Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Jeep Safari in Little Rann of Kutch
Today was the anticipated game drive where, hopefully, wild asses, stood waiting in the
desert. Bird-watching guests were already finishing breakfast at 7:00a to begin checking off
birds. The Rann Riders, important activities are: cross-desert safaris across the Little Rann
of Kutch in open jeeps to hunt for wild asses; and bird watching. Both involve early morning
departures. Don't forget a warm sweater or jacket! The windy, open jeep is cold until late
morning, and December/January is still winter in Gujarat. Temperatures rise to 45 Celsius/
114 Fahrenheit during the summer, way too hot for me.
Fruit, juices, yogurt, different kinds of jams and jellies, eggs to order, toast, and coffee
is served at breakfast. While eating, the beautiful, male peacock casually strolled in for its
breakfast. Fed by the restaurant staff each day, it ate, walked over to one of the couches and
sat down to rest. Completely full, we grabbed cameras and walked to where our jeep was
waiting at 8:00a.
Jeep, with naturalist/driver, headed out around the lakes and marshes to look for birds
first. A Black Shouldered kite, White Crested Kingfisher, Graylag Geese, Spoon Bills, and
Open Billed Stork. Out of the jeep to walk near the lake, filled with water birds, and under-
whelming to two non-birders. Twitchers know to bring serious telephoto lenses and heavy
duty binoculars. With neither, bird watching was boring...
Enough already, let's go look for wild asses. Two minute later, our jeep had a flat tire.
This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem; flats are an everyday occurrence driving through the
desert.
However
, another driver took the
jack
out of this jeep to use yesterday, and didn't re-
place it. Now
that's
a problem. Driver phoned Rann Riders with instructions to send a jack
by another vehicle.
Guide Niru suggested we walk down the road into a small village while waiting to in-
teract with the locals. Great idea! Two Rabari women walked towards us with bundles on
heads, stopped to talk (Niru translated), showed us their jewelry and
facial tattoos
. A cobra
shrine stood along the road, worshipped by the locals. The one-block village had a small
shop with Ashoka leaves draped along the top, to ward off evil, and a local invited us into
his spacious house compound. Flat tire fixed by now, we set off again on the hunt for wild
asses in the desert.
Hunting for Wild Asses in Little Rann of Kutch - Gujarat, India
Little Rann of Kutch is a unique landscape that was once part of the Arabian Sea. As the land
separated from the sea by geological forces, it became a vast plain encrusted with salt. Com-
pletely inundated with water during the rainy season, a broken pipeline created the same
problem today. The broken pipeline flooded egress into the desert, and the monsoon was late
this year, all of which meant, roads into the desert were impassable. Because of that, we de-
