Chadva Rakhal Nature Reserve

04/07/2025

PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY & RESPONSIBLY IN WILDLIFE AREAS 😓

Just like we take care driving through villages and residential areas where we know children may be playing out in the open, we need to drive slowly through non-urban areas—they are the last refuges for wildlife. This is their habitat. Their home.

We found this dead baby crocodile on the road between Samatra and Rampar Vekra, which traverses prime tropical thorn forest rich in biodiversity. Please be aware of wildlife while driving along this road and through any patch of wilderness.

કૃપા કરીને જંગલી વિસ્તારોમાં ધીમે અને જવાબદારીપૂર્વક વાહન ચલાવો 😓

જેમ આપણે ગામડાઓ અને રહેણાંક વિસ્તારોમાં વાહન ચલાવતા સાવચેત રહીએ છીએ કેમકે ત્યાં બાળકો ખુલ્લામાં રમી રહ્યા હોય તેવી શક્યતા છે, તેવી જ રીતે આપણે શહેરી વિસ્તારો સિવાયના વિસ્તારોમાં ધીમે વાહન ચલાવવું જોઈએ - તે વન્યજીવોનું છેલ્લું આશ્રયસ્થાન છે. આ તેમનું નિવાસસ્થાન છે. તેમનું ઘર છે.

અમને સમત્રા અને રામપર વેકરા વચ્ચેના રસ્તા પર આ મૃત મગરનું બચ્ચું મળ્યું, જે જૈવવિવિધતાથી સમૃદ્ધ મુખ્ય ઉષ્ણકટિબંધીય કાંટાળા જંગલમાંથી પસાર થાય છે. કૃપા કરીને આ રસ્તા પર અને જંગલના કોઈપણ ભાગમાં વાહન ચલાવતી વખતે વન્યજીવનથી સાવચેત રહો.

25/06/2025

Thank you to and for featuring in the current edition of Outlook Traveller (June-July 2025) on ‘Heroes of Conservation’.

Jehan has been steering the recent conservation projects taking place at Chadva Rakhal, to protect its rich habitat and biodiversity for many generations to come. His work continues the legacy of the late Maharao Pragmalji III and Maharani whose efforts for more than half a century have led to the preservation of Chadva Rakhal.

It was Jehan’s childhood visits to Chadva Rakhal that sparked his deep love for the natural world, and led to his creation of . At the invitation of Pragmalji III in 2005, he became involved with the management of Chadva Rakhal, which also inspired the revival of his ancestral home .

22/05/2024

Remembering the one who loved this space and dedicated his life to preserving it.

08/05/2024

Always great to be preparing for the intense summer in the field with .by.rhaco_

28/02/2024

Work in progress in restoring the beautiful old camp house at Chadva.

12/06/2023

For info about the history and conservation projects taking place at Chadva Rakhal as well as details about visiting the Pragsar Lake & Orchard, please visit our new website www.chadvarakhal.org.

18/09/2022

Sunrise over Pragsar Lake at Chadva Rakhal…

23/01/2022

Why India's fossil wealth has remained hidden

India has some of the most spectacular fossils on the planet, from vast beds of dinosaur eggs to strange prehistoric creatures new to science. But many are just sitting in the ground.

18/01/2022

The denizens of the desert are so well adapted at concealing themselves that it’s a real joy to spot something unusually bold and conspicuous scurrying amongst the scrub, like this six-legged, fugitive domino tile – with its two pips on the thorax and four on the abdomen!

This carnivorous, saber-toothed ground beetle (Anthia sexguttata) is around 2 inches in length and can move fast, so keeping-up to take a photograph as it makes a nifty scramble over the spiny twigs is no easy task! Although, it wont fly away. The elytra (protective forewings) which are a distinguishing feature of all beetles, are fused together while the hind-wings are absent.

Dwelling on the ground, the flightless domino beetle actively preys on other invertebrates and is reported to have a voracious appetite.

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15/01/2022

Tracts of thorny scrub interspersed with rocky outcrops define the undulating and rugged landscape of Chadva Rakhal.

To the untrained eye, the landscape may appear stark and barren, but Chadva is in fact a pristine wilderness within this hot, arid eco-region of Kutch, home to small wild cats, jackal, saw-scales vipers, 253 recorded plant species, endangered bird life, hyaena, leopard and more.

11/01/2022

Treading slowly and quietly around the Rakhal, there’s a good chance you might spot a Spiny-headed fan-throated lizard (Sitana spinaecephalus) scuttling across the pathway, amongst the rocks and scrub.

The flap of skin that drapes from the throat of a male fan-throated lizard is called a dewlap (the same term applies to the skin-fold found in certain cattle species). During the summer mating season, the male puffs out his dewlap in a flamboyant display that competes with other males to attract a nearby female.

Unlike the brightly-coloured dewlaps found in fan-throated lizards of other regions, the Sitana found in Kutch displays a faint blue line along the fold, helping maintain his inconspicuousness in this arid landscape.

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