Jaisalmer and the desert

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After Jodhpur we continued west through the Great Thar Desert, but turned off before Jaisalmer to a small town to the south called Thuri. The road was a single lane of pavement, but fortunately traffic was sparse. We pulled into a tourist lodge, with very simple huts and tents, an attempt to provide a rustic experience for tourists. The asking price for accommodation and camel tour was quite outrageous, but we managed to get it down to a more reasonable - but still pricey by India standards - rate. The all-inclusive amount included accommodation (sleeping out under the stars), meal, and camel rides south to an area of dunes (the arabs call these areas Ergs). I think some tourists equate dunes with desert, and this is why the big fuss.

Later we were entertained by local dancers, and to our surprise our driver Vicky, participated with considerable skill and enthusiasm. There were a crowd of other tourists, notable a group of young girls (aged 18-22?) from northern Europe. They were also invited to dance, but aside from Vicky there were no males dancing.

Jamie and I slept under the stars near the dunes. I woke up in the middle of the night and walked around for a while on the dunes. Lots of stars, but no signs of life; although I suspect there are chinkara and jackal around. After sunrise we were visited by shrikes, crows and wagtails. The previous evening I saw a green bee-eater.

We spent some time in the village, with its mainly mud huts and compounds. There were plenty of camels and goats, some sheep and fewer cows. I wondered what they were fed, because the native vegetation is sparse, with virtually no ground cover. I believe the camels and goats subsist on tree leaves, provided by villages pulling or cutting branches off the scattered small trees in the area. We also saw women carrying loads of spindly firewood collected from a considerable distance from the village. On top of that, women were responsible for carrying water - in pots on their heads- from one of the two or three wells. Not sure what the men did, although a good deal of them worked for the tourist camps.

We've heard a lot about drought, desertification and deforestation, but I couldn't get straight answers from people here. Some said no rain in 3 years, some said a good monsoon in '05.

On the whole, our short stay at Thuri was a somewhat disappointing experience, over-priced and underexploited. It could have been much more. I suspect that many visitors like me would have enjoyed a more educational experience.

We returned to Jaisalmer, an interesting town on the southwest side of the Great Thar desert and 90 km from the Pakistani border. The main feature here is an impressive fort hidden behind a tall rampart with something like 19 towers. The unique characteristic is that the fort is living in the sense that 5000 to 7000 people actually live wihin the walls (many operate small hotels). During the feudal era under the long string of Rajas (starting from the 16th century) that dominated the area this fort housed much of the local population as well as providing a strategic outpost. Jaisalmer developed as a trading centre along camel routes from India to Persia and beyond.

We enjoyed walking around the town and visiting the fort, although inside are now something like 150 vendors of local handicrafts, textiles, puppets, carvings etc. Just too much! Tourism is up dramatically since 2001, and there are lots of locals hopeful in participating in reaping the wealth, but it is overpowering for the visitor, especially those like us that aren't interested in buying a lot of knick-nacks. I get the impression that many people in Jaisalmer and surrounding villagers have become dependent on the tourist industry, and I wonder if they haven't overestimated the potential.

In the early evening, we visited the Royal Cenotaphs at Barabarg, just outside the city. This is where the Majarajas and other royalty were cremated. Of interest were sites where concubines were cremated (while still alive!) along with the deceased rajah. Despite the tragic history, this was a beautiful site in the dying light.

In the morning, I walked around early to get breakfast and change money. I passed a street-side depot where fruit and vegetables were brought in from nearby villages and distributed to vendors in the city. Noise and chaos, but it seemed to work.

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