Page 422 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

420  WESTERN INDIA

4 Nal Sarovar
Sanctuary
Ahmedabad district. 60 km (37 miles)
SW of Ahmedabad. £ Viramgam,
35 km (22 miles) N of entry point, then
taxi. @ Viramgam. n Conservator
of Forests (Wildlife), Gandhinagar,
(079) 952717-223 500. & s permit:
needed from Forest Department to
enter sanctuary, (079) 372 3500.
Nal Sarovar sanctuary is one
of the largest bird sanctuaries in
the country. The 115-sq km
(44-sq mile) Nal Lake and
The dry dock at Lothal, dating to 2500 BC the surrounding swamp forests
are best visited between
3 Lothal discovery. They found the November and February, when
foundations of two cities under they attract as many as 250
Ahmedabad district. 78 km (48 miles)
SW of Ahmedabad. £ Lothal–Burkhi the sea, complete with streets, species of waterfowl, including
station, 6 km (4 miles) SW of Lothal, houses, staircases and temples. geese, flamingoes, cranes,
then local transport. @ to Burkhi. Objects recovered from the pelicans, storks, cormorants,
Open Sat–Thu. & ^ seabed, such as a stone slab ibis and spoonbills. Winter
covered with mysterious migrants from as far as Siberia,
Excavations at Lothal have markings (which could be such as the bluish-grey
unearthed the remains of a the earliest form demoiselle crane,
remarkable city of the Indus of writing yet also gather here in
Valley Civilization (see p45) that discovered), and their hundreds, and
existed 4,500 years ago. Located carved wooden logs, can be observed at
6 km (4 miles) northwest of the have been carbon- fairly close quarters.
confluence of the Sabarmati and dated to 7,500 BC. A perennial resident
Bhogavo rivers, Lothal (literally, The discovery of this is the Sarus crane,
“Mound of the Dead”) had a site, which has been the largest species of
navigable estuary to the sea dubbed “Asia’s crane in the world.
through the Gulf of Cambay Atlantis”, has excited Believed to pair for
(now Gulf of Khambat), which historians and life, Sarus cranes
made it a flourishing port that archaeologists all enact a spectacular
once traded with Egypt, Persia over the world, as it Reed beds on courtship ritual,
and Mesopotamia. suggests that civilization Nal Lake performing a synchro-
The site reveals the may have started 5,000 nized dance that involves
foundations of a well-planned years earlier than previously bowing with outstretched
city with blocks of houses, paved believed. They surmise that the wings. Unfortunately, pressures
drains, channels and wells, and city may have been submerged on the habitat from the
12 public baths. Other finds as sea levels rose at the end of resident fishing commu nities,
include beautifully made beads the Ice Age in about 8000 BC. and from growing numbers
and pottery decorated with bird of tourists, are slowly depleting
and animal motifs. Seals with E Archaeological Museum the Nal Lake’s rich variety
intriguing, pictographic writing Open Sat–Thu. & ^ of birdlife.
(as yet undeciphered), and
weights and measures were
also found here. The city was
surrounded by a mud brick
embankment, to protect it from
the peren nial floods that, in
all probability, caused the city’s
destruction around 1,900 BC.
Among the prize exhibits in
the Archaeological Museum
are a copper figurine and a
gold-bead necklace.
In 2001, Indian oceanographers
carrying out water pollution
tests in the Gulf of Cambay
nearby, made an astonishing Graceful flamingoes, a regular sight at the Nal Sarovar Sanctuary
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp699–700 and pp713–14

420-421_EW_India.indd 420 26/04/17 11:47 am
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Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm