The Thar Desert by Camel (Mar 20-22)

Where does one start when they experience riding a camel in the desert for the first time??

We met our guide and his son by the side of the highway waiting for us with Raja, Jee and Polo. A little apprehension sets in because you have heard so much about the nastiness of camels (i.e. spitting, farting and burping and just generally not seeming very pleasant) not to mention how sore we will likely feel after riding. We booked a 3 day-2 night trek being the over zealous types that we are! I can say that riding a camel is less scary than riding an elephant because they are not as tall.

It didn't take long to get our groove and find a riding position/style that was best although by the end of the first day........John was a bit concerned about his lack of thigh muscle flexibility required for straddling a camel's back but he persevered and the muscles seem to stretch to meet the challenge! Lori did fine the first day but the guide switched her to another camel and the saddle/camel's back was not comfortable but she rode it out and now has paid the price! She was switched back to another camel but alas, the damage had been done - thoughts of riding back for the jeep pick-up the next day haunted her!

Enough of that stuff, the desert is amazingly hot and dry (no surprise there) - there are families that used to farm and raise sheep, goats and cows but they had to abandon that lifestyle and the soil cannot support as much as it used to and the last 3 years have not seen much rain. Our guides do camel treks for 8 months (where they earn $45 Cdn/mth plus tips) and spend the other 4 months cutting sandstone for building construction at a quarry. This rock cutting is done using a pick and it is the hottest time of the year. There is no easy life for people living in the desert. The only water is from wells, so any animal without a human to retrieve water for it, will not live. We passed by a few skeletons on our journey.

There are still people raising sheep and goats (and a few cows) for selling to city markets. One 'shepherd" showed up for lunch on the first and third day. His goats nibbled on John's laces and my sandal straps. They are going around hoovering up any tiny green scrap they can see in the sand. At this point in time we were in an area with a few trees and the owner was up in the tree cutting down the lower branches so that the goats would have something to eat...and it's still 3 more months before the rainy season is supposed to start. The baby goats are particularly cute.... I think they grow into their big floppy ears. Overall though the number of animals is on the decline due to lack of grazing. Our guide said he used to have 300 goats but they died off until he was down to 30 at which point he sold them and used the money to buy a camel (since camel tourism was on the rise), but then there was not enough grazing to keep the camel alive so he sold it to a richer fellow (the camel man, who manages a fleet of 30 of them) who can afford to pay to truck in grain to meet their needs of 20kg per day!. Here's a photo of our guide Jamin (whose English was really good by the way) preparing our meal using little bits of dried sticks gathered from the desert.

Every mealtime, people (friends of our guides) seemed to magically appear and stay for the food. We felt we were feeding a community. It probably helped when we informed them they we didn't need them to cook so much food for us - at least there is more left over for their use. They defintely need it more than we.

Well, the first night, we slept under the stars! It was amazing! So blissfully quiet. Once we settled into our bed of blankets, the wind came up and a stray dog headed for John's side of the blankets and curled up for the night.

The second day, we had a short visit to our guide's village and played with the children and drank tea with the adults. They live in houses constructed from cow manure and sand. These apparently last about 10 years before any maintenance is required. Other homes in the community seemed to be constructed with the sandstone blocks and electrical wires were overhead, having just came in in the past 6 mths but no power was switched on yet and no homes actually wired up to the poles. However, there were cell towers and our guides were on the phone constantly as we were out in the desert as we were never far enough away to be out of signal range.

John plied the guides with as many questions as possible to try and get a feel for life there. They were alway happy to answer but it was hard work...wishing they had volunteered to talk more about their life there. These people in these villages are muslim, and in fact they were part of Pakistan until a war between these countries in the 90's at which time the Indians pushed the border another 100 or so kms back into Pakistan. These people were quite happy about it though, saying life was much better now on the Indian side. There is a school in their village tho' they said there was a teacher there perhaps not even 1/2 of the normal school days. Overall, you have the sense that life here is in big trouble if it doesn't start raining again. It seems the only economic activity now is camel trekking tourists and we all know how fickle that business can be.

We arrived at our second night 'camp' early afternoon. There was a shelter made of wood and grass. This became a real blessing since while we were enjoying our lunch, we heard the sound of thunder but thought it was probably a plane - nope, it was thunder! What are the chances that there would be rain in the desert during the dry season???? Pretty good it seems. We were treated to 3 rain showers and a spectacular light show that went on for hours! We have never seen anything quite like it! The guides weren't impressed though. It actually wasn't enough rain to do more than just dampen the surface of the sand, and it just isn't the right time...they want it to rain in July/Aug and then to get a good drenching, because that is when they plant the crops.

I have to put in a word for our camels - they were great. Aside from the occassional burp or fart, there was no spitting or bad behaviour. The sounds they do make are unlike anything we've heard before loud gurgling especially when they had to kneel down or stand back up.

Lori found them delightful and would pet them and talk to them - which the guides thought was very different. They thought she was crazy ;)

Overall, a nice experience but we find it hard to imagine how some people would enjoy a 7 or 10 day version of such an excursion! OK...farewell to the desert!.