Looking Into the Nature

Isn't it strange how human beings long for a successful but peaceful life? Although, this sounds a bit oxymoron, but our souls do crave for a serene environment at least once from this daily hectic schedule. I am also not an exception to this. Even though I am writing this blog within a lockdown period, I have actually executed this tour in late February 2020, when the mother earth was started becoming warm and welcoming the colorful spring in India.

Right now I live in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to pursue my Ph.D. from NIPER-A. It's my 1st year of the course and the best opportunity to explore the natural beauty of the state. My family is always fond of traveling, therefore, I have already traveled a major portion of India. The western part of India was actually remaining from our travel list and now we did not want to miss the opportunity. So we started our journey from Gujarat.

22/02/2020- The Little Rann of Kutch

We started our journey from Gandhinagar in the morning. The distance of Kutch from Gandhinagar is about 168 km by road which should take approximately four and a half or five hours. But yeah, thanks to Ahmedabad's famous traffic it took about seven hours. Therefore, my first advice to the folks planning for Kutch, please do start before the sunrise to avoid the office time crowd of Ahmedabad.

We all know from our school's geography syllabus that the great salty marshland of Kutch is a big area of about 7500 sq. km situated in the district of Kutch and divided into Little Rann of Kutch AKA LRK and Greater rann of Kutch, precisely Rann of Kutch. We started our tour of Rann from LRK. Some travelers feel that LRK can be done after visiting the salt desert but we preferred to visit LRK first. The great mistake that we did that we started late. The beauty of the LRK is actually lying on its wildlife who are prominently visible in the morning and at the twilight. The major attraction of the LRK is 'Wild ass sanctuary' which is as per our driver- ''Gadhe ka bag'' and ''Pata nahi log gadhe dekhne itni dur kyu ate hai?''

No, it's not only 'Gadhe' but also the arid beauty of nature. A person who never visited the place can not understand why this place is unique. The land stands for her own rough beauty with thousands of migratory birds especially the Flamingoes, Cormorants and many more which I can not name. It is the dwell of small shy foxes, blue bulls, wolfs and obviously the rare Asian wild ass. But as I said earlier, we missed the major wildlife due to the wrong timing.

To explore the LRK, one can hire an open jeep for a three hours safari within the marshland. The land is designed with deep cracked lines and occasional wet portions where migratory birds can be seen. Few big dumps of raw salts were visible which are dumped at the time of salt panning - the major earning source of the local tribes.

We finished our LRK trip quite early as we made a sudden change in our plan and started for Bhuj. We took a halt at Bhuj for that night with a strong determination to start at earliest in the next day.

23/02/2020- The Greater Rann of Kutch

Although I am assigning the day 2 of our tour as a trip to Greater Rann of Kutch, but we actually tried to cover up the day with three major viewpoints. This we were in time or rather a bit of before time so we decided to do some sight scene in the Bhuj city itself. We took our first halt at Pragmahal and Ainamahal. Pragmahal is an ancient 19th-century palace constructed at the time of Rao Pragmalji II. The Mahal is famous for its architectural excellence with a combination of Roman and Indo-Gothic style. Although the palaces were damaged at the time of the famous Gujarat earthquake in 2001, but it is not left forlorn rather restoration works are going at a good pace. A small market was there inside the palaces which was quite surprising, but the Kutch styled embroidered fabrics available were pretty authentic and cheap. Apart from all these, I was mesmerized by seeing the beautiful clock tower at the inner portion of the Pragmahal. An age-old pulley system at the opposite of the clock tower also attracts attention due to its appearance. Moreover, the unique beauty of the palaces are sufficient to satisfy a broad range of travelers, from a novice to an experienced architect.

From the Pragmahal, we again started to our main destination- the white desert.

After a short journey of about 2 hours, we reached to the White desert. While approaching, we saw wide lanes and patches of white soils, actually the salt-rich soil. The soil is so saline in this region that only halophytes can be seen. Nevertheless, we managed all our permits and finally reached to the White desert.

A person who never visited this place, can not even imagine how mysterious and picturesque a desert can be. Generally, whenever we think about deserts, we imagine an arid land of sand with few cactuses. The white desert is totally different to that. Apparently, it resembles to any cold desert. The sunlight reflects the white layer of salt and makes the region extra luminous. There are camel rides offered by the locals and a tall view tower from which the beauty of the desert can be easily viewed in a panorama.

Our next and final destination from the white dessert was the famous Kalo Dungar or the black marble highland. On the way of Kalo Dungar, we experienced a lifetime event. Yes, I am talking about the anti-gravity hill. Before planning to this place we were actually unaware of this. While approaching a steep slope of the black marble hill, we suddenly noticed that something is pulling our car. The phenomenon was so sudden that all of us sat mesmerized and astonished in the car. Not for one time but about 3 times the same thing happened. Then we saw a roadside board which was scientifically described the phenomenon. It was nothing but a magnetic phenomenon that is still under research. A particular area of the Kalo Dungar represents a strong magnetic field and any mobile object coming across the region can feel the anti-gravity movement. Imagine how awesome an experience it was!!! I personally feel this was the best experience of the days trip.

When we reached the viewpoint of the Kalo Dungar it was about to dusk and we saw the Dattatreya temple, the last village of India, the famous India Bridge (which I have clicked with my digicam!!). Dattatreya or the Dattaguru is believed as an incarnation of Lord Bramha, Vishnu and Maheshwar who was born as the son of saint Atri (Datta= giver, Atreya= son of Atri). The popular folklores describe him as the great giver who offered his body parts to hungry wild jackals. However, from the sunset point of Kalo Dungar, we could see the great white desert appearing as a white patch and this scenic beauty is inexplicable.