar, jackal and more than 250 recorded bird species, and the hills hold old temple sites at Khambhala and Bileshwar as well as seasonal streams and small reservoirs. The Maher and Rabari communities graze cattle across the slopes, and encounters with herders are far more common than with tourists. The season runs from roughly October to March, when the hills are dry, cool and passable; summer here is harsh and exposed, and monsoon tracks turn to mud. Porbandar, about 15 km away, is the practical base, with its airport, railway station and the Kirti Mandir birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi.