Folk tunes welcome you: be it dhol beats or the lilting tunes of Amrit Lal Barot’s musical instruments and as you manoeuvre your way inside the ’Tent City’, you will find arty installations, quirky props, rustic ‘Bhungas’ (huts), vibrantly decorated modes of transport making the place extremely ‘Insta-worthy!’

The tent city is a perfect blend of luxury with rustic touches, making it ideal for families, couples and luxury travellers. Enter a giant hall for seamless check in (with meal coupons for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and High tea) and hop into a vibrant rickshaw to your tent cluster. The tent city has something for everybody, albeit it is touristy.

A haat (market) for locally sourced handicrafts, textiles, bags, shoes, jewellery and the likes, for shopping, (and no, it isn’t overpriced, contrary to our usual beliefs!), an activity centre for recreation with camel carts, cultural programmes (music, dance, humour, magic shows) held every night and small pop ups like pottery, star gazing with a telescope as leisure activities. Meals are vegetarian and are served in a dining hall close to the clusters. Internal commute is through rickshaws, decorated buggys, colourful tractors and the likes!

Sunsets and moonrises

The first time you set foot on the white desert, you cannot believe what you are walking on: SALT! Hardly ten minutes away from the Tent city, crystals of salt are spread over like a massive blanket, spreading infinitely as far as your eyes can see. The White Rann extends from Gujarat’s Kutch district to Pakistan’s Sindh region, spreading over 30,000 sq. km. You will find it immensely crowded and not without a reason. Everyone wants to witness that EPIC sunset over the White Rann. I walk over the marshy salt flat, away from the crowds: the college goers, families, pre-wedding shoots, to find a small piece of this hypnotic expanse to myself. It is enormous and it isn’t hard to find a place where I can bid adieu to the sun for the day, in solitude.

Tangerine, auburn and a melange of the two and then it’s gone. Swallowed by the white expanse leaving behind a brilliant aftertaste in the sky. Sunsets are always special, but this one is bucket list worthy.

In January 2018, I was privy to a similar sunset, where one hour later: the chatter died down, people vacated the place, my sitting direction changed. I now faced the east and sat in complete darkness. Everyone sat together, yet apart awaiting the spectacle. It was a full moon night but the icing on the cake was the lunar eclipse. I began to savour the silence as the temperature dipped and a light breeze rustled in my ear. A faint red blot appeared in the sky, which darkened. In pitch darkness, we welcomed a tiny illumination, resembling a ring on the moon, slowly it brightened, lighting up the entire sky. The serenity and magnitude of this sight won us all over. In pin drop silence, moonlight washed over us as we all captured the surreal spectacle in our eyes and etched it forever in my minds. Two years later, it still is a memory for keeps.

Colourful craft villages

While visiting the Tent city and Rann of Kutch, do not miss the vibrance of the craft villages. Ajrakhpur, Hodko, Nirona, Bhujodi are villages where you can see craftsmen at work and buy directly from them. While Bhujodi and Ajrakhpur are near Bhuj, Hodko and Nirona are enroute Tent city from Bhuj.

If you are short on time and have time JUST for one craft village, let it be Nirona. It gives you the feel of an unpretentious, real village set up besides allowing you a sneak peek into the life of the artisans. Also, you are acquainted with three crafts in a single village: Rogan Art, Copper Bell art and Lacquerware.

Sightseeing in Bhuj: Mahals and cenotaphscolourful craft villages

Sunset at Royal Cenotaphs of Bhuj

While in Bhuj, as it will be your entry point to Kutch, make sure you spare a day visiting some architectural gems. Museum lovers can visit the Kutch museum, heritage lovers can visit the Aina Mahal and the Gothic styled Prag Mahal.

Those looking for an offbeat experience can visit the lesser known Ramkund step well and catch the sunset hues from the Royal Chattardis. The Royal cenotaphs were worst hit during the Bhuj earthquake, but even then the place offers a serene sunset experience, with pillars, columns scattered across a massive compound and silhouettes of cenotaphs in the orange sky. An added advantage is that it isn’t crowded, but the flip side for photographers is that tripods are not allowed.

Additional detours

If you have the luxury of a few more days, you can explore these popular, additional trip options based on your interests.

Mandvi: For beach and architecture lovers

Barely an hour away from Bhuj, is the ancient port town of Mandvi, known for its clean stretch of beaches, where the sand is so soft that it doesn’t stick to your feet. Mandvi is also the ‘birthplace’ of the famous street snack Dhabeli, readily available at all the street side vendors.

Heritage lovers cannot miss the opulent Vijay Vilas Palace, famous for its fusion architecture, influenced by Kutch, Bengal, and Rajasthan. Constructed as a summer palace for the royal family of Kutch in 1920 with stone jaalis, giant domes, spiral staircases, intricate arches and royal furniture, this red stone palace overlooks the Arabian Sea. The palace was also used for many Bollywood movie shoots like Lagaan and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

Kalo Dungar: For view hunters

Approximately 100 kilometers ahead of the sparkling White Rann, the terrain changes drastically as winding roads lead to the highest point in Kutch. Being approximately 460 meters above sea level, the place provides a bird’s eye view of the Greater Rann of Kutch. Kalo Dungar literally translated to the Black Hills are known as magnetic hills, with one point said to have a magnetic effect on the cars passing by.

The Kalo Dungar is a regular tourist spot, with local vendors coaxing you to get on a decorated camel, scores of tourists swarming the ‘sunset point’( flanked by desert cacti) and a few adventurous ones, venturing further away to isolated spots to see the infinite expanse of water merge with the horizons, in the company of layered hills, devoid of vegetation.

There is a Dattatreya temple as well, which offers free food to travellers. According to a legend, Lord Dattatreya rested on these hills and encountered a pack of hungry jackals, to whom he fed his own body. As they fed on his body, it started regenerating miraculously. As a practice, temple priests offer food to jackals every noon and visitors flock the temple to witness this spectacle.

Dholavira: For history buffs and lovers of archaeology

One of the two largest Harappan sites in India, the ruins of Dholavira bring the pages of history books to life.

Dholavira is a must for lovers of history to witness the learnings from a lost civilization and unravel the mysteries of undeciphered signages and stone inscriptions.

Little Rann of Kutch: For avid birders

330 Kms from Bhuj and 130 Kms from Ahmedabad, lies the dusty Wild Ass Sanctuary offering mirage like views of what actually is barren land, camouflaging a variety of birds: from the Greater Hoopoe-Lark to the Cream-coloured Courser to birds of prey including the Marsh harrier to the Steppe Eagle. The Little Rann of Kutch is a flat, salty mudflat, with the highest population of Asiatic wild ass. There are sparse water bodies too, in an expanse full of Mesquite trees, where water birds thrive.