Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary

Nal Sarovar is a shallow lake of about 120 square kilometres with surrounding marshes, near Sanand roughly 64 kilometres west of Ahmedabad. Declared a bird sanctuary in April 1969, it is Gujarat's biggest wetland sanctuary and among the biggest in India. The water is only about four feet deep, and its islands are used by migrating shepherds.

Migrants arrive after the monsoon, and from November to February the lake fills with flocks of ducks, geese, rosy pelicans, greater and lesser flamingos, white storks, bitterns, grebes and herons, with more than 210 species counted in winter. Wild ass and blackbuck also occur nearby. Birds are easiest to watch early in the morning or towards evening, and local Padhar boatmen take visitors out in country boats among the islands. Most people come as a day trip from Ahmedabad.