The Little Rann of Kutch
We were happy to leave Cochin and our flight up to Gujarat proved largely uneventful, apart from a disapproving robot cleaning machine in the baggage hall at Ahmedabad airport that seemed to be following us and beeping when we got in its way.
We’d arranged to be picked up by a Mr Munir in his Suzuki Maruti mini-van to take us the 3 hour journey to Zainabad, where we were staying at the Desert Coursers lodge on the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch. Alas, the Maruti lacked any internal airflow at all, causing Helen to rapidly wilt in the 43 degree heat. Mr Munir asked Helen to sit in front, swapping with a passenger from a local village in an attempt to get some kind of breeze from the struggling dashboard vents. In a strange cultural misunderstanding, the passenger was made to sit in the back of the van on our luggage rather than sit next to me in place of Helen and no amount of persuasion would change his or Mr Munir’s mind. The poor bloke continued to sweat it out in the back all journey, even after a pitstop at the garage to get the aircon fixed (which at least changed our level of comfort from ‘I feel like a dying dog in a car with the windows closed’ to ‘We might have a decent chance of surviving this’). Coolly, if that term could ever be applied, without anyone speaking a word, nor anyone else outside seeming to mind, Mr Munir drove us down the wrong side of the road for about 2 miles to take a shortcut from the garage, weaving his way slowly through the oncoming traffic……
The gleaming, glitzy impression created by the new Ahmedabad airport arrivals lounge gradually gave way to familiar sights, sounds, smells and traffic madness. Then, into rural Gujarat, tractors and long distance trucks became the norm as we passed through small towns and villages. A common sight on the way was small groups of people carrying bright red flags, slowly walking down the road and responding with waves to honks from the traffic. We discovered these were just some of many thousands of pilgrims that make the journey to the temples near Rajkot as thanksgiving for a positive experience in life – an act of devotion as gratitude for the recovery of a sick relative or the birth of a healthy baby. Some are on the road for weeks, slowly making their way across the state and receiving alms from local villages.
Desert Coursers is a very charming ‘eco-lodge’ run by the charismatic Mr Dhanraj and peppered with traditional design Koobas – rustic, round mini-villas with corridors linking to round mini-bathrooms. Delightful little place with delicious home cooked food.
Next morning we ventured out into the Little Rann of Kutch on safari. The Rann (desert) is a huge expanse of salt-flats and scrubland that form a 5,000 km sq wildlife sanctuary, best known for its diverse birdlife and the endemic Asiatic Wild Ass. Our ride was a home-made canter, a small open van with cushioned seating welded on – just the job for wildlife viewing, though it made us look like passing royalty being paraded to the people in the villages we drove through. As we joked and pretended to give royal waves we noticed people were waving back…. Amazingly friendly place though – kids, adults alike calling out, saying ‘hello’, or a bit worryingly, ‘goodbye’.
Sumera lake on the outskirts of the Rann has a vast number of Greater and Lesser flamingos that we approached as stealthy as possible on foot, however our progress was not cautious enough – the entire flock took off, seemingly en masse, and circled over us before settling a more comfortable distance away. A remarkable sight with their bright pink plumage more evident in flight. The only noise from wings beating and the occasional cry of protest.
Greater flamingos take flight
Our first encounter with the Asiatic Wild Ass was less enchanting, though no less hypnotic. A solo male had wandered over to our abandoned canter as we stalked the flamingos. As we returned, he let it be known that he was in the mood for love, if you catch my drift. I have some rather pornographic evidence that can’t be included here for decorum’s sake….
Asiatic Wild Ass (appendage rehoused)
Whether it was the same chap or not we don’t know, but we came across a group of female asses later on – six or seven girls were huddling together watching another of their clan being chased down by a male clearly intent on having his wicked way. To her credit the female made it known she was slightly less keen by kicking him in the face as he tried to nibble her behind. They went round and round in a wide circle at full pelt before disappearing over a hillock. Whether any love was consummated remained to be seen…
Come on love, you know you want to…..
Hope he leaves us alone….
A hot, hot, hot afternoon….the kind of crushing heat it’s hard to even think in. Our fan had stopped working and the aircon only threw out more hot air. We were glad to go on our afternoon safari and this time on to the Rann proper, a barren, brown, largely featureless plain with streaks of salt encrustation and deep ruts where vehicles had traversed in wetter times. The terrain is hard on vehicles and hard on the body as you slowly and uncomfortably bounce your way over deep trenches. The heated breeze hitting us as we sped over flatter stretches was intense. As far we know, we’re the last tourists here this season and it’s clear why no-one wants to hang around when it’s this hot. Our lodge is closing when we leave. The animals just get on with it of course. Desert foxes, jackals, wild boar, more wild ass presented themselves obligingly to counter our discomfort.
Desert Fox
The whole area used to be an inland sea, and salt continues to be manufactured from the numerous pans here. We stopped at an operation run by a family who manufacture and sell salt to the massive Tata company. There are few places we’ve been that feel as desolate as this, though it’s not remote with several villages nearby. For ten months of the year, the salt panners live in a rudimentary shack, hardening the ground for the salt with a specific trampling technique using bare feet and enclosing the area with a foot high wall. They irrigate the hardened ground from deep salt water wells and painstakingly rake and collect the salt crystals over a period of several weeks, then repeat the process. The going rate at the moment is around 23p for 100 kilos of salt. Through the season the family (about seven strong) earn about £1,000 between them. To say this is a tough life doesn’t begin to cover it – it manacles each generation in a perpetual cycle of toil – the kids work the land with the adults, miss out on education and end up running the operation themselves. The family we talked to had been doing it for eight generations so far and saw no other means to improve their lot.…
Salt panning operation on the Rann
Salt panning operation on the Rann
Pumping salt water
Back on safari, our nighttime search for striped hyena proved elusive, but we were lucky enough to catch the visit of a local porcupine on our return to the lodge, noisily smacking his chops eating carrots and cabbage.
Subsequent safaris yielded much the same – always us alone in the desert, sighting the skittish wildlife, glad to be out in the open and fresh, if hot, desert air.
I thought I’d try my hand at a bit of organised portrait photography whilst here. The local Mir community, with their distinct jewellery and make-up, is happy to pose for pictures, for cash of course, and is easily organised. My ‘models’ turned up three hours late and seemed more interested in trying to sell me their copious bangles as opposed to having their picture taken. They’re seemingly more comfortable straight-faced and the better shots are serious looking. I asked one of the girls to smile in an attempt to lighten the mood. She grimaced as if I’d trodden on her foot (though who knows, perhaps I did). Not a huge success, but I did get a couple of decent shots.
Mir community maiden
We met two lovely couples at Zainabad. One from Paris, the other from London. Interestingly both roughly our age, both recently retired, both who thought ‘sod it, lets go travelling for months.’ It’s contagious it seems! They both told us about the delights of old Ahmedabad and wonderful stepwell at Patan nearby. The joys of flexible travel – we changed our plans there and then and headed off to see what the fuss was about…
Simon (11th April 2025)
Wow you two certainly put yourselves through lots of pain . Hot climate
No air and uncomfortable rides but of course its no pain no gain for fabulous experiences.
Yes it wasn’t overly comfortable, but the rewards were far greater that the discomfort
The animals really do love you where ever you go. Hope he got lucky, all the ladies and not 1 showing any interest would be awful.
Sounds and looks stunning, the uncomfortable journey long forgotten I bet!
I hope he got lucky too, the amount of effort that was going into it. Talk about playing hard to get though…..
Fabulous place – no-one around, wildlife to yourself..
Thoroughly enjoying reading your updates. You do paint a vivid picture with brilliant writing.
Thanks Alison – very nice of you to say that. We’re enjoying doing them too!
Wow. So jealous. Your retirement couldn’t be so different from mine. Need to start my own web site on ripping out and fitting a new bathroom for my daughter. LoL. Anyhoo looks amazing. Keep em coming and stay safe….
Ha ha – I can just see you doing videos on how to plumb-in a bath. Look forward to that…
Looks like an incredible place, so desolate and dry but with all that life! Hope it cools down a bit for you but I suspect that won’t happen anytime soon
It was all of that, but strangely lovely with it. We think the Rann is the second hottest place we’ve been. Still had a way to go to beat the 55 degreee heat we had in the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia a few years back, but nevertheless, a real strength sapper…..
This is brilliant! Nice morning read, with laugh out loud moments!
Cheers David. It was very funny at times. Seeing that Ass makes you feel a little less manly though…..
Stunning photos as always.