camel safari at jaisalmer |
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We planned for a 5 day trip to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in December 07 and we had kept aside two day s for Camel safari however by the time we reached Liza convinced me it will be too tiring and we will be in pain due to sitting on the huge animal(and of course we are not used to riding).I called up Mr Bissa from Jodhpur as we had not decided on the hotel as well he asked me to reach Jaisalmer and he will give us information on few reasonable hotels,however at that point of time I forgot to inform him we'll be reaching Jaisalmer too early for our convenience (around 3.30 am )as we were traveling by bus from Jodhpur. |
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I called him up again spoke to his cousin who checked with Mr Bissa and informed us we could go to his office and stay there till morning ,his servant will be there in the office and he had informed him of our arrival....The journey by bus was not comfortable apart from that there was a peeping Tom right in front of my seat so as soon as I utter a word he would look back from his seat ahead of me(Oh my God!).Most of the time I avoided him but I was running out of my patience. I was scared too coz Rajasthan is a male dominated state and who knows what would happen to us (both girls)?? |
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I tried to sleep but could not manage to do so,Liza too was not able to sleep this time too Mr peeping Tom could not resist looking back at us,so I confronted him and asked him what was his problem?might be he got embarrassed after that he never came to his seat don't know where he went. |
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So finally we reached Jaisalmer at 3.30 am as Mr bissa is quite famous in Jaisalmer,for he was crowned as MR Desert the autowala knew his office ,he left us outside the office. We knocked the door but nobody buzzed later a guy who was on the streets heard us and called the servant guy who was half asleep. He finally opened the door, and went to sleep as soon as we entered the office. We had to sit on the bench for quite sometime I must have dozed a dozen times sitting on the chair.
This guy got up at 6 am and went out to open the tea stall next to Mr Bissa's shop as soon as the place was vacated Liza went off to sleep as we had not slept throughout the night. Mr Bissa came around 8.30 am and asked if we will be interested to go for a safari the same afternoon as there were few people more to join us ,it would be an overnight safari,we agreed to.
We were allowed to leave the extra luggage at his office so this saved our one nights rent. He sent us to a nearby hotel to freshen up after doing so we had breakfast and went to visit the fort. We had a good time exploring the fort as well as the alleyways,however the fort was quite dirty due to people living there but it was a different experience as this might be the only fort where people still live,we were informed by Mr Bissa to reach the office by 2.30pm to start for our safari,..we reached on time but missed lunch... |
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| When we reached the office there were three more guys waiting two from UK and one from Ireland our jeep was ready for the drive out of Jaisalmer as the sand dunes are 40 km away from the main town.On our way to the dunes we were taken to Kuldhara the abandoned villages ,legend has it that once upon a time people from 82 villages disappeared overnight due to atrocities on people by the then prime minister Salem Singh.All that remains now is the ruins of the villages. The drive was a short one from Jaisalmer the camels were waiting for us,I was excited as well scared as I had not tried camel rides not even a horse ha ha....As we reached we could see the camels sitting in a row and waiting for us. |
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I was asked to climb the camel and as soon as I did my camel got up, I did let out a small scream as the other camel were still sitting and I was not even settled on my seat,my camel was too energetic or what ?? he started to walk leaving all other behind, initially I got scared as there was no one holding the reins,once the other started to get up I was relieved however my camel was far ahead of the group. The camelwala's did make the others run and they caught up on me,I inquired with the owner why my camel was too fast he said that the camel knew the way so I need not worry even if I am riding alone . I was a bit relieved. |
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As soon as they caught up with me my camel started to walk fast again so I had to get used to his ways,I took few photographs of the group way behind,as my camel would often stop to graze and I had no other option but to wait till the group would catch up and the camelwala would shout at the camel,and make him walk. |
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We reached the campsite before sunset,played with the sand and enjoyed the sunset,later four people (two Canadian and two French)joined us who had booked the safari with our agency they had started early morning. The camp fire was on and seating were made around it we had a good time sharing our experiences and getting to know each other the French couple were the ones who hardly participated coz it was difficult for them to communicate in English but there were other people to help them out. |
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Our dinner was served and i was quite amazed that my taste buds enjoyed the food cooked with so less amenities in the desert ...
Our beds (mattresses)were put on the open dunes three girls in one place and two couple in different places,Tanya from Ireland was with Liza and me the reason I am mentioning her name is coz a very funny incident happened before we bid goodnight to each other(I think I was grinning the most).
There was no light so we had to manage in the dark ,I made my bed spoke to both the girls and left them to attend to nature's call,as soon as I returned I saw a torch light blinking and someone coming from quite far towards us. I was curious at first and a little scared I informed Liza that someone was coming towards us,that person reached quite near and I guess the reflex action and my brain prompted me to be brave and save the girls with me .I asked “who are you and where do you think you are going ?” the person replied"OH have I reached someone else's camp,I thought we were the only ones here" then she says "oh that is my bed" ha ha we had a hearty laugh,it was Tanya we did not realise when she too slipped by, we did talk for sometime looking up at the stars as we slept in the open hoping to catch a shooting star......
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Next morning Liza woke me up early so that we would not miss the sunrise,we saw the sunrise and a moment later it was up kind of, miss if you blink.We had breakfast then started for our last morning ride for two hours in the desert.We bid goodbyes to the other group as they were to continue their second day's ride,we had fun as we did have short races lots of photo sessions and finally the jeep picking us up from a point,......this ended our camel safari trip and who knows there might be other trip to come......never give up hope dream on till it gets fulfilled. |
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