The White Wonderland of Kutch

Kutch had been on my travel wish-list since a long time, and my joy knew no bounds when I finally booked that long-awaited trip to the white wonderland, that too for a full-moon experience in the middle of the salt desert.

After a stop-over of some sort for a day in Ahmedabad, my friend and I met our group in the wee hours of Day 2. We had people from Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, UP, and Kolkata in the group, so it made for some interesting introductory chit-chat. We got into our bus and were super-excited to experience Kutch in all its splendour. After stopping for some tea, we visited the Modhera Sun Temple, an ancient temple dedicated to the Sun God and dating back to the Chaulukya dynasty. The step-well here is eye-catching, and so is the detailing of the sculptures.

By afternoon, we had checked into the Little Rann Resort in Zainabad. We freshened up quickly and headed to the legendary Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary of the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK)! By evening, we had spotted not just the wild asses that the region is famous for, but some flamingos too! The LRK gifted us an awesome sunset, and we just couldn't stop posing!

As the Sun went down, we were thrilled to watch the beauty of the moon-lit Kutch unfold! We saw some unusual activity in the night sky, and we could clearly see a trail! Nobody was sure what it was, as it seemed that an object was moving slowly from one end of the sky to the other (unlike a comet or a shooting star)! We also went to the salt marshes to check out how salt crystals are extracted! The night was spent listening to ghost stories and weird travel tales by the bonfire!

Day 3 began with a quick breakfast, followed by some shopping from a few local craftsmen and women. The day was spent in a long road trip to the Great Rann of Kutch! We caught the sunset in time and then headed to our resort in Dholavira!

Day 4 began with a visit to the Road to Heaven, the 30km stretch that runs from Dholavira to Dhordo and is flanked by endless salt marshes. We witnessed an out-of-this-world sunrise there and broke into a dance!

The afternoon was spent hiking up to a secret location with awesome views of the salt marsh! (It's meant to be a secret because it's not a touristy place and locals want it to remain that way). The Flamingo Resort, where we stayed, gave off earthy vibes and offered some Insta-worthy photo ops too!

Post lunch, we visited the Harappan ruins of Dholavira! Dholavira is one of the largest Indus Valley Civilization sites in India, the other prominent one, Mohenjo-Daro, being in Pakistan! We were amazed to learn how "modern" their city planning was! Though they had class segregation, in terms of the segmentation of houses, they had a well-planned sewage and drainage system. One of our group members wanted to test the words of the guide and went in from one end of the sewage opening and came out from the other! We saw the granaries, the city centre, and an amphitheatre-like area! Though we were being baked under the scorching Sun, we were all smiles by the end of the visit!

Totally drained after a day of walking and hiking under the Sun, we were a little irritated when we were told we were to go out for another sunset in the evening! Little did we know this would turn out to be one of the most surreal sights of our lives! The sunset amid the salt marsh (at the Khadir Bet sunset point), was other-worldly! No words for it! We also caught the moon on the other side!

The night was even more beautiful! It was a full moon night, and we spent it on the vast white desert, under the open skies! We had a group of local musicians accompanying us, who treated us to some local folk music! The full moon experience on the Rann was the highlight of our trip, and though the pics don't do justice to the experience we had, I will remember this night for days to come!

Soon, it was time to bid the group goodbye. We started our journey back to Ahmedabad on day 5, but made sure to check out another architectural marvel of Gujarat (dating back to the Chaulukya era), the stepwell called Rani ki Vav in Patan, which, apart from being a UNESCO heritage site, also appears on the 100-rupee note!

Thanks to SoloYolo and their team, my Kutch dreams finally came true!