Sunday, June 17, 2012

Cricket lions : Pathan brothers visit Gujarat's Gir National Park





JUNAGADH (Gujarat): Cricketers Irfan and Yusuf Pathan visited the sole home of the Asiatic lion, the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, with their family here on Sunday. 


The brothers, on a two-day recreational visit after a tiring cricket season, were happy to be in the wildlife park. 

"We saw three lions earlier. They were resting, two of them were sitting and another one was sleeping. Then we saw a family of seven lionesses who were sitting at a place, after that we saw eleven lions and lioness who passed by our vehicle. We felt very good after watching all these things," Yusuf Pathan said. 

The younger Pathan, seen with his father and mother, said that the most interesting part of the trip was a lion killing an animal to feed on, which was a rare spectacle and felt an adrenaline rush. 

"We were feeling good and at the same time we had an adrenaline rush that a lioness was walking so close to us and was staring at us. It passed by my mother who was sitting in the vehicle behind me, I made a video of this incident and I believe that me and my family will never be able to forget this thing throughout my life," said Irfan Pathan. 

Established in 1965, the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan-Gir, is the sole home of the majestic Asiatic lions. 

Besides, Gir harbours around thousand species of birds and 26 species of reptiles. 


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