Poshina, (a small village just over the border from Ragasthan into Gujarat) and Bajana’s Wild Ass Sanctuary
We had a stopover in Poshina in a hotel, Hotel Darbargarh which had been the local Rana’s palace. We were told that Rana means a Lord but not one as important as a Maharana (Maha literally means larger or bigger, so a Maharana is a big Lord).
This Rana’s home was only 28 bedrooms, 3 dining rooms and 2 kitchens, with vast amount of land all around. Part of the outbuilding used to be the jail back in the day. The current Rana was quite disappointed that he couldn’t lock people up in there these days, as he recons that it would “improve things around here!”
He referred to what he offered as a ‘Homestay’, he explained, over pre dinner drinks (gin and tonic for the ladies, whiskey for the men) on the upper balcony that evening. By this time he had changed from his Barber giIet and chinos to white Kurta and pyjamas (loose white trousers) the whole scene was all very gracious and reminiscent of a bygone era.
We enjoyed a lovely vegetarian lunch on arrival and ate it in the courtyard shaded by an enormous tree.
Later that afternoon in a large covered jeep his driver took us around the local area whilst he gave us a guided tour.
The area is farming land indispersed with vast out crops of volcanic rock.
With well irrigated fields of cotton, wheat, aniseed /fennel, castor and mustard. (Plus other things I didn’t recognise.)
First we went to the local cotton plant where the local farmers were delivering this season’s crop of cotton.
The main crop are the cotton seeds themselves, the cotton is a by product and not the main stay.
The cotton is put through milling machines to separate out the seeds, the left over cotton is bagged and sold off to the next trader, who would clean and spin before selling it onto a trader who would spin it into material. Everyone has their place in the production.
He then took us to see what I can only describe as a shrine, where people make an offering to the gods of a small pottery horse, which has an elongated neck (they look more like giraffes), with slash markings on it and a round hole for a mouth. All of different sizes.
If you want your wish to come true you bring a horse, light a candle and make your wish then ring the bell. When you wish you must promise to bring x number of horses back for the gods if your wish comes to fruition (the number of horses to bring is dependant on how big your wish is). Seeing how many horses are there, the gods must grant quite a few wishes!
The next day we were travelling again, this time to Bajana, to see the Little Rann of Kutch and their wild ass sanctuary.
BAJANA
It was an eventful 5.5hr drive to Bajana over the ancient volcanic hills to a hotel called the Royal Safari Camp
Here we had a lovely large room with a massive bedroom and an enclosed balcony with wooden swing bench. It was very nice. We relaxed the afternoon we arrived ready for the safaris planned for the next day.
We we ready and at reception before 7am and our jeep and driver were ready. The Wild Ass Sanctuary was about 40 mins down the road. We had to show our passport to obtain the required entry permit. The guy at the high window took my phone (with the photo of my passport) then after scribbling for a bit got up, put on his uniform jacket, did up his belt and carefully placed his beret at a jaunty angle on his head. He then walked out of the office, took a phone out and took a selfie. He then came back in, took all his stuff off and sat down and carried on stamping my permit. In all I’d been standing there for at least 10 minutes. It was quite bizzare. I later checked that he hadn’t used my phone for the selfies but he hadn’t. Shame really!!
So at last we were in our way, the sun was just rising and the birds were feeding in the lakeside water. Later we got to see a few small herds of Wild Ass who were a little bored looking, giving us good views of their asses 😂
Our safari was very enjoyable and lasted for about 3.5hrs. We returned to the hotel to rest for a bit before we going out for a second safari, which really was a drive around the local villages and farm land and ending up in a huge modern temple.
Not many photos as I was bouncing about in the back of the jeep!! The field of low growing ‘grass’ was actually cumin! We also saw castor Oli plants, and fields and fields of pomegranate trees. As well as masses of cotton fields.
The Hindu temple at the end was interesting. Very blingy with lots of gold paint. There were hundreds of school kids there as it was an auspicious day for one of the gods who was paraded round in a yellow tram then returned to his shrine.
We stupidly said hello to some kids and we were then overrun by dozens and dozens of children all wanting to tell us their names and try their English speaking skills out on us. At one point there were so many kids around me I felt a little overwhelmed and a bit nervous. Now I can empathise with movie actors or singers who get surrounded by their fans and just want to get away!!!
Ah well, that’s my 5 mins of fame overwith, I’m glad about that!!! Off to somewhere altogether more relaxing tomorrow.
