The White Desert - Ride from Pune to the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
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The Rann of Kutch or White Desert was in our mine from a long time as it is one of the biggest salt deserts in the world. It is a mesmerizing place to visit in Gujarat, known for its Rann Utsav which takes place in winter from November to February annually, hence we finally made it during the “Rann Utsav” - a popular traditional festival of Kutch. You will be amazed to see the natural beauty of White Rann of Kutch when the light of the full moon flashes on the white desert.
The White Desert is arguably one of the best backpacking destinations in the state of Gujarat, which is endless miles of salty and marshy land in the Thar Desert. Rann of Kutch is located between Gujarat in India and the Sindh province in Pakistan and comprises around 30,000 sq. km of land which includes the Great Rann of Kutch, The Little Rann of Kutch and Banni grassland.
Gujarat Road Trip Details:
Started at 2 AM in the morning and reached Mumbai around 5:30 AM, then crossed the Maharashtra-Gujarat border and hit the most scenic and flat road of Gujarat Highway. It was mesmerising to ride a car on this National highway with few traffic (only trucks) on road and hardly any speed breaker. This highway is one of the best planned highways on which we have ever travelled till date.
We stopped in Vapi for a 30 mins breakfast around 10:00 AM and then started back on the highway and enjoyed the must visit 4 lane classic highway of Vadodara and reached Ahmedabad city around 4:30 PM and enjoyed the late lunch at Muhammadi Restaurant at Juhapura cross Rd.
As we had a car running on CNG so we stopped every 200 KMS to fill CNG and at the same time it was a washroom and snack break at CNG pumps :-). Thanks to Gujarat state where we have CNG pumps everywhere which help us to have a cost effective travel trip to Kutch from Pune.
It was a time for us to decide if we can make till Ekal Ka Rann from Ahmedabad which is around 280 Km approximate 6 hrs journey or take a stay in Ahmedabad and ride further tomorrow, but we chose to go further and reached Ekal Ka Rann (Meriya Nature Resort) at Chobbari around 10:30 PM. It was one of the wonderful and longest rides in single day.
This post is just the introduction post of our Gujarat ride and places where we stopped while travelling on the road and will soon share the posts for each must visit place in Gujarat & Kutch.
PC all the trip members
We had a plan to visit Ekal Ka Rann (Meriya Nature Resort) at Chobbari on first day then post breakfast decided to go Dholavira Lake & The Harappan Site at Dholavira on second day then travelled to reach Bhuj for a stay, then visited Mandvi Beach & The White Rann of Kutch on third day and on forth day visited Thol Lake Bird Sanctuary on the return journey. It was the best 4 days 2500 km road trip to Gujarat from Pune, Maharashtra.
Other best places to be visited in Kutch, Gujarat:
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| The White Desert of Kutch, Gujarat |
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| Pune to Kutch Road Trip |
We started our journey from Pune to Rann of Kutch which included a few must visit places in Gujarat like Ekal Ka Rann, The Harappan site of Dholavira, Thol Bird Sanctuary and Great White Desert. We did this trip in a car just to have a scenic ride and to enjoy the classic road of Gujarat. This was our first trip of around 2500 Km in 4 days to cover most of the must visit place of Gujarat.
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| Gujarati Fafda Breakfast near Vapi |
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| Lunch at Muhammadi Restaurant |
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| Muhammadi Restaurant Menu |
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| Muhammadi Restaurant |
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| Chicken Fry @ Muhammadi Restaurant |
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| Bhungara Bateta or Pipe Fryums & Spicy Potatoes |
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| Meriya Nature Resort |
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| Dinner @ Hotel Noorani Mahal |
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| Dinner @ Hotel Noorani Mahal |
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| First view of full moon in Bhuj, Kutch |
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| Dinner @ Meriya Nature Resort |
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| Salt from Ekal Ka Rann |
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| Bhushan & Mukhtar |
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| Mukhtar trying something new :) |
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| Trip Partners from left Mukhtar, Myself, Siraj & Bhushan |
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| Tea Time |
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| Kutch ke Kacchi Dabeli at Bhuj |
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| Dahi dhokla |
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| Gujarat Highway |
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| Gujarat Highway |
Other best places to be visited in Kutch, Gujarat:
- Ekal Ka Rann (Meriya Nature Resort)
- Dholavira Lake
- The Harappan Site
- Dholavira fossil park
- Mandvi Beach
- The White Rann of Kutch
- Kala Dungar - Magnetic Hill
- Thol Lake Bird Sanctuary
- Kutch Museum
- Aaina Mahal, Bhuj
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