• A day by day account, with pictures, of my Kutch trip. It included visits to villages and Rann of Kutch. Best time is November to February. Kutch is a shopper’s paradise for women. 

Thanks to a friend’s friend & neighbour, the Kutch trip happened. Another friend introduced to a taxi owner. Best time to visit-November to February. Here is day wise program -

Day 1 

Train reached Bhuj about 7.30 am. I checked into hotel Swagat. Nice, clean, functional with excellent location Rs 750/ per day non a/c. Call Chintan 91 81414 74999. Rate in February 2018. After bath I had poha/tea (available below hotel), left for Bhuj sightseeing. For intra city travel used auto rickshaw. Early evening I went to local farm to see drip irrigation.

Day 2 visited a local NGO Shrujan in village Bhujodi (8 kms away) Returned by 5 pm.

Day 3 

Left at 7.30 am for Tent City Dhordo. Enroute stopped by at village Nikona and Shaam-E-Sarhad at Hodko (tents). By evening reached BSF camp where was staying. Early evening saw BSF Camel Performance and visited Salt Desert.

Day 4

Early morning visited salt desert. Left for Khavda where met a BSF officer who escorted us to the Rann of Kutch and Hanuman Mandir. Evening went to Kalo Dunger.

Day 5  

Village visits for handicrafts, Abdul Pottery at Khavda & Ludiya Gandhi Nu Gam. Evening at Salt Desert. Enroute visited hotel run by Panchayat. Next was Tent City. Night at Dhordo.

Day 6 

Left BSF camp about 9 am, stopped at Haji Pir, Chhari Dhandh Bird Sanctuary, lunch at Nakhatrana, Fossil Museum, Mata Na Madh to reach Lakhpat by 4 pm. Saw Lakhpat Fort and Gurdwara i.e. inside fort. Night at Gurdwara.

Day 7 started with village visit and then to Koteshwar Shiv Temple and Narayan Sarovar. Night was at temple guest house. Nice. 

Day 8 Drove to Mandvi. First stop Vijay Vilas Palace, thali lunch at Osho and then beach, ship-building. Night at Bhuj. 

Day 9 Drove to Mundra. Enroute Kheda Shiv Temple. Also visited village, saw Step-well and new Shiv/Jain temples. Night at Bhuj.

Day 10 Visited Museum at Bhujodi and met friends. Happy returned by night train.

Swagat Hotel and driver Meet made trip comfortable. There are lots of places to eat close to Swagat. I visited in February 2018. Nights cold. For a senior & super guide call Pramod Jethi 91 93742 35379. For car hire call Narendra Bhai 91 9925440072 or Meet Bhai 91 88661 94748 or 87803 77140 whom I used.

You can pick the places you wish to visit. Now, day-wise details with album links.   

Day 1 Bhuj

View of Prag Mahal against the setting sun. Pic taken from Hamirsar Talao. 

Bhuj was the capital of the Jadeja dynasty and established in 1510. The walled city of Bhuj was the administrative and commercial headquarter of the princely state of Kutch. Darbagarh was built by Rao Shri Khengarji in 1540 and developed into a palace complex over the next 300 years. Prag Mahal is part of this complex.

Prag Mahal was commissioned by King Pragmalji in the 1860's and is designed in the Italian Gothic style. Big bang clock tower is 150 feet high from where you get a great view of Bhuj. 

People of Bhuj believe the constant movement of the snake causes earthquakes in the region. The last major one was in 2001, before that 1809.

In Bhuj see Prag and Aina Mahals, Royal Chhatirs, Kutch Museum and Ram Kund step-well. All close by. Prag and Aina are part of the same complex. Also see Fuvarna Mahal i.e. a great concept. It was an entertainment room. King sat in centre on marble throne with musicians next to him. The small island was surrounded by a water filled moat and fountains to keep place cool. Lamps would be filled up with coloured water, with a layer of oil and wick on top. Imagine the atmosphere. Also, visit the Museum and Textiles Market.

Album Prag Mahal

Durbar Hall in Prag Mahal.

Chhatris of the rulers of Kutch. 

Ram Kund is minutes away from the museum.

Drip irrigation at farm about an hour drive from Bhuj. 

Day 2 Shrujan

Pic shows dress of various communities in Kutch. 

Left to right is Ahir embroidery. In back row is Rabaari, Sodha, Meghwaad Maaru, Jat Garaasiya, Jat Fakiraani, Raau Node. In front is Mutva, Meghwaad Maarwaada, Haalepotra.

In the summer of 1969 Kutch faced a drought for the fourth year in a row. Smt Chanda Shroff visited Dhaneti village in Kutch to start a free canteen. Village women were reluctant to accept charity. In the exquisite embroidery on their clothing Chanda Kaki saw a way for them to earn a dignified and sustainable livelihood.

Thus, Shrujan took birth. SHRUJAN (meaning creativity in Sanskrit), is a not for profit NGO that works for craft revival and sustainable livelihoods of women in Kutch. Shrujan works with over 3,500 women all over Kutch. They are known for embroidery work.

Ladies of village Nironha, about 40 kms from Bhuj, associated with Shrujan. 

I spent the morning at their Living and Learning Design Centre (LLDC). Over the years Shrujan has expanded to include research & documentation of the diverse embroideries of Kutch and the communities thereon. LLDC is a place for preserving, promoting, celebrating crafts & a training centre for those who wish to acquire or enhance their skills. Walls are thick so keep heat away.

Area has arid vegetation around and gets very hot. Thus, the LLDC building is designed to keep the building cool. It is designed in a manner to let light come in but not hurt. In February 2018 a gallery, library & three craft studios were operational. A Craft School is planned. Album sequence is unique building design, museum, shop items for sale interspersed with village lady pics where Shrujan gets its embroidery work done.

We also visited village CHEER i.e. enroute from Lakhpat to Narayan Sarovar. 170 ladies are associated with Shrujan. Men are employed in power plant close by.

Album SHRUJAN

Close to Shrujan LLDC in Ajrakpur is workshop of well-known block printer Sufiyan Ismal Khatri, sufiankhatri@yahoo.com

Day 3 Dhordo/Salt Desert/Tent City

Family at Salt Desert. Locals play dholak.  

During Kutch trip visited villages where women are associated with Shrujan. First village was Nironha. These ladies do embroidery work. If a lady works for 30 days in a month and eight hours a day she would earn app Rs 4,200/.

Bhuj to Dhordo is 81 kms. From Dhordo drive another 5 odd kms to reach Salt Desert. It has a high altitude Viewing Point. Rann Utsav is held at Dhordo between November and February (check site for actual dates).

Tourists at Salt Desert.

During season i.e. Nov to Feb end the BSF (Border Security Force), who guard the area perform a nearly one hour skit on Saturday and Sunday.  

BSF performance close to Salt Desert.

Saw lovely sky colours in evening. Wish had gone at 5 pm and at noon to see how the colour changes during the day. Early morning is cold. If lucky you will experience clear skies.

9 Salt Desert is like a huge football field.

Tent City has superb tents, catering to various price points. Then had a 3 day 2 night package whereby you see are shown Salt Desert, Kalo Dhunger and around. Lots of villagers put up shops selling local handicrafts. Evening there is a musical program. Meals in the dining hall. 

Overview of VIP Tents area.

Inside Tent. 

Outside Tent City is a place i.e. managed by the village panchayat. “Each room is a stand-alone bhunga, the traditional Kutchi mud hut with thatched roof and decorative hand-painted motifs. Everything here is a shade of brown—the land, the huts, the thatch. These paintings jump out at you with their bright reds, greens, blues and whites. Most bhungas have inlaid glasswork on the walls or within the paintings”. Their site Besides Tent City is the White Rann Resort. Both were built by the Gujarat government and then given out to private parties to manage.

Shaam-E-Sarhad at Hodko (before Tent City) attracts tourists. They have cultural programs in evening. To book online www.hodka.in, email hodka.in@gmail.com

Album Salt Desert and Album Tent City, Dhordo For some nice and different type of pictures

Day 4 Rann of Kutch/Kalo Dhunger

Picture of terrain somewhere near Hanuman Mandir. Note colour of water, salt and sand. 

25 kms from Khavda, i.e. about 45 minute drive from Dhordo, the top of the Black Hills is the highest point in Kutch, Kalo Dungar at 462m. From here the entire northern horizon vanishes into the Great Rann, difficult to distinguish between the desert and sky. 

Hanumanji at Bediya Bet (In Kutch raised part of land is called BET). Here is story.

Hanumanji Mandir. 

The area in Pakistan opposite where the current temple exists is called Jat Talai. It is here that the original Hanuman temple existed. This area was part of India before 1965 war. Subsequently India agreed to vacate the Jat Talai area. According to local folklore when troops started moving from that place there was a message from Hanumanji that why are you leaving me behind, take me with you. So jawans carried the murti and walked for about 27 kms. They spent the night at Bediya Bet. Next morning the murthi stuck itself firmly to the ground and could not be budged. A temple that you see was built there.

Kalo Dungar is 90 kms from Bhuj. It has a 400 year old temple of Lord Dattatreya, the three headed incarnation of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. According to tradition when Lord Dattatreya walked on the earth, he stopped at the Black Hills and found a band of starving jackals. Because of this, temple priests prepared a batch of Prasad i.e. fed to the jackals after the morning and evening aarti.

Pranams to Dattatreya. From here Sunrise and Sunset are worth seeing. 

16 Viewing point. On a clear day get sunset view but we were not lucky.

Album Kalo Dunger, Rann of Kutch and village handicrafts

Day 5 Villages/Tent City Rann Utsav

Bags at Meghwal home in village Dhrobana. 

Next morning visited villages near Khavda. Village is Dhrobana on Kada Dungar Road. Bags, patch works, kutch handicrafts, textile embroidery. Call Narsing Bhai Sanjot 91 99133 95481 or Deva Bhai Sanjot 91 87583 54016. Very good products.  

In Bhuj a friend told me to visit Abdul’s pottery shop at Khavda i.e. less than an hour’s drive from Tent City. Khavda is a small town close to the Rann of Kutch.  

Pottery products for sale. 

Village Ludiya Gandhi Nu Gam near Khavda. Had lunch at home of Puna Sumar Marvada. Outer walls painted with mud colour motifs by women of the house every year during Diwali. “Cylindrical shaped mud walls helps protecting from direct sunrays and hence keep the home cool from inside in the summer. And the cow dung helps resisting the cold during winters.” Their home is called Bhunga. British gave these talented people title of Scheduled Caste. 

Left pic is typical home called Bhunga with wall paintings. 

“These traditional bhunga always acts as an arch against the forces applied from any direction during the earthquake. Since they are in the circular shape, they are more stable in earthquake situation. Circular shape also helps by not obstructing the wind movement & hence they do not create big pressure and helps during cyclones.”

Album Abdul Pottery, Album Craft Villages Kutch and Album Mud Paintings on Bhungas

To read a good blog on bhunga

Day 6  Fossil Museum, Chhari Dhandh Bird Sanctuary, Mata Na Madh, Lakhpat Fort

Fossil Museum  

This is the personal collection of Shri Mohansingh M Sodha. He collected over 45 years by walking himself. Museum is in one big room. There is a caretaker. If you want insights call the Sodha’s that you are coming. Call 91 9725339185 or mail kutchfossil2@gmail.com. They run a home stay since it is close to the Chari Dhand Wetland Bird sanctuary. The sanctuary is a huge expanse of water.

Mata Na Madh. 

Mata Na Madh dedicated to Maa Ashapura. “The temple was built in 14th century by two Karad Vanias, Ajo and Anagor. They were ministers in court of the father of Lakho Fulani.” Earthquake in 1819 and 2001 damaged the temple. It was rebuilt. You see a mosque as soon you walk out of the temple meaning on the road. 

At the northwest corner of Kutch, facing north across the Great Rann towards Pakistan is Lakhpat Fort.

Entrance to Lakhpat Fort. 

It is a huge fort. Within the fort is a Gurudwara. It is believed that Guru Nanak Dev stayed here enroute on Mecca. The fort wall was made by Rao Lakhpatji in the 18th century. Fateh M expanded it to its current dimensions in 1801.

From Lakhpat Guru Nanak crossed to Somiani port in Sindh and then headed to Mecca. He stayed here during his second and fourth journeys (udasis) in 1506-1413 and 1519-1521. Gurudwara has 'Charan Paduka Khadavas-wooden footwear of Guru Nanak.

Wooden footwear of Guru Nanak.

The fort has ruins of Customs House, Palace, Temple. (see album). Next to fort wall is the Great Rann of Kutch. Till the earthquake of 1809, the Indus River flowed till Lakhpat.

Album Lakhpat Fort and Album Lakhpat Gurudwara

Day 7 Village, Koteshwar Shiv Temple and Narayan Sarovar

We drove in from Lakhpat to reach about 12 noon. The distance from Bhuj to Narayan Sarovar is 152 kms. It is one of the 5 holy lakes the others being Mansrovar (Tibet), Pampa (Karnataka), Pushkar (Rajasthan) and Bhuvaneshwar (Orissa).

Koteshwar Shiv Mandir.

Koteshwar is the western most point of India. It is the place where the sun sets last in India. Kot means fort. It is situated in the Kori creek. The tide changes here every six hours. When it is high tide looks like a sea. During low tide you will think it is marshy land.

The Koteshwar story is about Ravana and Shivji. According to Chinese traveller Hiuen-Tsang Koteshwar port was 5 miles in boundary near the mouth of the river Indus. There were about 80 Monasteries with monks. In the middle of the monasteries were 13 temples of which Mahesh Mandir now Koteshwar was the biggest one.

This is Dwarkadhish temple built by Maharani Mankuvar Rajba of Kutch in 1790.

When she visited Dwarkadhish temple at Dwarka she had an unpleasant experience with the Pujari or priest so she decide to build a Dwarkadhish temple at Narayan Sarovar.

The Maharani also built four other temples and a fort surrounding them. The Vaishnav temples are Shri Trikamraiji, Laxminarayan, Govardhannathji, Dwarkanath, Adinarayan, Ranchodraiji and Laxmiji. Queen of Rao Deshalji II of Kutch had built these temples.

I stayed at the temple guest house, clean and reasonable. The temple kitchen serves prasad (meals) for free. There is a Gujarat Tourism hotel too.

Album Koteshwar Shiv Mandir and album Narayan Sarovar  

Day 8 Mandvi Beach, Vijay Vilas Palace

Mandvi is 60 kms from Bhuj. We drove in from Narayan Sarovar. Left at 8.30 am and reached before 11. We first went to Vijay Vilas Palace that was the summer retreat of the Maharaja of Kutch and reached beach at 12.30. It was hot. Next had lunch at OSHO in the old city. Awesome thali for Rs 130/. After that met Dr Pulin Vassa, an archaeologist who has some fascinating discoveries on the area. Went to buy local textiles from Vivekananda Development Institute and returned to the beach at 5.30 pm to click.

Mandvi was an ancient port from where ships sailed to Africa and Arabia. “Vessels would take fine cotton, alum, grains and sugar from Mandvi port to Zanzibar and Arabia and have treasures of dates, timber, hides and silks on their return.” “The sea going trading of the Kutchi people explains why region has 5 ports i.e. Mandvi, Mundra, Jakhau, Lakhpat & Koteshwar.” 

Vijay Vilas Palace.

Well maintained. Tourists can enter. It was built for Maharao Vijayrajji in 1929. Centre is central dome. It is an “eclectic blend of architectural styles. Umbrella-domes like those seen in palaces of Bengal, cupolas that would not look out of place in Mughal buildings, jarokhas and cusp-arches like those seen in Rajput palaces of Rajasthan, Victorian Gothic arches and classical columns make up the ensemble.” It has a 2 kms private beach.

View from second floor. 

This is what Mandvi beach does to you-lifts up your spirits. 

In between saw local ship building activity. “Mandvi was established by Rao Khengarji in 1585. At one time it was a famous harbour connected to South Africa, China, Malaysia, Japan. Navigators of Mandvi were famous all across the world.” 

Local ship building. Boats are made from sal wood. 

“In the 18^th century the ship building skill developed to an extent that a shipyard to anchor and repairs 400 vessels was established during the reign of Rao Godji. Rukhmati river is where the river meets the ocean. On river banks is where ships are built. To read more about shipbuilding at Mandvi

Mandvi Fort is 8 kms long. It was built by in 1549 by Rashori Bharmalji. In Patan, Vadnagar, Bhuj saw similar city walls.

The Vivekanand Rural Development Institute (VRTI) makes and sells shawls, salwar suits, saris, bed sheets, bags etc. Bought salwars for my wife, she loved them. Contact 02834 230651 & vgsbatik@rediffmail.com.

Salwars on display. Bed sheets bought very good.  

Albums Vijay Vilas Palace and Mandvi Beach. Read Dhow making in Mandvi

Day 9 Mundra Village, Shiv and Jain temples

Enroute visited Khera Shiv Temple ruins. On reaching Mundra first went to a village where women are associated with Shrujan. Next visited a new Shiv Temple, a step-well ruin and Jain Mandir where we had lunch. Post that drove back to Bhuj.

Shiv Mandir, Khera. 

Mahadev Mandir, Mundra. Re-built post 2001 earthquake. Ancient temple was known as Chokhanda Mahadev. 

Bhadreshwar Jain Mandir. 

To see Mundra album

Day 10 Bhujodi village and return 

Bhujodi is a major centre for woven cotton and woollen textiles, a 500 year old village and 8 kms from Bhuj. They belong to the very talented and creative Meghwal community, who hail from Rajasthan.

Shamji Bhai Vankar shop in Bhujodi. 

Think she is Shamji’s mother. 

Album showcases products sold by three Vankar families and the Shrujan store in Bhujodi.

Also visit the Ashapura Arts and Crafts Park, Bhujodi to get a quick view of all handicrafts and handlooms. For album  It also has a Parliament House and Red Fort replica that I missed. The village has busts of Navnitlal Ratanji Shah and Smt Hiralal Shah. Truly, labour of love.

Kutch is waiting to be discovered.

You can cover Gujarat in four parts. North Gujarat (4 days), Baroda and around (4 days), Kutch 9-10 days, Saurashtra (7 days)

Also read

1. The Kutch Renaissance

2. Shopping in Kutch

3. To read architects thoughts on making Shrujan Ajrakhpur

4. How BSF was born after CRPF defeated Pak Soldiers in Kutch in 1965

To see all albums on Gujarat