The Beautiful Little Rann of Kutch

“Kutch Nahi Dekha toh Kuch Nahi Dekha” the famous tagline of the Gujrat Tourism has become rightfully true when we reached the Bajana creek of Little Rann of Kutch early in the cold morning of First weekend of February 2020.

I looked ahead it was a vast empty expanse from horizon to horizon flat white cracked and utterly barren land in winter and the odd shrub making it strangely claustrophobic. A faint track indicated our trail or jeep driver cum guide Gopal, a young man from local Rabari tribe points his finger, “look around do you see the water everywhere? it’s a Mirage.” Indeed the horizon shimmered but came nearer.

This 4953 Sq. Km. wild life Sanctuary was established on 1973 to protect the Asiatic Wild Ass, at that time they were in danger.

Conservations led to a massive recovery from 350+ to now about 2000+ in number. Now Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) Wild Life Sanctuary has become a ‘Ramsar’ Site. However, the increase in number of Asiatic Wild Ass has created confrontation with the neighborhood people. In Gir it was a delightful presence of both Lion and Maldharis because the local people feels power less against the stringent wild life protection rules to curb the wild animals appetite for their crop.

The Entry point of this beautiful wild life sanctuary are from this two side, one is from Bazana Creek, 12km from Dasada and another is Jhinjhawada 20 km away from Dasada.

Any tourist to the little Run of Kutch is bound to see the extraordinary Asiatic Wild Ass, chestnut brown and white in colour locally called “GhudKhur”.They can gallop touching 70 km per hour speed, generally they tend to ran whenever they face any car but we are fortunate enough to see a large group of wild ass, about 29 in numbers. I clicked their different moods, their leadership clash. Little Rann Of Kutch is a place to see other animals also namely Jungle Cat, Desert Fox, Neelgai, Black Buck, Wild Boar with a huge presence of different Migratory Birds, specially the Flamingos.

Our tour schedule at LRK for 3 nights and 4 days with 5 Safaris. The resort will provide us the car and an experienced driver cum guide for the safaris. There are two sides to visit, one on the Bajana Creek Side (requires Forest Departments Permit) and other side is Naya Talao side without any permit. In LRK there are about 300 species of birds, several species of Ducks, Storks, Cranes, Raptors, falcons, Harriers and Eagles are at Bajana Creek and Naya Talao. My Camera clicks for innumerous numbers for different birds and we spend about 2 hours to capture the moment of very rare bird Peregrine Falcon.

The Little Rann of Kutch is a utterly barren with cracked and muddy land in winter but in monsoon it is flooded with water. Then the animals take shelter to upper lands, known as Bets Runn, which is mostly silent except for where animals or birds congregate, and some machine sounds from the small salt making units over the area. LRK is also the top salt producer in our country.

From different magazines, web pages we were informed about the Asiatic Wild Ass, Flamingos and other rare birds and the flat cracked soil but I found also the desolation and the enormity of the Little Rann, which gave an added flavour in our safaris.

I want to visit Little Rann of Kutch again and again to capture more moments of rare species blending the essence of anguish and enormity with my soul.

Some important tourist information
Preferable time to Visit : November – February
Where to Stay: Dasada, Run Rider, +91 0 9824072075, Patdi, Bhavna Resort, +91 0 9427216059
(Rs. 2500/- per day for DBC inclusive food and one safari)
The Royal Safari Camp, Bazana Rs. 4500/- per day DBC
Hotel: Ashirwad (near Patdi Bus Stand)
Lunch & Dinner: Preferably in your resort, where North Indian food is available
How to Reach: From Ahmedabad by car-either via Surendernagar or Viramgram to Bazana Creek, about 160km Distance.

Thank you very much for reading my journey in Little Rann of Kutch relating to my wild life tour. Your comments and encouragement help me a lot to write more wild life tours in clickstory.

Writer: Mr. Soumik Banerjee, MCA. Photography is his passion. He loves to click wild life, street photography. He is in the process of making a digital archive on Indian Dance and Music for future generations with his sir Parichay Chakrabarti. He posts Indian dance pictures in social media like Facebook on daily basis.