We had been to lot of places in the mountains and we wanted to explore some different terrain. Kutch gave us that, we found it to be unique as we have never been to white desert before. The day we got to know about this place it was in our priority queue of “to do” list. We wanted to spend time at Rann and enjoy the solitude it offers.And we did that!!!!
Rann – check.
The USP of the trip was the sunset both at Mandvi and Rann.
A minimum three day trip is required to visit Great Rann of Kutch, kala dungar (highest point in Kutch), India bridge (last Indian post in Kutch), Mandvi beach and handicraft village. Great of Rann of Kutch, Kala Dungar and India Bridge are in opposite direction of Mandvi from Bhuj (both places take around 1.5- 2 hrs to reach from Bhuj). Hodka village and Dhordo village are two places where lot of resorts are present, though many resorts are coming up on the way to Rann. Dhordo is last village after which Rann starts. Dhordo has many resorts. So a 2 days for Great Rann, Kala Dungar, India Bridge and 1-2 days for Mandvi is sufficient for a short trip to cover the important places( the more you stay in Kutch, more you can explore and the more you will fall in love with Kutch).
There are amazing resorts in Bhuj, Great Rann of Kutch and Mandvi. Near Great Rann of Kutch you can stay at Hodka village(has few resorts and it is about 18 kms from GRK), Dhordo village(its the beginning of GRK and has tents are on the white desert). We would suggest that you stay in these village resorts rather than in Bhuj, only then you will get feel of Rann(we stayed in Shaam-e-sarhad, amazing resort with great service and food).
Great Rann of Kutch: This is the White desert- Spread in 7,505.22 square km. It is magnificent and is one of its kind. You need to experience sunset at this location. We had planned a 3 day trip to Kutch, during which we spent the first night at Shaam-e-Sarhad- a village resort in Hodka, food there was awesome and we got a feel of staying in village with facilities of urban area. We thoroughly enjoyed the handicraft village during the day and in the evening we went to the Rann. We had to walk about 4-5 Km inside the Rann so that we can get away from the crowd and actually feel the white desert. The experience was extraordinary and tiring. We found that desert was sapping the energy from us and we couldn’t even sit as the salt was wet. We had thought to stay till night and enjoy the moonlit night, but then unfortunately it was a no moon night.
Kala Dungar is highest point in Kutch. At 458m above sea level this place gives a panoramic view of the Great Rann. Kala Dungar has many small mountains, so you can enjoy hiking on these mountains (hiking here is easy). At Kala dungar we did a small trek around hills and enjoyed the view of the Rann from top. Indian bridge was okay, as we did not have the permit to go further in so there was nothing much to do or see
It is a private beach owned by Mandvi Beach Resort and one of the cleanest one that we have visited. You can stay at this beach in the luxurious tents or just spend a day( as we did) by paying 550 INR per person(lunch is complimentary). Last day we spent at Mandvi beach which was the most relaxing part of the trip. We had to skip eating Dabeli at Mandvi because of time constraint (Madvi is place where Dabeli was invented). We felt that we should have spent more time at each destination but then we hope we go back again someday.
During Rann Utsav (Dec-March), tent city is setup with good quality tents and good facilities. Also a lot of shops and stalls are setup where handicraft and food items are sold. Musical and dance program is also organised for the people staying in the tent city. The best thing, about staying in the tent city is that you are at the Rann(literally) and hence can easily enjoy sunset and sunrise. But resorts which are a bit far off from the tent city are very calm and peaceful and they too host cultural programs at night.
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