Rann of Kutch (White Rann)

The Rann of Kutch is a 10,000-sq-km seasonal salt-flat desert at the western edge of Gujarat — the largest salt desert in Asia and a unique biome where the Arabian Sea floods inland in monsoon (June-September), then evaporates leaving a vast white salt crust visible from space. The 'Great Rann' (north of the Tropic of Cancer) is the white-salt spectacle; the 'Little Rann' to the south is grassland-and-salt and the only habitat of the wild Indian ass (Khur). The Rann Utsav, held annually from November to February, is the headline tourism draw — a 100-day cultural festival on the salt flats with tent-city accommodation, folk performances, handicrafts, camel rides, and the famous full-moon walks across the white desert. The Kala Dungar (Black Hill) viewpoint, the village of Hodka with its bhunga circular mud-and-mirror houses, and the artisan villages of Bhuj district (block-printing at Ajrakhpur, embroidery at Sumrasar) are essential adjuncts. The 2001 Bhuj earthquake devastated the region; reconstruction has been a 20-year cultural and economic project.