The Rann of Kutch festival, commonly known as Rann Utsav, is an annual event organised by the Gujarat Tourism Department in the months of November to February. Rann Utsav comprises a mix of local folk dance and music, mouth-watering local cuisines, tent house and local mud-house experiences, amazing hand embroidery and hand-made paintings, handicrafts and weaving, and the magnificent white desert.
While the entire region is vibrant throughout the duration of the festival, the perfect time to visit is during full moon when you can see the white desert in all its glory with the bright full moon in the background.
We planned a 3D/2N trip which is perfectly adequate to experience the Rann Utsav along with touring few nearby places in the Kutch region.
Our 3 day itinerary included Bhuj, Mandvi, the White Rann of Kutch and Kalo Dungar or the Magnetic Hills.
Reaching Rann of Kutch
Rann of Kutch is the largest salt desert in India located at the Thar desert region in Kutch district (Gujarat). There is no direct means of travel to Rann of Kutch. The most feasible option is to reach Bhuj city as the road, rail and air connectivity to Bhuj is good and is easily accessed from most major cities of India.
From Bhuj, the white desert is approximately 90 kms, around 2hrs. While public transport is said to be available, we hardly saw buses plying on the route. The best and convenient way is to book a car or bike from a local travel agency for the entire duration of stay.
We reached Bhuj railway station at around 12pm in the afternoon after a 12hr journey from Mumbai. We had booked our tour through a travel agency and a car was waiting for us just as we reached the station which transferred us to a beautiful hotel. After a quick bath and a heavy lunch, we started our journey to the city of Mandvi.
Mandvi
Approximately 2.5hrs from the city of Bhuj, Mandvi is a port city in Kutch district famous for its pristine beaches and its four-hundred-year-old ship building industry. The Vijay Vilas Palace is the most famous attractions here with many Bollywood movies have been shot at this magnificent palace such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Lagaan etc. Built in the 1920s, the palace is a blend of modern architecture, Rajput grandeur and local Kutchi craftsmanship. Except for the 2nd floor where the royal family currently resides, the rest of the palace is open today for public. The palace houses a museum, has its own private beach and offers accommodation to tourists.
Post the palace tour we reached the wind farms beach just at the time of sunset. The beach is named after the windmills project running in the beach since 1983. The beach is very clean and is filled up with hawkers selling all types of street food items along with a variety of water sports activities, camel rides, quad biking etc. The beach is quite popular among locals from the city who travel here to enjoy their weekends with family. We enjoyed the sunset on the beach, had some delicacies in one of the many food stalls and started our way back to the hotel in Bhuj to retire for the night.
Bhuj
We started our day early with a heavy Gujarati breakfast of the famous fafda and jalebi from one of the local shops. Post that we visited the Pragmahal palace, a 19th century palace known for its 45-foot-high clock tower and the adjacent Amar Mahal palace or the Palace of Mirrors in Bhuj. Both the palaces were devastated and in shambles post the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, however the state government has now repaired most of the areas and have opened them as museums for public viewing.
Post the palace visits, we stopped by the Swaminarayan temple constructed by the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday. The old temple was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake and a new temple has been built a short distance away from the site.
We then left for the village of Bhujodi, a major textile hub of Kutch for some handicraft shopping. The town, about 10kms away from Bhuj is known for its block-printers, tie-dyers and weavers who attract both local and international tourists regularly. You can buy sarees, salwar sets, dupattas, bedsheets, shawls along with handcrafted wooden items.
Rann of Kutch
Post shopping at Bhujodi, we started our journey to the destination, the White Rann of Kutch. It is compulsory to have a permit for an entry to Rann. The permit can be generated both online or offline with a nominal fee and it is mandatory to take an ID card for verification. The amazing point about reaching Rann of Kutch is that you get to cross "Tropic of Cancer" line which passes through only 8 places in India.
Our resort at Hodka village was booked by the travel agency and it had kaccha mud houses to give us the feel of authentic Kutchi accommodation. We reached the resort by 2PM and post a quick lunch and photography session, we started our journey to the White desert at 5PM reaching there in approximately 45mins. We also saw the gorgeous Tent city on the way from afar as the entry for outside people is banned inside the tent city.
We were dropped a km before the white desert as cars are not allowed inside the area. The whole area is under police surveillance. The main food and handicraft stalls were little ahead the stretch of the main desert. Witnessing the white desert for the first time is a surreal and amazing experience. The sunsets and full moon nights are a sight to behold. While there are bouncy camel rides that you can take, we decided to walk from the car parking through the entire stretch of the route, clicking pictures and capturing memories in frames, although this beauty is best captured with the naked eyes. We witnessed the sun set on the horizon of the desert which was a first-time experience for us and we just sat on the sand to soak in all the beauty of nature. As it was a full moon night, once the moon rose, the beauty of the entire white stretch became multi fold. The white desert is endless into the horizon and witnessing such beauty makes one realise how powerful nature is.
After spending some time in the desert, we came to the stalls for some shopping and then headed back to the resort. Post dinner, we had an amazing cultural folk show and bonfire organised by the resort for their guests.
Kalo Dungar
Kalo Dungar or Black Hills is the highest point in Kutch, very close to the Pakistan border. The place is famous for the 400-year-old legendary Dattatreya temple and is the only place to offer panoramic view of the Great Rann of Kutch.
The route from our resort in Hokda village to Kalo Dungar seemed very unworldly for us as the road passes through the white desert and stretches of dry and barren lands with little or no vegetation. The people in the villages live a very difficult life due to the scorching summer heat, scarcity of water and infertility of soil to grow any crops due to the salts.
On the way to Kalo Dungar, we passed the Magnetic hill where vehicles seem to defy the laws of gravity. At this hill road the cars with their ignition switched off roll from down slope to move up the slope similar to the phenomenon in Ladakh.
Moving ahead, we visited the Dattatreya temple at noon seeking his blessings. We were told that the temple priests prepare a batch of food to feed to the jackals everyday for the past four centuries based on some legend. We waited for some time to see if we could spot some jackals but were not at all lucky.
Post the temple visit, we started to walk towards the viewpoint at the top of the hillside. The walk is approximately 15mins but you can also take a camel ride from the temple till the viewpoint. Once we reached the top, the panoramic view of the white desert and the blue sky was simply breath-taking.
After Kalo Dungar, we returned back to Bhuj railway station just in time to catch our train back to Mumbai.
Things to buy: Traditional sarees, Salwar suits, Dupattas, Bedsheets, Oxidized Jewellery, Bags and purses, Shawls, Handcrafted items etc.
Food: Kutchi meals, Gujarati meals, Mandvi’s famous dabeli, jalebi and fafda, mawa sweets
Costs:
1.Train ticket 3AC two way (Mumbai – Bhuj) – Rs. 2400
2. Travel agency for 2 people (Travel - AC sedan car from station pick-up till drop, Accommodation – 1 night stay in an AC 3-star hotel in Bhuj, 2nd night stay in a mud house in Hodka, Food - 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 1 dinner) – Rs. 20000
3.Vijay Vilas palace entry fee per person – Rs 75 (Rs. 50 entry fees + Rs.25 for phone camera)
4.Pragmahal palace entry per person – Rs. 50
5.Permit for Rann per person – Rs. 150 (Rs.100 entry fees + Rs. 50 for car)
Things to do:
1.The tent city is very pretty and worth the experience. So, if you are not a budget traveller then you can opt to stay in the tent city
2.While I do not like to travel via travel agencies, Kutch was the first place where I found difficulty finding decent place to stay mostly due to lack of reviews hence I decided to go for an agency and it turned out to be a good decision
3.The month of December and January is peak time so everything will be expensive
4.Since I travelled in Feb just few weeks before the festival ended, I was able to bargain in many of the pop-up stores which were looking to quickly sell off as much as they could before the festival ended
5.While buying things, do compare prices as shops offer same item at different prices
The Rann of Kutch festival had been in my bucket list for the past three years and I am delighted that I could finally visit this place in 2020.
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