Gandhinagar: Tourists from 52 countries regularly visit the Chhari Dhand wetland area in Kutch district, which was designated as Gujarat’s fifth Ramsar site, the state govt said on Friday.State forest and environment minister Arjun Modhwadia on Friday presented the Ramsar site certificate to chief minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar.Chhari Dhand is a wetland located between desert and grasslands, attracting thousands of migratory birds annually, including the globally significant Grey hypocolius. In 2008, Chhari Dhand was declared a conservation reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.Tour operators and ornithologists reported that over 80% of visitors to Chhari Dhand were from abroad, mainly from the US, UK, Australia, Finland, and the Netherlands, govt said in a statement. The wetland is crucial for birdwatchers, hosting over 2,00,000 birds and 187 species.
