The Thar Desert

The trip into the desert on camels deserves a post of its own, even if only to give our kids a laugh.

We hadn't really planned this trip so we didn't leave time for it in our planning. Pat has been talking for a long time about a camel trip through Jordan and that is still on the agenda - more or less. She may have thought that a couple of days on camels would just whet the appetite.

We were trucked out into the bush from Jaisalmer about 40 kms. We didn't go to the normal places that tourists are taken, apparently, and we actually didn't come across many other groups wandering around. The cost for us was a little higher than for other trips but I don't think that any of us would have swapped what we had for what we heard about from others.

Basically, the deal is that you are loaded on to camels. Only one camel in our group was trusted to look after its rider. The rest were led. We headed into the desert. Found some decent dunes. Not lots mind you but enough to give you the feeling. The rest of the country is much like Central Australia in a bad year. They haven't had rain out here for 3 years and it shows.

Camels are not fun to ride. The saddles don't have stirrups, or at least ours didn't. After a while it was hell on your quads and thighs. And they do fart a lot particularly when they are in front of you.

A very nice campfire but nothing like the ones we are used to. None of this gathering a massive pile of wood and feeding it through the night. No, here you light just enough of a fire to cook and then keep it going stick by measly stick to maintain heat. Then you ensure it goes out.

We slept on the sand after having a bit of a concert which was joined by a group from across the dunes where they didn't have any decent singers.

Next morning up and into the saddle again. Thighs and quads complained but you either rode or walked and off we went.

A very nice interlude. No shops. No museums. No forts. No palaces. Now if they just let us ride horses I would have kept going.

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