Gujarat’s one of the most successful tourist events, Kutch Rann Utsav – 2009 begins today at Bhuj.

There are total 400 tents for about 600 tourists this time in Kutch Rann utsav according to Tourism minister of Gujarat. 100 tents are AC and 300 non AC.

Tents for tourists are named after important tourist places of Kutch, such as Jesal Toral, Koteshwar, Dhrang etc.

A small group of tents will serve as dining hall, photo gallery, exhibition etc.

Tourists will spend night in their tent and in day time they will be taken to various tourist places of Kutch.

Whole tent city has been divided into five circles. Circle-1 will have seven-star royal tents of the Chief Minister and ex-President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Foreign diplomats of various nations will occupy 12 tents. Circle-2 contains 33 A category tents for corporate houses and core diplomatic staff. Circle-3 will have 25 AC tents for ministers of Gujarat. 10 tents in the same circle will accommodate senior IAS officers of the state.

Rann Utsav events

1 December: Tourists will be welcomed in Bhuj. They will be given complimentary stay in various hotels of Bhuj. They will be taken to Hamirsar lake to witness Kutch Carnival parade. After this parade, the tourists will enjoy dinner in central part of Harmirsar lake. Then the tourists will be taken to Dhordo tent city. They will be alloted their tents for night stay.

2 December: After breakfast, the tourists will be taken to Kalo Dungar(black hills). They will also be taken to Dhrobana village where they will enjoy traditional fair. The next destination will be Hodko village where rural tourism hotel has been set up. The tourists will take their lunch at Khavda and will be back to Dhordo tent city by 4 pm.

After couple of hours break, they will be taken to white Rann of Kutch at around 6 pm. The tourists will be sitting in camel carts to reach white salty surface of rann of Kutch. A stage right in the rann will rock with traditional music of Kutch. The tourists will come back to Dhordo tent city at around 8pm to have dinner.

3 December: Tourists will be taken to package tour of their choice. While one trip will go to India-Pakistan border, another will go to Narayan Sarovar-Mata no Madh-Lakhpat fort-Mandvi etc places. All tourists will come back to Dhordo city by night.

4 December: Tourists will be taken to Bhuj. End of Kutch Rann utsav.