A Kutchi summer - Day 1 - Of broken down jeeps and the fashion king of Dasada

I wrote about searching for the wild asses here. Now read Day 1 "retold" by my teenage son!

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After cheerily wishing my friends an enjoyable and unenviable last week at school, I finished my packing for the MNS trip to the LRK and Gir. The next morning, I was duly awoken by Dave Mustaine singing about death and annihilation, reminding me of the long two day long train journey ahead of me. Excitedly, Me and mother were dropped off at the train station by a noticeably subdued daddy.

We then made our way to the Navjivan Express where along the way to the oven-like bogie we met the fellow eccentrics who would be our companions for the next week. Some avid naturalists with a dead serious streak and a young birding prodigy, mixed with those who were along just for the fun. (I say this in the hope that I was not the only one!!)

The journey started, I realized that a certain set of headphones of mine had been left at home and I was soon scrounging, much to my mother's amusement, for another pair. A very kind Prasanna aunty loaned me a pair for the trip and I remain eternally grateful for that. The rest of the train journey thankfully passed in a blur, punctuated only by frequent visits from the local motormouth Roshan and a hilarious Malayalam movie.

On reaching Ahmedabad at 7.30, two buses carried the luggage and us towards our destination: Dasada. A half hour detour was made to nourish the group as we made good time and reached by about 11.30. The first order of business for some of us was relieving ourselves of the nitrogenous burden that unsanitary train toilets had brought about. For those who had braved the loos, it was bed, only to be woken up 4 hours later for tea and the morning safari!

One of the jeeps, kicking up dust at the LRK


The LRK in the summer felt almost like a desert and wildlife seemed to be sparse other than the Wild Ass and the Nilgai. Bird life was also somewhat absent other than near the watering holes, where it is abundant. So off we trotted to some god forsaken place in 4 jeeps and a big Tata vandi to carry the others that didn’t fit.

One jeep conked even before we reached the destination. So that jeep’s occupants, me included, dispersed ourselves between the other jeeps and the "elephant" (Tata vandi). So finally, we were on our way and as I was in child prodigy Vikas’ jeep, the first birds were spotted:Rosy Pastors. Two of them. So everyone suitably pleased, we headed on, to spot the famous Wild Ass we had come to see.

The Tata vandi

Far from the moviestar we were expecting, “it looked just like a donkey” as someone later said. Of course, my mother finds all these things so adorable; it just had to be coochie-cooed. Moving on, our jeep saw a herd of wild Nilgai, the blue bull, which thankfully not many others had seen.

The herd of Nilgai. With the Nikon 8008 analog.

We soon hit an old salt plain, with the last remnants of a drying water body, where truckloads of flamingoes were spotted, along with a pair of shrieking lapwings, whose newly hatched chicks we had disturbed. All bird enthusiasts suitably excited about the spotting, it took everyone a while to get back into the jeeps.

Click on the picture to see two fledgling lapwings. One of them was in the process of hatching, so we left quickly so that the shrieking parent could return to her nest.
The Shrieking parent
The same lapwing waits morosely in the distance for us to clear out

Much exhilarated at our finds, we headed back to our resort to enjoy a break from constant movement after so long and a well-earned breakfast!

The dining area at Rann Riders where we spent a good portion of our time finishing off all the food!

After breakfast, the resort's resident peacock was found posing for pictures (and probably fishing for some food) on the dining room sofa and everybody was agog at its boldness. The following shots are with the digital camera.

The "star" poses, complete with backdrop and fancy setting


He obliged for a close-up.

And a frontal as well. My mother posed with him as well. Imagine!

This mild excitement notwithstanding, there was pretty much nothing to do except go to our rooms and do……nothing! I was sharing with Vijay uncle and Pritam uncle and they both hit the sack with the AC on, and were soon sound asleep. I read about the misadventures of Fletch and his fiancé, whatever her name was. Upon being groggily shaken from our respective reveries, we made our way unsteadily down for a nice north lunch.

Feet up, my mom contemplating the ceiling!

Another nap later, we headed out for the evening ride which was more agonizing as the temperatures were in the high forties and everybody was wrapped up like a mummy to keep out the dust! Young Sanjana joined us on this trip as we headed into the true Rann of Kutch and across the numerous salt plains. Although the dust slightly dampened our spirits, we soon caught sight of the asses and spirits were lifted again. We spent the rest of the evening whizzing around the Kutch and passed many a lorry piled high with salt crystals.

Once again, one of the jeeps broke down and so we stopped as the sun went down on another day spent. The issue resolved, the jeep’s occupants relocated and we were on our way to Dasada again, just in time for a delicious and sumptuous meal that knocked everybody out for the next 8 hours, till the next morning safari.

This one was out in the wild, in Gir. He had just finished his dance I think.


LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT!