MY TRIP TO RANN OF KUTCH It was just one month after Kargil war I had the opportunity to visi Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.During this visit I had gone to Khawde and Kaladungar .Both these cities are in the district of Kutch,This district is divided into ten talukas,theyareAbdasaNalia),Anjar,Bhachau,Bhuj,Ghandhidham,Lakhpat,Mandavi,Mundra,Nakhatrana and Rapar. We started our journey from Bhuj.Our first destination was Khawde,it is the last village in kutch after that one can see the India-Pakistan border whic is just30km The road from Bhuj to Khavda is Tar road and straight The Kutch landscape was mesmerizing and we wanted to enjoy every bit of it. On an early morning of saturday we had set out from Bhuj to see the Great Rann of Kutch. In Kutch ,Kalo Dungar or the Black Hills which is Kutch’s highest point from where you can see the awesom aerial view of the Rann ,a very famous desert with a difference,It is 90 kms from Bhuj ,before that is the Khavda, 70 kms kms from Bhuj.Along the principal road going north of Bhuj,Khavda is 66 kms along the principal road going north of Bhuj.It is a major or you can say last place to get water fruits and other eatables on the wy before heading to other destination. The Khavda is having a mixed population of Meghwals (Hindus) and Muslims hailing from Sindh, leading to interesting combinations of work styles and social tradition.Khandwa is famous for it,s sweet. The people who want to visit the worlds largest flamingo colony, at a lake in the desert nearJamkundaliya, Khavda is the departure point . The flamingo colony can only be reached by camel and is best visited in the winter (Oct. to May. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kutch is the Rann ,where no grass ever grows,it is a sratch of white landscape with water under salty sand. First you can see the aerial view from top of Kalo Dungar and then you can see the place actually walking on it ,where the annual Rann Mahotsav is held during full moon nights in winters. As we were proceeding towards the Kaladungar land was becoming bleak, as if we were heading into nothing. However we were hearing the whistling wind. Occasionally, there were patches of vegetation and settlements. Some times we were surprised by the colourful Kutch women in their multicoloured mirrorwork ethical wear and men predominantly wearing deep aquamarine pathan suits. Also to our surprises we saw the number of robust domestic buffaloes. After Khavda there was two roads,the straight road goes to India Bridge, and right towards Kaladungar. In the afternoon all of a sudden strong breeze started blowing so we had to hurry up our way to the top of Kalo Dungar as every thing started appearing black Soon we reached the highest point of Kutch at 462 metres we saw an army post built therein where few observation decks are also built to enjoy the view of Kutch.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 18:42:15 +0000