Kutch nahi dekha toh kuch nahi dekha!
Day 1: Visit to White Rann for sunset
Day 2: Visit to Mandvi beach, Vijay vilas palace and Shyamji Krishna memorial.
Day 3: Early morning sunrise in white rann. Visit to Kala Dungar and Gandhi nu Gam ( Handicraft village)
Day 1
We arrive via train which reached Bhuj at 12.40 pm and the tent city transfer was at 2.30 pm so we decided to go via private taxi. It costs 3100 to reach the tent city from Bhuj and around 1.5 hours. On arrival at tent city we are greeted with smiles and cute rickshaws to transfer us to our tent.
The tent city is divided in different clusters of tents according to categories. Our cluster C looked liked this.
The interiors of premium tents were superb in the middle of a desert.
The staff in Rann utsav are used to addressing you by the number of tent that you are booked in. So whenever you would go for a meal, they would say C3 has come. We had lost our identity to tent C3. LOL
On the first day they take you for sunset so after a leisurely lunch and some rest we set out for sunset to white rann. You need to be quick as there are only limited camel carts on first cum first basis after which you would have to go by bus which wouldn’t be so exciting. The camel cart ride is for about 15-20 min after which you reach the Rann – meaning salt marsh.
Our camel Badal stops just near the start of the Rann. We get down and explore the Rann until sunset. The sunset was quite spectacular. The sunset light combined with the white expanse of salt marshes was quite a treat to the eyes.
We had some fun time clicking pics in the white salt marshes.
Day 4:
The Rann utsav buses pick you up around 10.00 am and they take you for a Bhuj city tour before dropping to the airport or station but we wanted to do some adventure activities and again opted for a private transfer. There is zipline and paramotoring that we tried. It was super fun. The aerial views of tent city clusters was very nice.
I had done paragliding before and was very excited with the idea of paramotoring. You basically sit on a chair and fly high in the sky. The Rann looks amazing from the sky.
The kids had fun riding trikkes.
After checking out we proceeded to Bhuj for a quick city tour before heading to airport. Bhuj is a very historic place and was founded by Roa Hamir in 1510 and was made the capital of Kutch by Rao Khengarji in 1549. Most of the city was however destroyed in the earthquake which hit the place in 2001. We visited Prag Mahal. It has a very colonial Italian gothic style architecture.
The city still has ruins from the Earthquake of 2001.
Magnificient White Rann, moonlike surface of salt marshes, camel rides, living in luxurious tents, paramotoring, zip-lining, ATV rides, surreal sunrises and sunsets, extreme desert weather, kutchhi folk songs, indo African tribal dance, Bhavai, athango, lip smacking food, variety of sightseeing from kalo dungar mountain to Mandvi beach to handicrafts village. After all it was an apt tagline – kutch nahi dekha toh kuch nahi dekha!
