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Jaisalmer Camel Trek
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3rd-4th November 2004.
In order to preserve both our sanity, our arses, and Claire's allergy to animal hair, we graciously turned down the invitation to camel trek for 5 days at least 10 times (do these people not listen?). Instead we thought one night under the stars at a sand dune with a total of 6 hours camel trekking, would be enough. We were soooo right.
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This is Kamal Kahn our guide, cook, and Jason's commander and chief.
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Here he is thinking up what to tell Jason to do next.
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No matter where you go in the desert you see windmills.
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... Cacti...
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... and people. The desert here has a population approaching 100 people per square kilometre. If you evenly space them out, they would be 100 metres apart... By the way, forget your images of mirages, endless sand dunes and not seeing anyone for days at a time.
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Most of the day was spent sleeping. From 12-3.30 to be precise.. it was pretty hot though.
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The camels eat non-stop. They even seem to be chewing when they haven't eaten anything for ages like they are regurgitating and chewing old cud.
They also fart more than Jason, and smell more than Jason, which was surprising.
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Camels are large dumb people. They have personalities and most seem to be constantly "coming-on".
Check out her reaction to Claire getting on for the afternoon.
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We arrive at camp and pose for photos on the sand dunes. Unfortunately, not one of the people positioned every 100 metres in the desert was a hairdresser, so Jason still has a helmet head nicely offset by his $2, Bangkok special, sunglasses.
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Here come the local kids. They are not as wasted as they look, but one of them did eat sand when Jason was filming him. In order to appease the karma gods we bought a cold Coke off his dad who just happened to hanging-out at the dunes when we arrived.
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We had heard stories, but we didn't believe them about the large beetles roaming the sand. Claire's really happy about sleeping out here.
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Jason tries bonding with the stroppy camel. But all camels are stroppy so it is a waste of time.
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Morning has broken. The sun is rising, and despite the visits from wild dogs, mice, and rabbits during the night, we slept pretty good in the cold.
We did get an excellent view of so many stars throughout the night, that it made up for the natural interruptions.
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The sun is slowly rising and our camels have only hobbled to within easy spotting distance during the night.
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The desert has been littered in ruins. Over 100 years ago, some 80 plus villages just got up and left the desert on the same day. They had had enough of the local Raj's taxes that had extending to brutal beating and the 'borrowing' of the best looking chicks.
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