North-west India, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat State; 22*15'-23*40'N, 68*20'-70*40'E. 
The Gulf of Kutch is an arm of the Arabian Sea, separating the Saurashtra Peninsula from the Great and Little Rann of Kutch. At its seaward (western) end it is 58 km wide, from which point it tapers gradually eastwards, extending for nearly 170 km. Most of the beaches are sandy and muddy, or have large sandstone expanses. There are between 30 and 40 islands on the Jamnagar coast in the Marine National Park, surrounded by reefs, the main islands being Pirotan of 6 sq. km (16 km north of Bedi Port) and Karumbhar (Briggs in litt., 8.1.85; Chavan, 1983; Pillai et al., 1980) (figures vary in references). Prior to the Pleistocene, reef development was more extensive and diverse. Since then, there has been marked tectonic uplift, the Rann of Kutch having been formed from an earlier sea. Rashid (1985) describes physical features of the Gulf. A general description of the Sind-Kutch region is given in IUCN (1983). Briggs (in press) and Chavan (1983) have described general aspects of the Park. Early brief articles on the Park include Anon. (1980) and Menon (1979).

An important feature of the Gulf is its tidal range of 4-7 m which generates fast currents of up to 2.5 m per second. These set up a remarkable 'dynamic barrier' (Nair, 1984) whereby the outflow of the Indus River is deflected away from the mouth of the Gulf. As a result, much of the sediment from the Indus is carried out to sea and the Gulf has less sediment than other parts of the western Indian coastline. Nevertheless, turbidity is still very high due to cyclones, wind-blown sediment, river discharge along the southern shore of the Gulf and terrigenous input resulting from human activities, with visibility usually less than 1 m, and conditions are suboptimal (Chavan, 1985 and in litt., 23.1.85). Salinity is close to the oceanic level (Briggs in litt., 8.1.85). The climate is semi-arid, usually with less than 400 mm rain a year, although double this amount has sometimes fallen in recent years.

Arrival Information : 

     Convenient  trains  from Ahmedabad  to Jamnagar,  from where boats  can be hired.

FAUNA and FLORA The area includes the best mangrove forests of the west coast and the only mangrove forests in Gujarat; these are described in detail by Chavan (1985) and Rashid (1985). They support large breeding colonies of storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, darters and cormorants (Rashid, 1985). Shores other than those formed from coral reefs are composed largely of sand and mud and have high invertebrate productivity (Briggs in litt., 8.1.85). As a result there is a diverse avifauna and the Gulf is a wintering ground for vast numbers of waders and for Greater Phoenicopterus ruber roseus and Lesser P. minor Flamingoes. The fish fauna in this area is described by Chhayya and Patel (1978). The invertebrate fauna of the area is diverse and is described by Chavan (1983), Menon et al. (1961) and Gideon et al. (1956). The echiuran Rubicelatus pirotansis is described by Haldar (1985). Green Turtles Chelonia mydas (the most common) and Olive Ridleys Lepidochelys olivacea breed on Gulf beaches, and the Leatherback Dermochelys coriacea is occasionally sighted (Bhaskar, 1979a), but these are apparently feeding individuals only. The Dugong Dugong dugon is possibly extinct in the area.