We had been planning for Rann of
Kutch Festival visit for close to 2 years and finally it all started to come
together in the winter of 2019. What started as only the Rann visit slowly
expanded to covering more places in Gujarat..
Riders:
Ashok – Bajaj Dominar
Mahesh – Versys 650
Day 01: Bangalore to Mumbai
Our travel plans were different
to and from Ahmedabad. I would start on bike from Bangalore, on 20th
Dec, while Ashok would fly to Ahmedabad on 21st and we planned to
meet-up on 21st evening. Ashok rented a bike in Ahmedabad and that
was our meet-up point.
On 20th around 5AM my
journey started and destination for today was Mumbai where I had planned to
meet my college friend. This time around, I did not have any issues with the
bike unlike last time with panniers.. There was no swaying of the front-end and
traffic was less. I managed to reach my friend’s place by 9PM, but was
thoroughly exhausted. Needed a good night sleep and got one..!
Day 02: Mumbai to Ahmedabad
Next day morning, another friend
came to meet us and after yummy breakfast made by friend’s mom, started to pack
up.. That’s when we noticed that rear tire air was less and visit to nearby
puncture shop revealed that one of the earlier fixed puncture had started a
slow leak. Got it fixed and luckily Mumbai traffic was comparatively less and
was out of Mumbai by 11AM..
I expected ride to Ahmedabad to
be traffic free.. but was surprised to see all the 3 lanes chock-a-block with
cars and trucks.. Weaving through the hordes of steel took up more time than
expected and the roads cleared up only after Baroda. From there on unleashed
full potential of Versys for over 100kms to Ahmedabad and reached the place
around 6.30pm.
Ashok’s flight had been delayed
by more than 2 hours and it was around 8pm, when we met. Got the bike docs done
and found a nearby hotel to stay for the night. Tomorrow, the adventure
begins..
Day 03: Ahmedabad to Zainabad
We bid farewell to our host Mr.
Dhanraj at the Desert Coursers after a delicious breakfast and headed towards
Bhuj.. The road conditions were good and bad in certain sections and what I
remember the most of this section was the dust all around.. It was some kind of
fine dust and the wind was whipping it around everywhere.. We reached Bhuj
around noon.. Ashok had to look out for church to attend the Xmas mass on 25th
morning and he found the church he was looking for. The priest suggested Hotel
Noorani for good non-veg food and that is where we headed and filled our
stomach. From there, a quick ride of 80 kms landed us at Mehfeel-e-Rann resort
in Hodka village.
We did not know the procedure and
roads to White Rann, some 20kms from here.. So, hired a jeep from the resort
and were at the White Rann around 6 pm, just in time for the sunset.. The White
Rann did not disappoint, after visiting there you would really understand why it
is called White Rann.. Everywhere you look, it is just white and plain. It
seems it had rained around 3 weeks back and the Rann was little moist to walk
on.. The camel that we rode on started slipping and sliding after a distance
and we had to disembark. I don’t know how the ecosystem of the Rann is, but, we
could see lot of dead fish and aqua creatures.. and surprisingly they were not
rotten due to the salt.. Didn’t know how they got there..
The Rann was truly magnificent,
very salty and from Google Maps, you can make out that the area is huge.. The
festivities for the common man though were a let-down.. We could see lots of
lights and activities in the Tent Village, but outside it was pretty docile. We
slept well as my main aim of the trip was achieved.
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| Rann Utsav Entry.. This was for general public |
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| Going into Rann.. All camels were beautifully decorated |
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| Walking into the sunset |
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| White Rann Sunset.. What colors! |
Day 05: Around White Rann
This day started very slow for us
and we left the resort around 11AM. There is a hilltop, Kala Dungar, that
overlooks the Rann and Dholavira and we headed there.. When we were around 8kms
from Kala Dungar, an army man was standing with his duffle bag waiting to go
home and asked for a lift.. On my bike, Ashok’s bag was tied up, so he selected
Ashok’s bike for the ride. The army man was tall and had a small paunch, plus,
he kept his bag between Ashok and himself (on hindsight he should have slung it
on his back). So, effectively he was sitting on the smallest possible space on
the Dominar seat and no place to hold.. I was waiting for them few meters ahead
watching the proceedings in the rear view mirror… Ashok revved the engine and
started on 1st gear.. And stopped.. When the view cleared a bit, we
saw that the army man was on the road with his legs open and was on his bum..
Apparently the moment the bike started the army man fell off the bike onto the
road. It took the mightiest effort from both of us to not laugh at that place..
The army man got up, dusted himself up and bid us farewell.. He did not want
the lift even when we offered him to sit on my bike.. So off we went.. That was
the day when we let down the Indian Army!
Kala Dungar was pretty crowded
and we had a camel ride and some refreshments up there.. The place is neatly
maintained and you do get beautiful views of the Rann, some parts of which were
filled with water.. We could also see the ‘India bridge’ through rented
binoculars.. This is a bridge on the road to Pakistan and tourists can go up to
the bridge.. After munching on some good masala corn and sugarcane juices we
rode around 15 kms to the bridge..
The bridge was heavily guarded by
Indian Army and the road was part of roadway around the Rann, along Pakistan
border. The army personnel to whom we spoke to, mentioned that summer
temperatures are above 40 and winters are not much cold. We left in 10 minutes,
could not take photo at that place and took a sneak peek photo from a
distance..
We inquired the hotelier at the
place we had lunch about any place where we can buy authentic Kutch region
dresses.. They suggested and took us to a place in nearby village where they
were manufacturing such dresses for the companies. I picked up couple of
dresses.. On our way back to the resort, we found few more handicrafts shops
and stopped by. We were astonished at the low prices for some exquisite
embroidery bed sheets and the amount of time needed to make them. Bought 1 more
item and back at resort by sunset.. We needed this relaxed day in the middle of
the trip!
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| View from Kala Dungar |
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| India Bridge |
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| View from Kala Dungar |
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| Rajputs of Kala Dungar .. |
Day 06: Dholavira
We left from White Rann after
breakfast and headed towards Dholavira. That day we faced some of the worst
roads in Gujarat. The map would say that we were travelling on a state highway,
but the condition of the road was extremely bad.. In most places, the road was
being constructed/repaired and they had put jhali in other places.. The most
dangerous sections had huge potholes right on the riding line, one miss and the
bike would fly in and out of it.. We had to be very cautious and slow and the
roughly 200kms ride took us around 8 hours. Just near Dholavira, there is a road
section where it cuts across the Rann, it was very beautiful with Rann on both
sides of the road and very strong cross winds.. By the time we reached the
hotel it was around 4pm.
We freshened up and walk towards
the sun set, the Rann was just behind our room. This place was the most magical
and high light of the whole trip.. It was the Rann at its pristine beauty..
Only two of us.. No sound around.. And the setting sun.. The sights and
experience at that moment at that place with stay with us for times to come.
Just 3 kms from the place we
stayed was the Harappan civilization heritage site. This was the place that we
read and learnt in our history books. The ruins were well in the state of
ruins, with no work going on due to lack of funds.. They were waiting for funds
from World Heritage and who knows when it will come. The guide told us that
Mohenjo Daro was just 80kms from that site and was in present-day Pakistan. The
whole place would take around a day to properly see, but we had just an hour in
hand and we hurried around. From there we started towards our destination for
today, Gir National Park.
The journey was again through bad
roads and after whole day of riding reached Gir. We had a contact there and he
arranged our stay in Maneland Stay, an unheard place and Google Maps was not
showing the location. But, when we reached there we were surprised to see that
it was an excellent stay with wonderful rooms and a very helpful host. We spent
the night there and the contact arranged for passes for early morning safari in
the national park.
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| Harrappan Civilization |
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| Maneland Stay |
Day 08: King of the Jungle
Day started early and after a
very cold ride in open jeep we were at the doorsteps of the Gir National Park.
Barley few minutes later we were looking at 3 lions (2 females and 1 male).
They were nonchalantly enjoying the morning sun and walking about. The forest
rangers were on ground and at close distances, unlike Tiger Parks, where they
allow anyone to get down from vehicles. After spending some time with the King
of the Jungle, the safari moved along on well laid routes.
We were able to spot lots of deer,
a lonely black buck and many leopards in an open enclosure.
The safari was a short one, just
1 hour, well the purpose of seeing the lion was achieved. From there on, our
plan was to head to Diu, just 100 kms from Gir. Just when we were starting from
the hotel we realized that my bike’s rear tire had a puncture. We were able to
find a puncture shop close by and on fixing one puncture, he saw another
puncture. While fixing that he saw another one and then another.. Phew! There
were close to 10 punctures and some were big that the normal fix was not
holding.. He suggested that there is a town some 15kms and there are few tire
shops. We finally got a replacement tire and headed towards Diu. Reached Diu
around 3pm and Diu is a surprisingly very small island..
Well we started from Diu and
Ashok and I were together for around 300kms that day. At a point, we split up,
he headed towards Ahmedabad for his return flight. I headed towards Bangalore.
Ashok dropped off the bike and
boarded the flight for home. I stopped over at Mumbai for the night and the
next day rode home..
An amazing state, wonderful trip
and Ashok is a great rider for any ride!
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| The Men |
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| The Rides |
