Rann of Kutch

BEYOND GUJARAT'S WORLD-FAMOUS UTSAV

- ISHA PARVATIYAR

HE moon might be nearly 4,00,000 kilometres away, but the Rann of Kutch makes it feel startlingly close. With its endless white salt flats stretching to the horizon, the second-largest salt flat in the world after Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia feels less like a comparison and more like a sibling in spirit.

Walking across the White Rann can feel like strolling through a lunar landscape - silent, stark and almost magically surreal.

The first thing you notice as you drive out of Bhuj is how quickly the landscape empties itself. The roads grow quieter, the sky larger, the land flatter and the sunsets mesmerising. Babool trees stand scattered and somewhere between stretches of scrub and sudden openness, the earth begins to pale. Then suddenly, it turns white. Not sand, but salt - stretching endlessly, reflecting sunlight so fiercely it feels almost celestial. Spread across 18,000 sq ft of desert terrain, with around 7,500 sq ft forming the famed White Rann, this is a landscape that feels both ancient and fleeting.