Camel safari and other adventures

As they say in India... "Hello!"

I am now in the town of Udaipur, several hours' drive from Jaiselmer, through desert scrubland and lush hillsides. Udaipur is famous for a few things: a system of inter-connected lakes surrounding the town, the hotel in the middle of one of the main lakes that floats on the water, and the the James Bond film Octopussy, which was shot here!

Everywhere there is hustle and bustle and spectacular views. You almost expect Roger Moore to emerge from a doorway looking British, and clip a rickshaw driver round the ear for attempting to extort an extra ten rupees' fare out of him.

My package tour round Rajasthan has moved on at a pace. The last few days have been a hectic whirlwind of deserts, hotel rooms, bustling towns and majestic forts and palaces. All our travel arrangements have been taken care of, leaving Laura, Paul and I to enjoy the luxury of being ferried from place to place in an old Austin car, driven by our guide Viru.

After Jaiselmer we visited Jodhpur, which has another stonking great fort of its own. The view of the town from the top of the fort is amazing, looking down on a sea of houses all painted bright blue! After Jodhpur we came to Udaipur.

Every town I've been to in Rajasthan boasts a fort. Or a palace. Or something else big and ornate that makes you think, 'well I should have a look round it really, when will I be here again?' I've taken maybe forty photos of each attraction and I'm not sure I'll ever look at them again. My camera memory card is groaning under the weight of brilliantly colourful snapshots. This is sight-seeing overkill! (I will post the best ones on here as soon as I get some free time to burn a photo CD - sorry for the wait.)

As promised, on Monday (28th Jan) we went on a camel safari and enjoyed the unforgettable experience of an overnight stay in the desert. It was absolutely top! We set off from Jaiselmer in the afternoon and arrived at a little village called Khuri at around 5pm. At the village we found a group of camels resting in the sun, and we met our guides.

They helped us on to the camels - it's easy enough to swing your leg over the saddle when the camel's sat on its haunches. But the camel stands up and the sky rushes up to meet you, and suddenly you've rocketted six feet up into the air! Everyone on the ground becomes tiny, and you feel like a Norse god on horseback.

The three guides briefly led our camels over to another area in the village and loaded bundles of blankets and supplies on to the back of each camel. The guys, all of Rajasthani descent, seemed like experts and have been working with the camels for years. To be fair the camels at this camp seem to get treated pretty well too, though I'm not sure that's always the case.

We set off through the desert in the setting sun, riding on the camels as our guides led them on foot. The terrain was more like flat scrub-land than desert as you might picture it, with lots of plants and trees dotted around. The setting sun cast a beautiful golden glow over the scenery.

After about half an hour's travelling we arrived at our camp area for the night, a flat expanse of sand on the crest of a mighty sand dune. The guides led the camels up to the top of it and we dismounted. Then they started unpacking all the mysterious things they'd loaded on to the camels, revealing tents, blankets, cooking pots and food! One of the guys cleverly fashioned a fire from tree branches and they started cooking dinner on it. Ray Mears eat your heart out!

We weren't sure what to expect of the food but the meal was really good - a vegetable thali with yoghurt curry and something known as 'desert beans' on the side. They even made chapatis from flour and water. A hearty feed, and we gave them a good tip the next day for their troubles.

We spent that evening sat round the fire, talking to the guides and learning about their lives. I told them I worked with computers, but I felt unable to express much more about who I am or what I do. I just wanted to watch and listen.

Like most of the people in India they were really friendly and curious about us westerners. This curiousity is easy to confuse with nosiness and intrusiveness when you first get here, but this is a country that constantly challenges your perspectives on life.

It was a cloudy night, with a few stars showing through. The promised night-time chill never arrived, leaving us free to enjoy a good night's sleep. Laura, Paul and I slept in the tents, while the guides thought nothing of sleeping outside in the drizzle, huddled round the fire. They're accustomed to earning a living from this work, and take out three or four groups per week. Now that's what I call hard as nails!

In the morning we packed up and set off, riding briskly on the camels back to the village, where our driver Viru was waiting. A camp-bed was set up next to the car, in which he, like the guides, had been sleeping outdoors. Sleeping out in the elements seems like part and parcel of his work; I don't know how he keeps working so hard, day after day, so consistently. Pep pills maybe?

I found camel riding a bit shit-scary 'cos the only thing preventing you from tumbling down on to the ground is a small brass peg you hold on to at the front of the saddle. The trick seems to be to hold on and relax and trust the guides' intuition with the creatures!

So now I'm here in Udaipur, Octopussy land. Tomorrow we move on to Pushkar. After that, we spend two nights in Jaipur (capital of the Rajasthan district). Then my package tour is at an end, while Paul and Laura continue onwards to other places.

Thanks to a chance meeting with some dodgy touts in the car park at Udaipur train station, Viru procured me a ticket on a train that was advertised as 'full', to take me to Mumbai. The next leg of my journey is taking shape.

But nowI must dash. As always I'm keeping folks waiting! Farewell for now.