Kutch - Like nothing else on this earth!!

Ads on the television promoting Gujarat Tourism by Amitabh Bachan are quite a hit. Its for quite some time I had been impressed and thinking of making  a trip to Kutch. It finally happened this year and this was the last and the most unique destination of our road trip. 

Kutch also spelled Kachchh locally is the largest district in Gujarat and is a wonderful combination of pristine beaches, the world's only white desert, swathes of arid land running into the horizon, the abode of as many as 18 different tribes, each one with their own way of dressing, customs, traditions etc, birds, handicrafts and the cradle of human civilization at Dholavira.

There is some much to write about this wonderful place, that I am still confused on where do I start.  

Salt pans along the Hakadiya Creek

I will maintain this post only as an introduction to the landscape of Kutch and cover the rest in further posts.We made our journey from Gondal passing through Rajkot, Morbi, Bhachau, Bhuj and reached Hodka. After Morbi, you pass through a part of the Little Rann of Kutch and it is interesting to see salt pans in that area. When you look at the map, the area is shown green denoting a forest, but the area is just dry and arid with Hakadiya creek providing some color of blue to the landscape. Road conditions almost excellent all through, except for some minor work on Bhachau Bhuj highway.  

The entire area is not very fertile and you do not see much of cultivation anywhere around, however once you cross Bhuj airport and the Rudramata dam, the change in the  landscape is dramatic. Banni grasslands take over and changes the color of the land. The land is almost flat, no cultivation anywhere interspersed with some thorny shrubs here and there. Castor plants however are found here and probably cultivated too. From here on you get to see bhungas(traditional mud huts) and also occasional settlements of nomadic Rabari tribes. The occupation of the most of the people in this region is cattle grazing and are called Maldharis. Just a little ahead is the Rann of Kutch, the world's only white desert. Do not be mistaken, it is not made up of white sand but it is due to salt deposits. During monsoons, the Rann is filed with standing waters from the sea, which recedes during the summer and winters to leave a crust of salt above. Ecologically very rich, the area of Greater Rann of Kutch along with the Little Rann of Kutch is home to many wildlife sanctuaries and preserved areas like Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, Narayan Sarovar Bird Santuary, Kutch Bustard Santuary, Kutch Desert Wildlife Santuary, Chhari- Dhand Wetland Conservation reserve and more. Bird enthusiasts are sure to have a field day here.

The Banni grasslands

You can see till infinity

Its said before the earthquakes of the 18th century, river Indus flowed through this place and was the land very fertile not anymore. This arid, dry and dusty land is the hotbed of many handicrafts which bring in much needed color to the lives of those living here.

Beginning of the Road Trip to Gujarat

A road trip is something that I have always enjoyed, new roads, new landscapes, the people along the road everything seems so exciting. Something, that I enjoy more than this is planning for the trip. Having done many weekend driving holidays in and around Bangalore, sought for something more this time. A long holiday was overdue and the holiday season in December meant non-availability of seats on flights. So what could be better than a road trip.

Amitabh Bachan's ad for Gujarat Tourism had definitely enticed me and wanted to make it to Kutch. Tried lots of, route permutations and combinations and depending on availability of accommodation, finally decided on Bangalore-Mumbai-Daman-Ahmedabad-Diu-Gondal-Hodka-Bhuj and return.

So it was December 22, left at the decided time of 5am and just a kilometer or two from home, our well behaved Safari started making some problems, steering vibration, clutch not returning. Not wanting to lose the initial momentum, we drove till Hiriyur and stopped for breakfast at Hotel Aroma. Note there are hardly any decent places to eat after you cross the usual Kamat Upchars and Coffee Days before Tumkur. After breakfast the problem with the vehicle seemed more pronounced and we decided to get some help at Chitradurga.

It was a Sunday, and a call to the Toll Free Tata Motos number gave us the number of a Tata authorised service center in Chitradurga. Call to the manager and he asked us to wait at the workshop while he would send in a mechanic. That wait lasted for 2 hours and the mechanic finally arrived. He did something and the vehicle seemed fine. We were planning for lunch at Belgaum with my brother, which looked far fetched now.

At 1130 am we started from Chitradurga and manged to reach Hubli by around 3. Lunch at Rajasthani Ghar Dhaba just after Dharwad high court. It was a cuisine not explored, by doing so, it marked a start of our road trip in the true sense. Excellent panner tikka masala, Dal tempered with red chilly and oil and hot rotis were really needed. Finally ordered Sev Tomato which was the icing on the cake. Some buttermilk to go with it and the meal was complete.

It was my turn at the wheels and with some temporary arrangement at the clutch, I was not very comfortable and loads of tractors and trucks carrying sugarcanes to the factories on the road added to it and finally gave up little after Belgaum as we didn't want to lose time. It was getting dark and we hoped to reach Satara/Karad by 2000h and halt for the day.

As we bid farewell to the roads of Karnataka, the condition of roads did not remain all the good. Lot of bikers on the road after Kolhapur and the roads were only 2 laned on each side. Finally we decided on Hotel Alankaar at Karad for our night halt. A decent hotel right in front of the Bus Station with good food.
We decided to start early the next day as we had a booking at Daman for the night. We could start only by 9 after  a tasty breakfast of Misal Pav.

The New Katraj tunnel

Fully loaded for the trip

By 1130 we were in Pune and looked around for authorised workshops to find a proper solution to the problem in Tata Safari. We spotted Concorde Motors and went in. Amazing facility and excellent staff. Safari got a quick fix there where we realised that there was a problem with the clutch plate and it would have to be used very carefully. We get our vehicle back at around 5. So the entire day was gone. We had two options either halt at Mumbai or drive till Daman. Went with the second option and drove till night 11 and reached Daman. It was the first time we had ever driven after sunset on the highways. The road from Mumbai to Daman, being a part of Mumbai-Ahmedabad road was very good, once we got on to the highway. However crossing Mumbai and getting on to the highway does take a good 2 hrs.

See you in Daman!!!!