Little Rann of Kutch,Gujarat:
It was almost one year back that I read an article in Better Photography featuring a wildlife photographer and an environmentalist Sri Devjibhai Dhamecha .In this article there was vivid description of a place called Little Rann of Kutch and how Devjibhai is concerned about protecting ecology of the region. So this was how I came to know of a place called Little Rann of Kutch ( LRK as it will be referred hereafterwards). In the month of August I registered for APICON 2011 at Ahmedabad and then started searching net for LRK .Surprisingly though Rann of Kutch is a large area including some regions of adjoining Pakistan, the part of it known as LRK is easily accessible and not quite far from Ahmedabad. It was then that I decided to take a break during conference and visit LRK. After a quick study on net I zeroed in on Eco camp of Devjibhai Dhamecha as the place to stay and explore LRK. ( By this time I had long forgotten about the better photography article ).
LRK is a part of Rann of Kutch which is divided into larger part Great Rann of Kutch and an adjoining smaller part Little Rann of Kutch.Rann is a saline desert which is a seasonal saline marsh land. During mansoon tidal water from sea flow into this desert marshland making it into a large shallow lake. In the middle of this flatland there are several (nearly 300) elevated lands called
Bet which become small islands when lands get submerged. The desert animals take shelter in these bets during rainy season.LRK merges with Great Rann . Large part of Great Rann is probited for civilian entry and is used by army and the area also borders Pakistan . LRK on the otherhand is under forest dept of gujarat and is a wild life sanctuary.When the rains subside and water receeds this large area becomes barren and desert with thousands of sqare kms of barren saline marsh land . Threre are few wetland at LRK where many migratory birds flock in winter. ( To be contd.)
