PHOTOGRAPH: JYOTHY KARAT
ABOVE: Bar-headed geese
winter here. They hold the
record for flying at the highest
elevation. In autumn, they move
south from their breeding grounds
in Mongolia and the Tibetan
Plateau over the high passes
of the Himalayas, reaching
altitudes of up to 6,400m.
LEFT: Bajana, the southern shore
of Little Rann, is drenched during
the rains. The Rann of Kutch,
one of the largest salt deserts in
the world, is a vast transitional
area where marine and terrestrial
ecosystems meld. ‘Rann’ means
‘desert’ in Hindi, but, during
the monsoon, it stays flooded
for a month.61