Little Runn of Kutch
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Every year last week of Dec I visit some place for photography (normally
Bharatpur). Thanks to drought at Bharatpur this year, I decided to vist
Gujarat. It was totally an unplanned trip yet the trip as such turned
out to be very productive. I was thinking of visiting Little Runn, Velavadar
and Gir. But then I just ended up visiting Little Runn of Kutch. After staying
there for 5 days now I think one can spend more days at Little Runn
alone from photography perspective.
Little Runn is a 5000 sq.km National Park in north west part of India
within Gujarat. Little Runn is about 2 and a half hours drive from Ahmedabad.
This place is famous for Asiatic Wild Asses and endangered migratory
Macqueen's Bustard besides lots of migratory birds during winter.
I stayed at Desert Coursers Resort at Little Runn. Highlight of trip was
searching Macqueen's bustard in Little Runn. I was lucky to find them and
even photograph. It appears only four of them are seen this year, while last
year they saw seven. This is a highly endangered migratory bird and
is hunted close to extinction. I understand its meat is very sought after in
its homeland and now there are efforts to breed them in captivity.
I hope we will not see repeat of Siberian Crane story of Bharatpur at
Little Runn. If you are lucky you can see them during winter. If you stay
at Desert Coursers then ask Mehboob to be your driver for the safari. He knows
its habitat deep inside the desert.
Here is a little gallery of about 75 images (I may add more later)
I made at Little Runn of Kutch.
Little Runn of Kutch - Wildlife Gallery
In case you are plannig to visit Little Runn and need any specific info
feel free to E-mail me. Dhanraj Malik who runs Desert Coursers resort is a
very knowledgeable and helpful person. I found his charges are reasonable
for stay and safari. I suggest this place for any one (especially photographers)
for couple of reasons. First, the shrub area behind his resort is an
amazing place to photograph small birds and raptors like Black shouldered kites,
kesterel, Shikra etc. Most of my images you see in this gallery above are
made there ! He can also take you to his father's farm close by which is near
a reservoir where again you can find small birds like chats, bee eaters, sunbirds
and water birds at the reservoir. Only thing which I was not used to and got
used later was color of water. I belive the borewell water they get comes from
about ~1000 feet deep ! and is slightly colored. For drinking they serve
mineral water. Needless to say they serve good food. Accommodation is good enough
(Don't expect posh star hotel kind of rooms). For more information visit their site
Desert Coursers