D3 / 21st January 2018 / Sunday
The street opposite to our Guest House suddenly appeared very delicious, idli / dosas / dabeli / garma garam vada & bhajiya / chaas / tea. The breakfast was equivalent to lunch. When we started from Rapar, I thought it would be a relaxed day and a small drive to Dholavira but God had totally different plan for us. Our hotel guy suggested us to visit Ravechi Temple on the way to Dholavira. So we started lazily around 9.30 AM and drove towards Rav Village, first we visited Ravechi Temple located inside the Rav village. I always have a habit of looking at Google Maps and since yesterday evening I was seeing something called as Gangto Bet, so I checked with shopkeeper outside the temple and they told me that there is white rann near Gangto Bet and Temple of Ravechi Mataji on the hilltop. I was like lets go and check out. So we started driving slowly towards Gangto Bet with the help of Navigation in GMaps and after 4 kilometres we were surprised by the view in front of us, everyone excitingly shouted, "wow, White Rann". We kept driving till the point there was block on the road. We all got down and started enjoying and admiring the beauty of White Rann, after 15 minutes a Tata Sumo passed by and went straight towards the Gangto Bet, I was surprised and immediately went running to check the trail through which Tata Sumo passed. The road was of course motorable and we immediately got inside the car and started moving towards the Temple uphill on Gangto Bet. The road was rough all the way up to the hilltop. A beautiful Ravechi Mata Temple located on the hilltop looked mesmerizing with no one around except the people from Tata Sumo, even people from Tata Sumo were surprised on seeing us, because except locals hardly anyone is aware of this place, in addition they also told us about the history of the place as well.
Ravechi Temple (Gangto Bet): Ravechi Temple is located in Village named Rav (this is arrangement made, so that Goddess can be worshipped throughout the year), The Original Temple is located in Gangto Bet (an island) on the hill top, it was built by Pandavas and was destoyed by Babi dynasty. The route for the temple is as follows, one has to take left from Ravechi Temple located in Base village of Rav and continue on the trail all the way till the point where you see White Rann, thereafter one straight arrow type road will take you in Gangto Bet, than starts the climbing for approximately 1 kilometer to reach the original temple, follow the same route back to touch the Rav Village. Road from Ravechi Temple located in the Base Village of Rav to Gangto Bet is pure off-road, all cars can do it, however sedan / hatchback will have to be careful, since underbody may hit the ground. View from the top is amazing. You can enjoy the beauty of White Rann without any disturbance. Before going to this place, it is better to check with locals whether it is accessible during particular time of the year.
GMaps Link:
Google Maps
The View of White Rann from Ravechi Mata Temple:
My parents and wife were extremely happy after this temple visit, they got even happier as someone from Tata Sumo guys told us that "Jab Mataji ka hukum hota he tabhi bhakt uske dar par aa sakta he, aap log naseeb wale ho" meaning "you are able to visit goddess only when she calls you, you guys are extremely lucky"
Well it was time for the return journey and believe me, none of us wanted to leave but with heavy heart we moved back to Rav Village and than towards Dholovira, it was already 2 PM and we were hungry, the problem here was that next best option for food would be quite far i.e. Dholavira, so en-route we stopped at small roadside stall and enquired about food, he immediately invited us inside his shop and started preparing food, the place wasn't luxurious, it was just roadside stall, however when he started serving the food, we realized that food has amazing aroma and we started eating. For next 15 minutes we didn't even looked at each other and were busy hogging.
It was 2.30 PM and we had lot of places to cover. We quickly moved towards Dholavira, the road was amazing all the way, en-route Dholavira you pass through Khadir Bet, a bridge which connects Dholavira Island with Main Land, it has amazing views of White Rann on both the side of the road.
We made it to Dholavira by 3.30 PM and straightaway went to see IVC Metropolis Excavation Site, we were again awestruck by the planning of ancient age, people in those age thought very well ahead of their time. A guide helped us in understanding entire history of the site, about future discovery of excavation sites, etc. Next place of interest was Fossil Park, initially I wasn't interested in Fossil Park but my wife persuaded me and we went to Fossil Park, I was awestruck on the first look of it The place appeared straight out of the sets of Indian Games of Thrones.
By 5.30 PM, we wrapped up at fossil park and moved towards Border Outpost (BOP) Karni, one can see amazing sunset from BOP Karni, Besides BOP Karni, there is Dattatray temple as well and it looks amazing post sunset. After a wonderful day, we moved to our accommodation, there was light chill in air and delicious gujarati food made us feel like home.
Accommodation: Flamingo Resort, Dholavira
Location:
Google Maps
Four Wheel Drive Jeep
Ravechi Temple, Rav
White Rann, Gangto Bet
Poser Daddy Cool
Mera Beta Cool (Sumo in the background)
Bahu bhi Cool (Sumo in the background)
Original Ravechi Temple, Hilltop, Gangto Bet
Sanctum of Temple
Campus of Temple
Some more of White Rann
Footprints
The road towards temple
Posers
The beautiful lake just before Rav Village
Khadir Bet en-route Dholavira
Wifey posing
IVC Metropolis Excavation Site
The Indian Games of Thrones, Fossil Park,
Somewhere in the distance lies the International Border with Pakistan.
Some random clicks at Fossil Park
We click pictures everywhere
BOP Karni, Dattatray Temple, Sunset
The Bhanjano Hill
GMaps Link for Today:
https://goo.gl/maps/8j5jb9r94ZKozEHx6