The Flip Side of the Coin

As Rajastan is the desert state it goes without saying that therefore it must have a desert. After doing the first set of palaces and forts in Jaipur we headed north to where the Thar desert separates India from Pakistan.

Hoping to find a slightly less touristy destination for our adventure, we headed to Bikaner, famous for its annual camel festival so probably a good place for a camel safari. There are plenty of people who offer you the chance for a “unique desert experience” on the back of a camel but the guidebook warns against taking them so we went instead with Bikaner’s best – “The Camel Man”.

One thing The Camel Man isn’t is modest. We sat in his garden to talk camels and prices, but we first had to sit through his little speech about how we were about to experience something that would change us forever, how he felt honored to offer this service of camel safaris and how it had been in his family’s blood for generations – we didn’t mention that camel safaris and tourists are a relatively new phenomenon. Despite all his big talk, Camel Man was a nice guy, had an impressive handlebar moustache and more importantly his prices were the bet around. (Thanks to Elena’s well-honed bartering skills!)

We’d been warned by friends of ours who been on the safari to keep it short, so we opted for the ‘One Night in the Desert’ option. Once the chai was finished and the gushing recommendations read we piled into the Camel Man’s jeep and headed off into the desert… well we drove up the road a bit! In a little village we met our mode of transport for the afternoon – a group of five camels and their turban-wearing, impressively moustached masters.

We picked our camels and then did the bit that has made many people 250 pounds richer on You’ve Been Framed… getting from a sitting camel to a standing camel. I put my feet firmly in the stirrups, held on tight and did the rather nerve-wracking zigzag motion that gets you up. (And up you are, camels stand at least 8ft tall!) With everyone safely aboard their camels we set off into the wilderness (well we went down a small lane in the village).

The reports about camels being an uncomfortable ride are untrue… for the first 15 minutes. Then you begin to feel muscles ache that you didn’t even know you had!

To keep my mind off the increasingly uncomfortable feeling I looked around at our scenery. The desert wasn’t as portrayed in the Arabian Nights that’s for sure, it was more like scrub land with the occasional wizened tree! Our chances of wildlife-spotting were also reduced by a rather strange noise. This time of year is camel breeding time and we had a group of four males and one female (Dan’s camel) and the boys were out to impress Dan and his lady. I hope that a camel’s way of wooing never catches on as it involves a deep rumbling, bubbling sound from deep within the stomach, then the tongue is turned inside out, blown up with air, then stuck out and wiggled! It made for quite a humorous afternoon with all these bubbling noises and head-shaking with saliva-covered tongues hanging out! I don’t think Dan or his camel were impressed by all the boys’ efforts though!

After two hours of camel riding we reached our “wilderness campsite”, as vividly described by Mr Camel Man. It was located at the bottom of a small patch of movie-type dunes, and from certain angles was very picturesque but I think to call it wilderness was a little much – you always got the feeling that you weren’t that far away from it all.

One of the main pleasures of a camel safari (apart from getting off your camel, which did feel really good!) is the night sky. This was going to be denied to us, however, as the clouds were moving in and the legendary fog that this area is prone to looked decidedly like it was closing in. With the last of the sun’s rays we had a chance to fool around in the dunes, sliding and jumping about, leaving footprints and other daft things you feel the need to do in dunes.

Once the sun set the heat went with it and it rapidly became bitterly cold. We added all our extra layers and sat by the campfire being entertained by local traditional music, all very atmospheric and enjoyable but still exceptionally cold! We were quite glad after dinner to get cosy in our blanket-strewn tent and await the sunrise.

Sunrise never really happened – the fog that was threatening had come down with a vengeance overnight and breakfast was spent huddled by the campfire in an eerie half light, the camels eventually emerging through the fog to take us home again. This time our camel ride was on a cart behind a camel, a much faster and more comfortable way to travel (although as Dan got the seat right behind the camel’s bottom he may disagree!) In no time we had bounced our way out of our wilderness camp and were back at Mr Camel Man’s place, nurturing a nice cup of hot chai.

It was definitely an interesting thing to do and it’s a shame that the weather didn’t give us a night under the starry sky but in a way I like the fact that we had the fog as it was very mystical seeing the camels seemingly appear from nowhere, no noise (so rare in india!) and no sense of where you are going or where you have come from.