Winters is the right time to visit Great Rann of Kutch as water starts receding September onwards. I had planned my trip just before the "Rann Festival" for end of November because of two simple reasons .i.e. One, I don't want to visit Kutch when it is too crowded and secondly I wanted to avoid the peak season tariff.
So, I took a late morning flight from Delhi to Ahmadabad and spent my day roaming around markets to do reiki for my shopping (Which I planned to do after coming back) and sampling some interesting food. If you know what to buy from where then it saves lots of time a last moment.
From Ahmedabad, I traveled in Bdts Bhuj Exp. It is an overnight train to Bhuj and I prefer overnight trains because I can sleep by night and reach my destination when I wake up.
Train was on time and I reached Bhuj station around 7.30 AM. I had booked a Bunga (Hut) in Sham e Sarhad, so decided to hire a taxi for next few days to visit Great Rann of Kutch, Lakhpat, Mandvi, Narayan Sarovar, Bhujodi, Mata na mad etc. Driver seems to be ok. We stopped on the way to have our breakfast at small tea shop because there are no proper restaurants on the way to Rann. Second reason for stopping was to get photocopy of ID proof because we required permit to enter Rann/Kutch area, it is very close to Pakistan border so its mandatory. Its better to carry photocopy of ID with you in advance as we had wasted nearly half n hour waiting as they don't have electricity to run copying machine. The process to get permit is very simple as they require very basic information on one page form. From there we moved to our resort in Hodka. After consulting the resort people, I visited a a village near by. The people of village were friendly and women we dresses in traditional attire. They were selling hand made items in almost every house, though the prices are not cheaper (Almost similar to Ahmadabad) but it seems better to buy directly from maker. After some shopping and lunch & quick nap we started for Great rann of kutch. Border security jawans check the permit at two points and when I finally reach the Rann area, I realised it is all barren with absolutely no vegetation in sight and at certain areas it was white due to salt deposition.The vastness of Rann is mesmerizing and one of its kind place.
I made Hodka resort as our base and from here visited the Kavda and couple of other villages whose name I forgot. Finally I went to the Kalo dungar, it offers panoramic view of the Great Rann of Kutch and popular for sunset viewing. There is famous for a 400 year old Dattatreya temple on the top of hill. it is located very near to the Pakistan border, there is an Army post at the top. Beyond this only military personnel are allowed. The road is curvy & hilly but is very well constructed but when we were coming back at night we didn't seen a single human being or any vehicle coming or crossing our car for some 5-7 Kms. One odd vehicle cross us after few kms and made me feel that I am traveling in middle of no where. It is exciting but at the same time scary incase if your car breaks down because in that case it is very very difficult to get help as mobile signal is also not available at most of the places.
So, I took a late morning flight from Delhi to Ahmadabad and spent my day roaming around markets to do reiki for my shopping (Which I planned to do after coming back) and sampling some interesting food. If you know what to buy from where then it saves lots of time a last moment.
From Ahmedabad, I traveled in Bdts Bhuj Exp. It is an overnight train to Bhuj and I prefer overnight trains because I can sleep by night and reach my destination when I wake up.
Train was on time and I reached Bhuj station around 7.30 AM. I had booked a Bunga (Hut) in Sham e Sarhad, so decided to hire a taxi for next few days to visit Great Rann of Kutch, Lakhpat, Mandvi, Narayan Sarovar, Bhujodi, Mata na mad etc. Driver seems to be ok. We stopped on the way to have our breakfast at small tea shop because there are no proper restaurants on the way to Rann. Second reason for stopping was to get photocopy of ID proof because we required permit to enter Rann/Kutch area, it is very close to Pakistan border so its mandatory. Its better to carry photocopy of ID with you in advance as we had wasted nearly half n hour waiting as they don't have electricity to run copying machine. The process to get permit is very simple as they require very basic information on one page form. From there we moved to our resort in Hodka. After consulting the resort people, I visited a a village near by. The people of village were friendly and women we dresses in traditional attire. They were selling hand made items in almost every house, though the prices are not cheaper (Almost similar to Ahmadabad) but it seems better to buy directly from maker. After some shopping and lunch & quick nap we started for Great rann of kutch. Border security jawans check the permit at two points and when I finally reach the Rann area, I realised it is all barren with absolutely no vegetation in sight and at certain areas it was white due to salt deposition.The vastness of Rann is mesmerizing and one of its kind place.
I made Hodka resort as our base and from here visited the Kavda and couple of other villages whose name I forgot. Finally I went to the Kalo dungar, it offers panoramic view of the Great Rann of Kutch and popular for sunset viewing. There is famous for a 400 year old Dattatreya temple on the top of hill. it is located very near to the Pakistan border, there is an Army post at the top. Beyond this only military personnel are allowed. The road is curvy & hilly but is very well constructed but when we were coming back at night we didn't seen a single human being or any vehicle coming or crossing our car for some 5-7 Kms. One odd vehicle cross us after few kms and made me feel that I am traveling in middle of no where. It is exciting but at the same time scary incase if your car breaks down because in that case it is very very difficult to get help as mobile signal is also not available at most of the places.
After relaxing in my Hodka resort, it was time to move to Bhuj.