Seen on the wall of our room at Rann RidersFrom Chennai to Ahmedabad by the Navjeevan Express ...two whole days on the train, when will we have faster trains in India? Junior is armed with ipod...without headphones. Just as I have a good laugh, Pritam also sheepishly announces he has left his behind too. Prasanna saves the day...she has a set and Vish is mightily relieved. (He took ownership of those headphones for the next whole week I should add. Thanks Prasanna!)
Arrive at Ahmedabad at 7:30 at night, to the heat and dust of Gujarat in the last week of April. 36 of us from MNS. Board our buses for Dasada (Point B on the map) stopping for dinner at a wayside Dhaba, where there is no Gujarati meal - only a Punjabi thali!
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SH18 takes us past lorries and more lorries. Going where? Mundra port? Its past midnight when we trundle into Rann Riders, which would be our home for the next few days. I am sharing with Prasanna and my "little loris" Vikas. Junior is off with Vijay and Pritam.
We are to be up at 5:30 the next morning, (actually the same morning, isnt it?), and i was sure that there would be many absentees for the morning ride. How wrong I was, even Junior was up and ready!!
The Little Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh and when I was in high school, I remember being fascinated by the markings we had to do over the Kutch peninsula, those dotted lines symbolising the area being under water for certain periods of the year, post-monsoon. I learnt that more than half of India's salt comes from here.
When we went, it was bone dry, as is typical of the summer months, and it was hard for me to imagine this whole stretch under shallow waters! What a treat that must be, and no wonder its a paradise for migratory birds! We do need to go back post-monsoon, I tell myself.
The lunar landscape is the only home to the Indian Wild Ass, called khur. As I jolted along under the Kutchi sun, I could not help but be amazed at this strange country I live in, grinding poverty all around, and yet a safe home for the wild ass.
Photo by Mr Ramanan. With the sun back-lighting them, this herd provided ample photo ops for all the shutter bugs!
Photo by Mr Ramanan. Notice the little black patch where the leg joins the body
Arrive at Ahmedabad at 7:30 at night, to the heat and dust of Gujarat in the last week of April. 36 of us from MNS. Board our buses for Dasada (Point B on the map) stopping for dinner at a wayside Dhaba, where there is no Gujarati meal - only a Punjabi thali!
View Larger Map
SH18 takes us past lorries and more lorries. Going where? Mundra port? Its past midnight when we trundle into Rann Riders, which would be our home for the next few days. I am sharing with Prasanna and my "little loris" Vikas. Junior is off with Vijay and Pritam.
We are to be up at 5:30 the next morning, (actually the same morning, isnt it?), and i was sure that there would be many absentees for the morning ride. How wrong I was, even Junior was up and ready!!
The Little Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh and when I was in high school, I remember being fascinated by the markings we had to do over the Kutch peninsula, those dotted lines symbolising the area being under water for certain periods of the year, post-monsoon. I learnt that more than half of India's salt comes from here.When we went, it was bone dry, as is typical of the summer months, and it was hard for me to imagine this whole stretch under shallow waters! What a treat that must be, and no wonder its a paradise for migratory birds! We do need to go back post-monsoon, I tell myself.
Here's a clip of the landscape, and some wild ass and a nilgai we saw.
The lunar landscape is the only home to the Indian Wild Ass, called khur. As I jolted along under the Kutchi sun, I could not help but be amazed at this strange country I live in, grinding poverty all around, and yet a safe home for the wild ass.
Here are some absolutely wonderful photos taken by Mr Ramanan
Photo by Mr Ramanan. With the sun back-lighting them, this herd provided ample photo ops for all the shutter bugs!
Photo by Mr Ramanan. Notice the little black patch where the leg joins the body
Photo by Mr Ramanan - They run quite fast, we saw them gallop along with the jeep, and were doing a fair pace.I wondered where they would reside during the rains. It seems they stay on the little elevated sandy scrub parts, called bets locally.
Next, the Flamingo experience.
I loved the video - it really brought the place to life and showed what a moonscape it is! Imagine if that jeep had broken down there! So, vehicles just drive through the marsh bed? Are there boats in the wet season, or does one just scan the scene from the perimeter? Where do the wild asses go then?
ReplyDeleteI guess you will only get Punjabi food in a Punjabi dhaba!! Ha ha!
Your room looks like it was much nicer than our dorm in Parambikulam!
Kamini.
Oh - and as always, Mr. Ramanan's photos are stunning. I love how the asses were back-lit.
ReplyDeleteKamini.
Thanks, Ambika. Nice to re-live the week.... waiting for the rest of the 'report'!
ReplyDeleteI have lived so close to the Rann in my early life, yet never visited.
ReplyDeleteNice title.. grin.. grin..
Well Ambika great. The vast expanse of dry land amazing The wild asses are cute and which stupid ass gave them the name wild. There are cute.
ReplyDeleteGirls also forget and boys expect their moms to remind them.
The photos are gorgeous . Tell Ramaman I am jealous.
appa
So awesome ya! Wish I was there.. We'll go post-monsoon sometime ok :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wonderful post! Loved the video! The wild ass is really a very cute animal!! Waiting for the next part !
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh, Tuticorin
Thanks all. Kamini, the wild asses huddle together on the raised "bets", is what I understood, during the monsoon.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mr Ramanan has a way with the camera!
Shantaram, your "kadis" and your son's quick-witted replies added to the fun!
Divya, that would be so good, yes!