In hills around Jawai and en route to Guru Shikhar (in the Aravalis), you can discover rock formations so unique, it’s almost other-worldly. Let’s call it ‘Rare Rajasthan’
What all is Rajasthan famous for? Most tourists (and even locals) might say desert, forts, royalty, wildlife or cuisine. Some may get more specific: Maharana Pratap, ker sangri or laal maas.
Few are likely to say ‘rocks’. Fewer still would say: Some of the oldest surface rocks you can find in India; rocks so old that it has taken wind millions of years to carve into beautiful formations.
Welcome to another part of incredible India—let’s call it ‘Rare Rajasthan’. We travel to this place on a Honda City (a much needed change driving a sedan in this age of SUVs).
Jawai
About 650 km from Delhi and 850 km from Mumbai, in southwest Rajasthan, lies the Jawai bandh (dam). While Jawai is famous for its wild leopards and crocodiles, and sightings are almost confirmed during jeep safaris organised by local operators, it’s the home of these carnivores that sets the geography apart.
Leopards here live on hillocks carved by wind (see photos). It gives them some protection from elements, and natural caves to raise their litter. “Millions of years ago, these would have been round rocks. This is what consistently can do. These beautiful shapes have been carved by wind consistently blowing across granite (hardest rock in the world). After a few million more years, all this granite will be lost to wind. It’s only in Jawai and Guru Shikhar (near Mt Abu) where you can find such natural rock art,” Shailendra Singh Chauhan, a local geologist, tells us.
While bigger hillocks will take a million more years to erode, smaller ones have already reached the end of life.
On the banks of the Jawai River (a tributary of the Luni), where crocodiles bask in the sun, Chauhan shows us smaller hillocks which started eroding the same time as the bigger ones, but due to their size they’ve almost reached the end of life. “Ones that look like a peacock’s head and are a few feet across are likely to stay a few thousand more years,” Chauhan adds.
These rock formations do remind one of the Twelve Apostles of Australia (these were actually eight limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, in Victoria, and one collapsed in July 2005. Now, seven remain).
Guru Shikhar
Almost 120 km to the south of Jawai lies the highest peak of Rajasthan, Guru Shikhar (1,722 metres above sea level). En route, you can find rocks that may look like a dinosaur’s skeleton (see photos). “At such heights (over 1,500 metres) wind speed is substantial to carve granite into other-worldly shapes,” Chauhan says. “But it takes time. You may not see such formations in the Himalayas, because they are young. The Aravalis are the oldest fold mountains in the world. Bruised by wind.”
India is truly incredible; you just need to travel deep. Travel and tourism also rejuvenates the economy and supports local jobs.
Places to stay: While Jawai has super-luxury tents, for more affordable options you can explore Ranakpur (45 km away) or Udaipur (170 km away). Mt Abu has all kinds of accommodation available.
(While Jawai and Guru Shikhar have some of India’s oldest surface rocks whose shapes set them apart, in Odisha scientists recently found a grain of magmatic zircon estimated to be over 4.2 billion years old—published in journal Scientific Reports. Also, the Dharwar craton—in modern-day Karnataka and Tamil Nadu—is estimated to be over 2.5 billion years old.)
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