Behind the wheel & Contributor

Vinod Kumar...know more about me

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Travelogue

Stay - Ghanerao Royal Castle

Distance - 580kms from Delhi

No of days - 3

Dated - August 2018

What to do and see - Leopard spotting at Jawai Bandh Leopard Conservation Reserve, Kumbhalgarh fort, Ranakpur Jain temple, Shri Muchhala Mahavir Temple

Our stay was at Ghanero Royal Castle, a heritage palace in a small village of Ghanerao. The Mertiya Rathores came from Merta and established their rule in Godwar in 1606AD. The Ghanero Rawla is an edifice of rough marble and sandstone in the village of Ghanerao having 33 step wells, and temples. The Rathore family reside in the Rawla and also retain their old staff who were a part of the then castle life. Our room used to be the Kanwar Sahibs playroom. The main door is the highlight with ivory carvings which was brought from Gujarat in the 18th century. The room is cool as the walls are around four feet thick, and it opens to a courtyard which has the temple of Shiva and Radhakrishna. Some pics...















The view from top


Pool


In and around the palace








Dining room


Reception




Our room








In the evening we start for leopard safari in Bera. A jeep safari takes around 3 hours and charges you anything around 5k. The drive to Jawai Leopard Rughnathpura took around 1hr and 45 mins with a distance of nearly 55 kms. But the drive was beautiful through the interior villages. The Jawai dam is the first destination where you get to see the beautiful green landscape with crocodiles lazing around. Our guide was Rajeshwari, a young girl who was our guide as well as jeep driver. As we see villagers rearing cattle and goats, its naturally questionable how they co-exist in a peaceful way with the 7 leopards seen here. Unlike tigers, leopards are elusive and solitary, but the guides give you a 99% guarantee of spotting them.

Luck determines the distance at which you see one as some could be far away to be seen with naked eyes, and one needs binos or a high zoom lens to capture a close up. Apart from leopards and crocodiles you can also spot owls, nilgais, peacocks, snakes etc.

October to March is the best time to visit. We visited in August which is an off season time, but still the place was so beautiful. Some pics

The drive


































We started after lunch and reached back at 10:30pm. Tired, though the hotel staff had arranged music and folk dances none were in a mood to enjoy. The next day early morning take the steps to the terrace to have a wonderful view around and the Kumbhalgarh fort which is visible at a distance. Its cool and windy and the entire village of Ghanerao can be seen.







Mostly shops and houses are locked and closed as people have moved to bigger cities for employment.


The narrow walkways through the homes, where hardly a cycle can cross.


Return route we drive to see the Rajsamand lake. Rajsamand lake was built in the 17th century and is one of the popular ones in Rajasthan. It is Asia's 2nd largest man made lake. Nice place to sit in evening and witness the sunset. We visited the irrigation garden, a nice garden with beautiful view of the lake.