A Desert Camel Safari and a Sea of Rats

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February 17th 2008

Published: March 23rd 2008

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Andy and Christine

Jaisalmer

Going through the desert on a camel with no name...

It was dark, cold, and way too early when we arrived by train in Jaisalmer on the morning of Feb. 5th. We had decided to call ahead and reserve a room, since we would be getting there at six am, and it was a wise decision. Our hotel offered to pick us up at the station for free, which was just fantastic.

It was a bit scary waking up on a train in the dark, wondering if we were at the right stop, and then rushing off while hoping that we didn't leave anything behind. It makes for a rather stressful start to the day. But we were so happy to see a lovely Indian man at the train station, wrapped in a heavy wool shawl, grinning, and waiting for us while holding up a sign reading ' C H R I F '. What a great introduction to the city. A short ride in a warm jeep, and we were at our hotel, where we instantly fell asleep after barely sleeping a wink on the train.

Waking a couple hours later, we had some delicious banana porridge, which had become our breakfast of choice in India, and then

Jaisalmer

You don't learn balance like this overnight!

set off to explore the mellow, desert city of Jaisalmer. It is known as the 'Golden City' because the yellow sandstone Jaisalmer Fort and the surrounding desert appear golden, especially when seen at sunset. We looked at some shops, chatted with a few people, and admired the fort, built in 1156 by Rajput ruler Jaisal, which dominated the city.

One reason that we, along with many others, chose to visit Jaisalmer, is to take a desert camel safari. Our hotel had asked us if we were interested, and since they weren't pushy, we decided to look into it. In the end, we opted for a two day ride, with one night spent in the desert. The cost would include lots of camel riding, as well as meals, water and blankets. Since the weather was still really cold, we decided to bring along our sleeping bags as well.

First, we drove for about 30 km by jeep, to get well out of the city and into the desert. On the way, we stopped at the Bada Bagh Cenotaphs, some beautiful sandstone structures, the earliest dating from 1506. Then we were dropped off beside our waiting camels and three Indian

Jaisalmer

Photogenic camel

guides. It was only us, and a couple from England, a nice small group.

To get onto a camel, you first pull yourself into the saddle while the camel is kneeling down. Then the camel lurches up on it's back feet, while you lean backwards, holding on for dear life. The camel then pushes off and lunges up onto it's feet, while you hang tightly to the wooden saddle horn. It's amazing how high the back of the camel feels when you're perched way up there, with little to hold on to.

We set off into the Thar desert on our camels, led by our guides, who walked in front. Riding through the desert was really peaceful and calm, just the slow, lurching gait of the camel and your own thoughts. A feeling that we had not felt anywhere else in Rajasthan. The landscape was flat, sand and rock, with a few scrubby bushes and the very occasional tree.

For the first time in India we felt alone, just our group moving quietly through the desert. Sometimes our camel drivers would sing, and it was a very pretty sound. Much better than the strange noises that the

Jaisalmer

Christine and the desert sunset

camels made. Were the rumours true that camels are uncomfortable and made very strange noises that included farting, snorting, gurgling and weird Chewbacca-like moans? They most certainly were!

We stopped for lunch, and our guides first made us delicious chai, then cooked our meal over a fire. Despite the fact that sanitation was not their specialty, due to frequent nose picking and genitalia scratching, our food was great. Good local food, hot curries, a lentil dahl and as many hot chapatis as we could eat. Then back on the camels for some more slow riding.

Eventually, just before sunset, we reached our first true sand dunes, which was where we would be sleeping. We all happily dismounted, ate another great meal, and then huddled around the fire chatting, until we were all tired enough to sleep. Our guides laid out a heavy blanket to sleep on, which we put our sleeping bags on top. Fully dressed, with our jackets, touques, and woolen shawls, we snuggled down into our bags, then pulled more heavy old wool blankets on top. Sounds warm doesn't it?

In fact, that night was the coldest that we've experienced ever, in all our camping

Bada Bagh Cenotaphs, Jaisalmer

trips, and in reality we barely slept. It was so cold that our drinking water had ice in it by morning! But sleeping under the stars on the sand dunes was an absolutely unforgettable experience. The stars were incredible, we've never seen so many, and shooting ones zipped by every few minutes. The silence was unlike anything we could have imagined.

In the morning, Christine moved to roll over and felt something squirming around next to her (not the Andy side). She took a peek, then whispered 'There's a wild dog curled up against my side'. Poor dog, we guessed it was cold too, and snuggled up to her for some warmth. Eventually our guides noticed it, and chased it off, and we couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy.

After a quick breakfast, we set off on the return journey. One of our crew was so sore that she insisted on walking for a few hours. And we admit, we were sore too. Later in the afternoon, we stopped for lunch and had a chat with a funny local shepherd with an amazing mustache, surrounded by his huge flock of sheep.

The tour came

Jaisalmer

Dunes at sunset

to an end around dinner time; we thanked our guides for having made our trip such a fun experience. Riding a camel through the desert was fun, but it was also a pretty numbing experience for the lower half of the body. Both of us later realized that we each had an ass blister, seriously, something that we didn't think was possible! We were picked up by a guy from our hotel, and on our way back to Jaisalmer, we stopped at some beautiful yellow sandstone Jain temples. An extra added treat.

Then off to the train station to buy tickets for an overnight train to Bikaner. While getting tickets, Christine got into an elbow checking match with a rude man in the line up. India has a ladies line, which takes priority over the men's line. Several men were ignoring the 'ladies first' policy, and kept shoving her aside and pushing in front of her. In the end, she got tired of the pushy jerks and shoved them back, and forced her hand through the hole in the ticket counter. It was great when she said something sassy back to them and people behind her in the line

Jaisalmer

Christine and her camel

were saying 'good girl'! A very frustrating experience. Sometimes, the lack of respect that women receive is quite apparent.

We finished touring Jaisalmer the next day. First we checked out the Jaisalmer Fort, which was great and had amazing views from inside. But there were the usual people trying to sell us stuff and some guys giving us a total dead pan stare. Like the fort in Jodhpur, it had an audio tour, which made for a more interesting and relaxed pace. To finish off our adventures, we later took a peddle boat out on the man made lake/reservoir Gadi Sagar to watch the sunset. It was really pretty, relaxing, and a nice way to spend our last night there.

After sunset, we walked over to the Jaisalmer Folklore Museum. There were some interesting displays on painting, clothing, music and jewelry, as well as a massive collection of puppets. We stayed to watch a great puppet show, which sounds strange, but was actually one of our favorite memories of Rajasthan. A group of musicians played traditional desert music and sang, while a guy controlled many different puppets. Each puppet had a specific song and dance, and the music

Jaisalmer

Vulture, just waiting for a tired camel

and movement hypnotized the entire audience.

Later, we got back onto another overnight train ride. This time, we hopped on around 11 pm, and arrived in Bikaner around 5:30 in the morning. Of course, when we arrived half asleep in the wee hours of the morning, we were attacked by rickshaw drivers. They knew we were easy prey, since we had just gotten off the train and it was super early. Despite their attempts to convince us that our hotel was three km away, we just walked by them, ignoring their silly talk and walked the five short minutes to our hotel. Again, we had made a reservation, since we were arriving early, but unfortunately, we still had to wake them up at the hotel.

After a nap, we headed out on the streets of Bikaner. We saw very few tourists in our area, just your usual people staring, waving, chatting and asking us where we were from. The city seemed quite industrial, and there was tons of traffic and congestion. Many cows roamed about, as usual, and the colour, noise and movement was incredible.

One of the highlights of Bikaner is the nearby town of Deshnok.

Jaisalmer

Andy and his big buddy

This town is home to the Karni Mata Temple, which is dedicated to hundreds of sacred rats, yes, that is correct, sacred rats. The rats are fed grain and milk, and are worshiped by the locals. It was something we just had to see for ourselves. To get there, we took a local bus, which was stuffed to the gills with people, many of them on their way to the temple as well. Half an hour later, we were in Deshnok, preparing to enter the unknown.

Christine had no fear of entering, since she had a couple rats as pets when she was little. But poor Andy, on the other hand, is pretty scared of them; he grew up with his mom, who is terrified of rodents, so it must of rubbed off on him over the years. He bravely decided to enter the temple anyway. And to make matters more interesting, we had to remove our shoes before entering the temple.

The secret to avoid stepping on any rats was to shuffle our feet while walking. Andy had pictured something out of an Indiana Jones movie, and was happily relieved when he realized that the rats were

Jaisalmer

The shepherd and the camel driver posing pretty for the camera

only on the ground, not pouring out of the walls and ceiling. There were only hundreds, not thousands. He was actually not that scared, as it was more amusing to see other people squealing as rats darted out in front of them.

In all the hundreds of rats that live in the temple, there are only one or two albino white rats. After walking around, seeing the rats running around and drinking milk out of huge bowls only fit for a hundred vermin, we spotted a rare white rat! And apparently we are both very lucky and blessed by Karni Mata (or so the locals told us). We told a few locals later about what we saw and they were very happy about it, saying that not many people actually see the white rat, and we that we were incredibly lucky and blessed. Strange isn't it? We actually felt pretty excited and lucky after the sighting too.

After returning to Bikaner, we walked over to see the Junagarh Fort. It was a beautiful structure, and our ticket included a free guided tour. But sadly, this meant that we got stuck on a tour that had already begun. Our

Jaisalmer

See ya!

guide would speak in Hindi for several minutes, then say a couple of lines to the four English speaking people in our group. He would then rush us on at lightning speed to the next stop, and repeat the process. He even had the nerve to ask only the four English speakers for a tip, at the end of our terrible 'free' rushed tour.

We had enjoyed Bikaner. It seemed like we were the only travellers there and that is a nice feeling to have sometimes, while on the road. But again we were moving on, to see the famed Taj Mahal in Agra.

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