Edge of The White Desert.
Part two of three of the Column_M and MotorScribes Tour of Gujarat with a Jeep Compass.
Distance traveled: 323km (Nalsarovar – Bajana – Little Rann – Chotila)
Photos by Ishaan Bhataiya, Bhuvan Chowdhary and Vineet Pangtey
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After a couple of days of acclimatising to Gujarat’s dry state laws in the Jeep Compass and the severe lack of non-vegetarian food that made us reach out for the bed a bit early in the evenings, our body clocks were reset to an early morning wake up call. That was no problem though when you are waking up next to new scenery every day. For this leg, the day started off at the forest department quarters that overlook the Nalsarovar marsh, followed by heading out westward towards the protected region of the Little Rann. After crossing the last town on the outskirts of the 4,950 sq.km piece of land precursor to 7,500 sq.km Greater Rann. We picked up Ishaan who had just hopped off his flight from Kaza (Spiti Valley) join us for the rest of our tour. I was imagining the change in his perspective, from 3,800 meters high up in the Himalayas straight down to the arid flat lands of the Kutch.
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- While our man was still in the air and soon to land at Ahmedabad, I started towards the town of Viramgam where we were to meet and then head further west. While there was still time, I thought of wading through a field to a peculiar patch of land I’d noticed the day before.
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- Without the Jeep Compass’ four wheel drive, it would have been quite tricky to reach this spot which involved going over soft clay-like soil that was still moist in morning dew.
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- The Kutch area in total (Greater and Little combined) encompassed more than 12,000 sq. km of literally sea level flat land. During the monsoons, the entire area is swallowed whole by the floods coming in from the sea, only to leave behind a layer of salt that gets thicker as you approach the Greater Rann.
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- Moving towards Bajana, the land had already started to get drier and we all could notice the diminishing density of trees as the terrain started getting harsher.
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- Bajana is where most of the Safari camps start for the Little Rann of Kutch. The shallow waters here are home to regular migratory birds like flamingos and herons. But the highlight of this area’s wildlife are the wild ass which have quadrupled in numbers since the 4954 sq. km area came under the wildlife protection act of 1972.
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- All across the Little Rann there are plateaus the locals call ‘bet’. Bets are made for wildlife to feed and rest during the monsoon season when the the entire area is engulfed under the floods from the sea. While up here, I had a moment of thought that if the Compass could join us up here for the views?
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- Of course, such ideas need to be given practical justification once conceived! Unsurprisingly, the Jeep Compass’ automatically selective four wheel drive kicked while ascending the steep hillock while I had ample amounts of ground clearance still left thanks to the great approach angle of the Jeep Compass. With the power going to all four wheels, in ‘Mud’ setting it was then an easy crawl up to the top. While going up, the view of the sky lining up with the Jeep Compass’ bonnet was just incredible.
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- The Jeep Compass at the top, posing perfectly as the only piece of gleaming blue metal at this height till as far as the eyes could see.
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- With the sun getting closer to the horizon, it was time to head back home and wait in anticipation what the next day had in store for us.
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- Already on the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch we didn’t waste any time early in the morning and quickly hopped into the Compass to drive out of the small town of Bajana. Within a few kilometres civilisation disappeared and we were on a dirt track shared by no one else till where the eyes could see.
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- Sometimes it takes a while for all the emptiness to sink in. Now imagine, 4,950 square kilometres of this.
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- While unlike the Greater Rann that is covered in white salt, the Little Rann is dry, hard clay. And just like the bigger one, vast emptiness in any direction you see… Empty, flat land with nothing in sight only meant one thing… Loosing some weight from the Compass to find out how it is flat out!
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- People out, cameras out, equipment out… With all heavy encumbrances relieved, I was ready to see how fast the Compass would go if driven flat out on the hard cracked surface of the desert.
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- 80…100…120…135 and up to an indicated 147kmph when the Jeep Compass finally started to move around on the loose muddy surface of the Rann. For the size, the Jeep Compass felt surprisingly stable over the loose surface with absolutely no movement or feeling of twitchiness upto 120kmph. Pretty impressive!
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- With another itch cured, we pressed on…
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- After almost 40 minutes of driving, we reached a single settlement that was literally in the middle of nowhere. Curious, we stopped to inquire.
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- The “Agariyas” are the salt farming tribe native to the salt plains of India. These people have been harvesting salt for centuries now. After the sea water has dried out, the Agariyas return to the Kutch from their settlements in nearby towns for the next few months to harvest salt in the man made salt pans before monsoons arrive and the entire area is flooded again.
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- They take help of the underground salt water table to pump out water into the salt pans.
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- Each salt pan stretching across a couple of acres harvests about 500 tons of salt in one season.
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- They are very welcoming, offering us black chai in the middle of nowhere. For them the closest ration shop is at least 50km away.
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- The entire family approved of the Compass’ looks.
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- Salt crystals forming on the side of the salt bed.
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- It was time to leave and head back towards civilisation.
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- While exiting the protected part of the Rann we came across an area where all the harvested salt is stored before it is shipped out to factories for the final refining process.
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- One of the old city entrances that marks the end of the Rann and beginning of paved roads near Dasada.
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- According to the plaque this arch near Dasada is one of the oldest (more than 500 years old) and was used as an entry point into mainland Gujarat from the ports off the Arabian Sea. Once back on tarmac, we decided to head straight to Chotila for the night, from where we would continue towards our next destination early morning next day.