Mr & Mrs Wanderlust : Sunsets and Sand Dunes

Okay, so we were in Jaisalmer, and many people who go to Jaisalmer go for the same reason, to spend a day on a camel and a night under the stars in the desert. We thought about this and made a decision with a few others from our guesthouse that we would stay for 2 nights in the desert. We booked our trip through our guesthouse which was Nomads guest house in Jaisalmer. The guesthouse owner named Aladdin arranged it and his prices were what we were expecting to pay (and lower than others who we met on our travels had paid) We paid 1200 INR per night in the desert, including all food, water, chai, blankets and bedding. There is some slightly cheaper treks, but we had heard good things about the trek arranged by Aladdin and we were not disappointed.

Day 1:

At 9 am the following day we had breakfast packed our stuff and were ready to go! We left our large luggage at the guesthouse and carried a small backpack with us, in it contained spare clothing, underwear, a few snacks, and our camera. Aladdin drove us in the jeep ( included in the price) for around 40 minutes, and showed us Kuldhara village on the way. In 1825 all the people in Kuldhara and nearby villages vanished in the night, leaving it abandoned and desolate. It was a large village of Brahmins (upper class people) that left due to fear of being killed by the king as they didn't want to let him marry the village chief's daughter. It seems such a shame as there are so many beautifully well designed buildings that have gone to waste.

After this we drove for another 20 mins to a remote village where we looked to the left and saw the camel drivers (Yes....they are called camel drivers not riders) running towards the jeep, there were 7 camels in our train, (camel train, hence drivers) they jogged towards us and sat the camels down, introduced themselves. We met our guide leader who's name was Hussain, and he introduced his team, Babu - the chef, and Mangalu, who was a friend who helps him sort the camels whilst he looks after the guests.

We were given our camels for the next few days, the supplies were strapped to the camel, including a large coca-cola coolbox. (it looked rather humorous, having an ancient mode of middle eastern transport with the largest western brand in the world strapped to his back). Then we were off, for around an hour to get us used to riding the camels. By now it was around 12.30 and the camels were getting hungry, we knew that because as we were walking along the camels were grabbing whatever they could from the bushes. So we stopped and Babu cooked up some lunch, a veg curry with chappatis cooked over the open fire. We shared some with a few stray dogs that were sat on the dunes with us. This lunch break lasted around 3 hours, as it would not make any sense to be on the camels in the heat of the day. We all ate our food, and had a nap, read a book and had another nap.

Then Hussain went and rounded up the camels and saddled and loaded them up (They unload them as much as possible for the comfort of the camel, and the fact that a lot of the equipment they carry is for cooking the food and the drinking water). Once saddled up we were back on the trail for another 2 hours before it the sun was starting to set, and we made it to our first sand dune. A lot of the desert area in the desert near Jaisalmer is more like arid scrubland, and after a heavy monsoon season there was a lot of greenery and scrub. but the sand dunes were like the desert not a bush or tree in sight. we sat on the softest sand since Goa, and watched as the sun went down, whilst drinking a cool beer (the reason for the coolbox.) It was quite amazing to be in a place with no man made sounds, and no light pollution, the stars were as bright as you would expect. We stayed up until around 9pm before getting into our sleeping bag liners, and under our blankets (the blankets sit on the camel during the day so they have a rather interesting odour to sleep in) it was getting cold, so we were fully dressed. in our liners, and it was strange going to sleep under the stars, and it was not the best nights sleep. We were woken by fighting dogs, and the cold fog rolling in over us, saturating our blankets. We woke around 8.30am and had our breakfast of toast, jam and boiled eggs.

Day 2:

By 9 am we were back on our camels, for another few hours, before our lunch break, by this point our groins were aching, so we were a little pleased to get off the camels and stretch our achey limbs. Babu rustled up a delicious aubergine curry over the open fire, with more fresh chapattis. Another long lunch break when we were woken by a herd of cows and goats walking past with the bells around their necks. One of our camel guides stood up, and chatted to the farmer, before the guide with the least English stood up abruptly and with bundles of enthusiasm shouted "MILK CHAI". He proceeded to sneak up on a goat and milk it into a pan. This was really a nice milk chai, we all agreed we'd never had fresher milk! After this we were back on the camels to make it to the next dune for sleeping on. I haven't mentioned that by this point a dog we had fed on our first night, had followed us all this way, we had named her Marilyn, and she was very tame to us, and followed us from the moment we met her until the moment we left. She even chased off another stray dog which was trying to steal our food supplies,So another night under the stars very relaxed and a better nights sleep because it didn't get quite so cold!

Day 3:

The next morning we were up, our muscles feeling marginly better from the nights rest. We had the same breakfast, before getting back in the saddle. We rode to a desert village to have a look around and meet some locals before then having to work our way back to the meeting point. We arrived 10 minutes before Aladdin and had time to say goodbye to our camels, and Marilyn the dog, before we were back in the jeep for the ride back to Jaisalmer with our very tired, smelly, and aching bodies. This experience was great and will last in our memories, a great mix of pleasure and pain. We would highly recommend doing a non touristy tour and booking your camel trek at Nomads guest house.