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Published: December 9th 2010
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Rabari man
'Rabari' means herder - this man was herding cattle. They gather outside the mosque each morning to decide who goes where with their livestock. On the way home from Udaipur I decided to take a detour and spend two nights at Camp Zainabad (aka Desert Coursers) on the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch.
'Rann' means desert, 'Kutch' is the area, and at nearly 5000sq km it is 'little' only in comparison to the 'great' rann located further towards Pakistan.
The area is the last habitat of the Asiatic Wild Ass, but I was more interested in the landscape. It is dead flat, and turns into a marshland during the monsoon, broken only by a few small islands or 'bhets'. But the rains haven't conformed this year and the desert was still spongey from flooding in early November.
About 20,000 families live in the desert during the dry season, barely reaping a living from salt panning. Other families raise sheep or cattle along its edges, or cultivate cotton and cumin.
Gujurat is fast becoming my favourite state in India, and I hope these photos show why.
Even in Ahmedabad, a city of 5 million, I nearly had my arms ripped from my shoulders a few times by people wanting their photo taken, and I have so many things to
Shy
These two children in Zainabad village demanded their photo be taken, then ran and hid behind the door. Their mum also came to investigate. write about that I have decided not to try just yet!
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Madhu Nair
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Wild Ass Sanctuary
Hi, Came across this blog post while googling for info on Wild Ass Sanctuary. We were there about 18 moths ago and had a great time spotting wildlife including wild asses, cranes and nilgais. Here is the link with the pictures we took just in case you want to take a look. Regards, Madhu http://10yearitch.com/states/gujarat/photo-post-wild-ass-sanctuary-little-rann-of-kutch-gujarat/