This is not a region for the faint-hearted. The barren, blindingly white land of Little Rann is nature at its harshest and most compelling, and home to India’s last remaining population of khur (Asiatic wild ass). There’s also a huge bird population, and the area is one of the few places in India where flamingos are known to breed naturally. Khurs and flamingos are protected in the 4953-sq-km Little Rann Sanctuary . The area is punctuated by desolate salt farms, where people eke out a living by pumping up ground water and extracting the salt. Heat mirages disturb the vast horizon – bushes and trees seem to hover above the surface.
The name "Rann" comes from the Hindi word ran (रण) meaning "desert". The Hindi word is derived from Sanskrit/Vedic word iriṇa (इरिण) attested in the Rigvedaand Mahābhārata. As early as 325 BCE, Alexander the Great was aware of the area.
It seems it is no more confined to the 4,953.71 km2 area of the Rann, but it is now being found right up to the Kala Dungar near Banni grasslands in Kutch and Nal Sarovar. Within the State of Gujarat it is now also found in districts of Surendranagar, Rajkot, Patan, Banaskantha and Kutch.
Salt Well in Kutch in 1891
There is traditional commercial salt panning activity in the region which the state of Gujarat's Forest Department wants to discourage as it is considered a threat to ecology of the region, wildlife and to the endangered Indian wild ass.
Gujarat produces close to 73% of totalsalt consumed in India • Close to 60% of thisis produced in Little Rann of Kutch • Little Rann of Kutch is a 5183 sq.km land mass having dual characteristics of saline desert and wetland • It is divided between the 5 districts of Surendranagar, Mehsana, Banaskantha, Kutch and Rajkot • Close to 43,000 traditional salt workers (Agariyas) live in more than 108 villages on the peripheryof LRK. • They mostly belong to Nomadic and De-notified Tribes (75%), Schedule caste (10%), Schedule Tribes (10%) and others backward communities (5%) and salt making in LRK is more than a centuryold tradition for most of them
