About Velvadhar Park
Blackbuck National Park Velavadar, in the Bhal region of Saurashtra is a unique grassland ecosystem that has attracted fame for the successful conservation of the blackbuck, the wold and the lesser florican. Once found in open plains throughout the country and the state of Gujarat, its largest population at present occurs in Velavadar National Park. This exclusively Indian animal is perhaps the most graceful and beautiful of its kind. It has ringed horns that have a spiral twist of three to fours turns and are up to 70 cm long. The body's upper parts are black and the under parts and a ring around the eyes are white. The light brown female is usually hornless.
The area was a private vidi (grassland) of the ex-princely state of Bhavnagar, which was subsequently declared as reserve forest and notified as National Park. About 1788.88 ha of area was declared as National Park in July 1976 and an area of 1622.23 ha was further added by notification in the year 1980. Today the total area under the National Park is 3408 ha. The settlement procedure has been completed.Due to the presence of the high tide zone of the Gulf of Khambhat on the southern side, a portion of the Park gets inundated with water. Its semi-arid conditions, together with this inundation of sea- water during monsoon, create habitats, on which depends varied fauna of the Park for survival
Area & Location
Located seventy-two km away from Bhavnagar and spread over an area of 3,408 ha, Velavadar National Park was primarily a vidi (grassland) of the Maharaja of Bhavnagar. It has been classified as 4B Gujarat-Rajwada biotic province of semi-arid bio-geographical zone. On the southern border of the Park, is the high tidal zone of the Gulf of Khambhat, whereas wastelands and agriculture fields surround the other sides.
Fauna & Flora
The Park has one of the largest population of blackbuck, Antelope cervicapra rajputanae. Wolf is top carnivore in the area. For the last decade, one to two packs of wolves, containing between 6-9 individuals were recorded in the area. They breed in thickets of Prosopis in the Park. Blackbuck, bluebull, wolf, jackal, hyena, jungle cat, fox, houbara bustard, lesser florican, white stork, harriers and sarus are important wildlife species occurring in the Park. Rainy season is the breeding period of lesser florican, which is found in maximum number in this season in the Park. Sighting of lesser florican was very less in 1980s, which increased subsequently with improvement of grassland
Thirty-nine species of grasses and 46 species of sedges, shrubs and trees represent the diversity of flora. Dichanthium annulatum, Sporobolus virginicus, Sporobolus coromandelianus, Sporobolus madernspatensis are the dominant grasses. Prosopis juliflora growing in the form of shrub covers large area of the Park. Among the medium sized trees, Salvadora sp., Acacia nilotica, Zizyphus sp., Capparis sp. and Suaeda sp. are common
How to Get There
By Air : The Nearest airport is Bhavnagar (72 kms).
By Road : The Nearest bus station is Vallabhipur (32 kms).
By Rail : The Nearest Railway stations are: Dhala - 52 kms.
, Bhavnagar - 72 kms.
Best Time to Visit
Monsoon to Winter is good period to visit the Park.
