For the next couple of days, we rose before dawn, had a very early breakfast, bundled up, and met Azad at the front of the lodge just as it was getting light. It always coincided with the early morning Muslim call to prayer, which provided a sense of being in a new place and added to the serenity of the morning. We'd load up the vehicle and head off to a fabulous wetland area, thorny scrub patch, or the salt flats. We had really excellent birding, got a close-up view of the making of salt in the moonscape that encompasses the salt pans and had the treat of finding and following a desert fox as it moved through the acacia scrub, marking its territory. We were even scared off from a section of acacia bush by a man wielding a machete. The thought was that he either had a still or was illegally collecting firewood. Needless to say, Azad got us out of the area quickly.
Several of us had developed sore throats and colds, so we stopped in at the village of Dasada to pick up some throat lozenges. It was market day and we got to see a slice of life in India that we wouldn't have been privy to otherwise. We drove through the very narrow unpaved streets among the villagers, buffalo, goats and cows grazing amidst the trash on the roadside. The small shopfronts featured fruits and vegetables or pots and pans, but not both. There was nothing resembling an American General store. There was one theme per shop. People were busily buying and selling and we were pleased to see the daily goings on in the village. I witnessed one particularly touching scene. A person was outside of a house laying on a cot and a youngish man was very attentively kneeling at the person's side, leaning in close. I don't know the story behind the scene, but I found it to be very moving - an intimate glimpse into someone's private life in the village.
We found the Little Rann of Kutch fascinating, ecologically, as most dry environments are, with plants and animals that are uniquely adapted to some very extreme conditions. The bird life in winter is exceptional and it was a great starting place for our introduction to wild India.
Several of us had developed sore throats and colds, so we stopped in at the village of Dasada to pick up some throat lozenges. It was market day and we got to see a slice of life in India that we wouldn't have been privy to otherwise. We drove through the very narrow unpaved streets among the villagers, buffalo, goats and cows grazing amidst the trash on the roadside. The small shopfronts featured fruits and vegetables or pots and pans, but not both. There was nothing resembling an American General store. There was one theme per shop. People were busily buying and selling and we were pleased to see the daily goings on in the village. I witnessed one particularly touching scene. A person was outside of a house laying on a cot and a youngish man was very attentively kneeling at the person's side, leaning in close. I don't know the story behind the scene, but I found it to be very moving - an intimate glimpse into someone's private life in the village.
We found the Little Rann of Kutch fascinating, ecologically, as most dry environments are, with plants and animals that are uniquely adapted to some very extreme conditions. The bird life in winter is exceptional and it was a great starting place for our introduction to wild India.
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