Diwali Road Trip - Day 3
Day 3
From Bhuj, Rann of Kuchch is about 1 & 1/2hrs away. It is a single lane road, with nothing on either side. There are no petrol bunks, food stops or villages until you reach Birandhiyara village. The nearest petrol bunk is in Bhuj.
1)Places to stay closest to Rann of Kutch are Kutch Rann Resort (Kutchrann Resort ) at Dhordo and Hodko Village (Hodka Village) .
2) Permit form for entering Rann is available at Rann Permit Form. The form is also available at the Police check post @ Birandhiyara village. One form is enough for the entire family. copy of id proof is to be given.There is a fee of Rs.100 per person and Rs.50 per car . If you are visiting during peak holiday season, be prepared for long queues. The check-post is manned by a single staff with one computer !! If you are planning to visit Rann a couple of times during the stay, please mention the duration of the stay to the issuing authority. This will be noted in the permit. BSF (Border Security Force) has a check post at the entrance to the Rann and they are very strict with respect to the permits given. The police check post is normally open between 10 am and 5:30 pm.
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3) To go to Vidhyakot, you have to get the permit from Border Security Office or Police commissioner's office at Bhuj. The permit can be arranged beforehand either by a travel agent or the hotel. The required paperwork will have to be given 15days in advance. You can also try to get the permit by yourself. Check for government holidays. Since we went during Diwali (which is also their New Year) the permits couldn't be procured either by ourself or with anyone's help.
4) The Rann of Kutch is also called "The White Sand". The water in the Rann gets evaporated and a thin layer of salt is seen on the surface and hence the name "White Rann".This year the rainy season got extended by a month. This led to the late onset of the evaporation of the water in the Rann.
5) The weather -It was early November when we visited The Rann Of Kutch. Daytime was dry and hot at around 35 C. Nights were cool and pleasant with temperature around 22 C.
6) There are quite a few shopping opportunities...neither of us were interested and so i cannot write about this in detail. The hotel should be able to give information about shopping.
7) There are quite a lot of things to do around Bhuj, but we decided to just visit the places around Dhordo - Sunrise at Rann, India Bridge, Tropic of Cancer and Sunset at Kaala Dongar.
After a good night’s rest and a sumptuous breakfast we decided to do drive around Dhordo. Our first priority was to get the permit for visiting the Rann. There were only 4 families ahead of us in the queue and it took us around 15mins to get our permit. Then our next stop was “India Bridge”.
India Bridge - Photography of the bridge is strictly prohibited.There is a warning sign board 500m ahead of the bridge.
We requested the soldier to go down to the river underneath the bridge, to see the beautiful colors of the water upclose. We were instructed strictly that the photographs should not include any part of the bridge. The sand near the water was very slushy and slippery to the extent that madhu’s shoes got stuck in it !! he had to first remove his leg out of the shoe and then pull hard to remove the shoes from the slush !!
500 meters before the India bridge, you get a beautiful view of the small portion of Rann on either side of the road.
Out next stop was "Tropic of Cancer". The board is roughly around 16kms from the Birandhiyara Check post driving towards Bhuj.
We were glad that we stayed at Dhordo. If we had stayed in Bhuj, It would have otherwise been a long drive to take an afternoon nap !! Post lunch and an afternoon nap, we headed to Kalo Dungar. It is best seen around sunset. During the rest of the day, because of the intense heat and haze, the view gets blurred.
It is an interesting drive through villages and up the mountain in a narrow single lane road (poorly maintained)! One gets a good view of the Rann from atop the mountain. The road takes you to a parking lot very near to the sunset viewing area. The sunset viewing area is clean and well maintained but with no clean toilet facility !! I
There is a Dattateraya Temple and an army post at the top of Kalo Dungar. Every evening after the aarthi at the temple, the food offered to the deity is placed on a platform nearby.
A pack of jackals from the mountains visits to eat this everyday. Though on the day we visited, the jackals decided not to make an appearance !
Every night @ 7:30 pm, the guests at the resort were entertained with folklore music performed by the locals. It was a relaxing experience sitting on the cots and chairs laid outside near the open-air stage.
The only thing left for us to do was to see the Sun rise at the Rann the next day morning. Since visiting Vidhyakot was out of our purview, we decided to leave Dhordo the next day morning after breakfast and head to Dholavira.
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