Rann of Kutch - A different world (Trip Report)

Some very impressive sensitive shots; thank you for letting us in.

wow what a ride. it seems that the Rann is my next destination. this winter. great shots. wow!

Fascinating photos. How can one reach there from Ahmadabad if one is not driving? What are staying options? Is it advisable to do it as a solo woman traveler?

Lovely report and photos, looking forward to hearing your experiences of Corbett! PLEASE??

Thanks Guys, am glad that I could share the a glimpse of this beautiful place with you.

@Mridula:
In the report there are two places. One is LRK another is GRK, so my response will be slightly long winded.

I think the best way to reach LRK would be to let the resort pick you up from Ahemdabad station/airport. This is the option we chose considering convenience and safety of our equipments. I do not think we felt unsafe at any point of time in our trip and I do not see any problems with solo female traveler. The staff at Rann Raiders were professional and shown personal interest in our well being.

The best way to reach GRK would be to take a train up-to Bhuj. From Bhuj you can either hire a taxi or ask CEDO guys to pick you up. It is about 2-3 hours journey if I remember correctly. There will be buses that can take you upto Nakhtrana which is the nearest town to Moti Virani (where CEDO is located). Again, we felt quite safe at all times. Jugal Tiwari, who runs the home stay at CEDO made sure we were well looked after. His family was more than accommodating and never let us run out of tea.

The biggest safety concern I had was to for the safety of my waistline, considering the home cooked Gujrati food we were getting through out the trip. Female travelers may want to take a note of that ;-)

@tripsamy: Corbett report is written. Just need to find time to link images and upload. It should be up soon. Had a really fantastic time there. Already scheming to go back there asap.



Cheers,
Kartik

Kartikp many thanks for your detailed reply. Let us see when can I pull off a trip to the region. And once again your pictures are beautiful.

Hi Kartikp

Fascinating photos and write up. Loved it till the last word. Forgive me but really envy you after seeing the snaps.

Can you please share the logistics details too like how you booked, resort names, travel agencies, contact details etc so that it would also help the fellow future travellers?

@mridula: You will not be disappointed. The best time to get there will be in December. If you are planning to cover LRK and GRK both, you will want to have about 8 days minimum as the travel between LRK and GRK is going to take 1/2 day at the minimum.

@sugata41: I booked my trip through Toehold.in (a small but excellent company in Bangalore). Toehold is being run by some amazing wildlife photographers and they did all the bookings etc as a part of their service. As I am not currently a resident in India, having someone professional sort out the logistics and permissions etc is a huge help. The resorts I stayed in were as follows.

For LRK we stayed in Rann Raiders. A small, rustic and charming resort. Very good service, clean and cozy cottages, great drivers for safari drives and amazing amazing food. The owners of the resort are personally involved in the resort and wildlife. That is a great help. Oh and they have some adorable Labradors.

For GRK we stayed at CEDO. This is a very clean accommodation being run by Mr. Jugal Tiwari. All his contact details are right there on the site. Also you can reach him on +91-9825248135. The accommodation at Jugal Bhai's place is in demand and you should book it well in advance. However you must remember it is not a resort. It is a home stay, targeted at people who are interested in wildlife and conservation. What you get is clean, comfy room with en-suite bathroom, pure veg food and all the help from Jugal. He has some rules which one is expected to abide by. No alcohol, no loud music, no anti-social behavior. I am glad to report that he did not throw me out despite my snoring. His help in the field is really what made our trip.

Beyond this let me know if you need some specific info, I would be glad to help my fellow travelers. :-)

Cheers,
Kartik

Thanks kartikp. I think the sites have all the information one may need.

my thanks also for your wonderful report and details. pix are mouth watering. congrats

nice photos indeed, little bit envious as just passed a month in india and had planned a two day stop in the rann de kutch,, but our driver was ill in mount abu, so we lost some days there and only passed one night in patan, finally,,
but we managed to go to the nature reserve there was wonderful, we saw a cow, sorry folks no photos was to quick ,, lol

@Dio: You probably saw the rare and endangered Ninja Cow I hope next time you get to experience LRK.

[QUOTE=kartikp;1270622]@Dio: You probably saw the rare and endangered Ninja Cow I hope next time you get to experience LRK. [/QUote

ya meto, although next yrs trip is torn between madha pradesh and gujarat, with a little ragastan thrown in for good measure,, ,, might have to flip a coin on it,, as it was my intention this yr to spend most of a month in gujarat

@Dio: True, you might have to flip a coin. MP, Rajasthan and Gujrat are all pretty big states and traveling between places of interest may eat up quite a bit of time.

Cheers,
Kartik

Hope you come back here again many months later, Kartikp. Fantastic photos whether colorful or camouflaged. How many nights in Little Rann of Kutch?