Rann of Kutch

The Rann of Kutch is one of the most otherworldly landscapes on earth — 7,500 square kilometres of salt flat that shimmers white under the winter sun and reflects the night sky so completely that walking across it at full moon feels like walking on water.

The Great Rann is the world's largest salt desert, formed by the silting of a shallow sea that covered this region until geological shifts in the 18th century. The Agaria salt workers — a caste whose occupation is specific to this landscape — spend the dry season living on the Rann itself in small settlements of temporary structures, cutting and stacking the salt with hand tools that have not fundamentally changed in three thousand years.

The Banni grasslands, between the villages and the desert, are grazed by the Maldhari herders' cattle and buffalo and support the embroidery traditions — mirror-work, chain stitch, geometric fields — of the Rabari, Jat, and Mutwa communities who produce the finest textile work in Gujarat. The craft village at Ajrakhpur, where block-printed ajrakh textiles are produced in the same natural dye process practised here since the 16th century, gives the cultural context that the landscape alone does not.

Places to Visit in Rann of Kutch

• White Rann salt desert
• Kutch handicraft villages
• Kalo Dungar viewpoint

Things to Do in Rann of Kutch

• Sunset over the white desert
• Rann Utsav cultural festival (seasonal)
• Local handicraft shopping