Little Rann of Kutch

The Little Rann is a flat of around five thousand square kilometres that fills with seawater and rain in the monsoon and dries into a salt crust for the rest of the year, broken by raised islands of scrub called bets. It is the only place the Indian wild ass survives in the wild, a khur population that recovered from a few hundred in the 1960s to several thousand now, seen in herds on the flat. Agariya families work salt pans on the surface through the dry months, living out on the flat in temporary shelters. Flamingos, cranes and pelicans use the wet areas.

What you actually see

• The wild asses - the world's only wild khur population, in herds on the flat.
• The salt workers - Agariya families working pans out on the crust.
• The bets - raised scrub islands rising from the flat.
• The waterbirds - flamingos, cranes and pelicans on the wet margins.

When to go

November to March; the flat is impassable in the monsoon and unbearably hot from April. Winter mornings are cold and produce mirages over the crust as the day warms.

Honest expectations

The landscape is bare and featureless, which some find monotonous. Vehicles need permits and local drivers who know the crust; getting bogged is a real risk. Accommodation is limited to a handful of camps.

Nearby

Ahmedabad lies southeast; Bhuj is northwest.