The temperature here can range from 50deg C to 5deg C. The moisture-laden monsoon winds pass over this desert unchecked, and years can pass by without any rain. Shifting dunes of sand make the land infertile, where not much can grow. Dust storms with wind speeds of up to 150kph tear through this landscape. This is the Thar desert. It covers about 3,20,000 sq. km running through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. The Thar is an inhospitable place where life struggles to survive. It’s only stunted scrubs, like the hardy acacia, that have adapted to the desert that can grow here. As I look through the windscreen of my Mahindra Thar at the desolate landscape with undulating sand dunes stretching into the horizon, I wonder if this is the spiritual home of the SUV I am driving. I shift the Thar into first and let go of the clutch. It’s time to find out.
I have driven 12 hours from Mumbai to get here to Dasada, a village less than 100km from Ahmedabad. The excellent black tarmac highway in Gujarat meant that we could keep the Thar at a steady three-digit speed. The 106hp CRDe engine felt unstressed and the Thar just gobbled up the distance. There’s a certain charm in sitting high above the traffic and seeing the bonnet out of the windscreen scything through the highway.
Roughing It, At The Rann
Dasada is home of the Rann Riders, a resort located in the Little Rann of Kutch. This is a fantastic destination to see the endangered Indian Wild Ass. This area has been listed by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve. The next morning I drive into the Little Rann, a featureless expanse of shrubs and cracked earth as far as the eye can see. There are no roads here; you make your own way. Without a guide from the Rann Riders, I would be lost in no time. While in any other vehicle I would be tiptoeing through this terrain, here I have the pedal planted to the Thar’s floor. The Thar just bullies through the landscape in a trail of dust.
We suddenly spot what we have been looking for, a herd of Indian Wild Ass. The guide directs me to intersect the animals’ path. The herd passes by our Thar at a trot, though they can attain speeds of up to 80kph.
And that’s the special thing about the Thar. You want adventure? The Thar will take you there, in civilised and air-conditioned comfort. And then, when the road runs out, the Thar will continue going where few vehicles have gone before. Though there are no rocks to clamber over, no mud pits to bog you down or steep gradients to negotiate in this barren place, I know that if need be, it can. I know because I have.
