Jasilmar - Camel Safari

October 6, 2009 - The Jodhpur train station can be quite confusing at 5:45 am when the car numbers don’t fall in sequence and you’re not even sure it’s the right train. I ran up and down asking people but was confused by the answers I got. “Yes, this train is going to Jasilmar but not this train”. What the heck does that mean? I was very confused and stopped to ask a Sikh. He seemed to know what was going on but his answer was as confusing as the others. Finally he just pointed and said, “Go that way”. All the way down to the far end I ran thinking the late train would be taking off any minute. I finally located my correct car but couldn’t figure out why it was on the wrong end? I got on and sat for awhile before we started moving. It was then that I realized the train was being split in two. The same train number was going to two different places in two separate directions. Of course! That makes perfect sense. Luckily I was on the right line.

I arrived in Jasilmar around noon. I was approached by a man on the train who said he had a nice new nice guest house in the city. He handed me a very smart looking brochure and walked off. After I had time to view it I asked him a few questions and agreed to check it out with no obligation. If nothing else it was a free ride into town. He hooked four of us. When we stepped out of the station I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a crowd of guest house and hotel owners with big signs advertising accommodations with desert tours etc. All yelling like a riotous pack of wolves trying to get anyone’s attention. They were all held back by a police line to keep things under control. I wanted to take a picture of the mayhem but the guy who hooked us rushed us past the crowd and to a vehicle like rock stars after a concert. It was me, a Canadian, and two Brits. We were all thinking the same in that we would check out the accommodation and if nothing else take advantage of a free ride. You never know what you’re really getting into in these kind of deals but the place he took us to just happens to be great. It’s a nice old building that’s recently been converted into a guest house and just opened 2 ½ months ago. It’s owned by an Indian/Australian couple. It has everything you need with an awesome rooftop restaurant that offers a fantastic view of Jasilmar Fort. I inquired about doing an overnight camel safari. No problem. They already had a group of 4 leaving tomorrow and I was welcome to join them. I would be provided transportation, camel, food, and guides along with basically everything I need for the two day excursion. I went ahead and booked the trip and paid in advance, as required.

Jasilmar is awesome. I really dig this place. It’s right on the fringe of the Middle East and has a much different feel from the rest of India. The old city is an ancient fortress built upon a hill and people still reside there. Situated in the middle of the desert it's dirty, dusty, and all of the buildings are sand colored. Camels pull large tin containers of water, filled at a designated wells, along the main road in and out of town. It’s a very poor city with tourism a prime source of income. Not seeing many tourists I can understand why the train station was so busy.

Jasilmar and parts of Rajasthan give a traveler a taste of what Middle Eastern culture is like without the dangers of traveling in the Middle East. A lot of the culture is tribal village oriented and many of the people look and dress very similar to the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The nice thing about Muslims in India is that they could care less if you’re an infidel or whatever and don’t walk around with AK47’s. You can hear prays shouted over a city and see men dressed in traditional attire. Muslim culture is very prominently seen in the architecture of many buildings.

I spent my first evening in Jasilmar at the hotel rooftop restaurant with other travelers. At one point a local showed up and entertained us with Bollywood dance demonstrations. Tomorrow I’ll be riding a camel in the Desert.

October 7, 2009 – I began to second guess my choice of camel trip when I thought about the extra 500 rupee’s I was charged for a so called permit. When I rolled into Jasilmar I was tired and relaxed. I had let my guard down and the guy who was selling me the trip was telling me everything I wanted to hear. Needless to say he was doing a good job of it and logistically it was the perfect choice. I still couldn't be totally sure as to what I was getting and afterwords was pretty sure I'd been conned out of 500 rupees for a permit.

Fortunately a trip was arranged and I was joined by 2 the two Brits. The other group of 4 that I was told I’d be joining never materialized. The Brits were a couple of older guys with one of them particularly skeptical about what we were getting. I just figured I’d go with it and sort out any bogus permit charge afterwords.

THE VILLAGE

As promised we would stop a village and a couple of Jain Temples on our way into the desert. Upon arrival at the village it looked quite decrepit with not much to it. One of the Brits was totally unimpressed and didn't even bother to leave the jeep while the other was at least going to walk around a bit. I definitely wanted to check it out and decided to say hi to some of the local people. This was not a guided affair. It was just a village and we were on our own.

I couldn’t tell you their names but the people of the village were super nice and wanted to show me around. No one spoke much English but we were able to communicate enough to interact reasonably well. Two of the men wanted to play me a song and invited me into their home. The home was made of mud and dirt similar to adobe. The entrance way led into a court yard. The open courtyard was surrounded by the rest of the structure which was made up of 3 or 4 rooms. Although everything was built with dirt, mud, and a little wood framing, things were really neat, clean, and orderly. I was taken into a small room and a man brought out a tabala (Indian drum) while the other brought out an ancient harmonium (small hand pumped piano). The keys were broken and chipped with finger formed grooves deeply worn into the wood. Surprisingly it was in reasonably good tune. A thin hand woven traditional carpet was laid upon the dirt floor and I took a seat. Other family members sat as the man at the Harmonium sang, with a big bold voice, a song combining my name and country with the words. Since it was all in Hindi I have no idea what he was singing about but I thought it was pretty cool as the other man played a rhythmic tabala. A younger boy sat next to me and seemed particularly curios and acted as a host. They played one song then another. After a couple of songs I gave the Harmonium player 20 rupees (40 cents) and the tabala player 10 rupees. They accepted it as a gift and were very appreciative. The young curios boy wanted to show me another home.
The home that the boy took me too was similar to the one I had just visited but a little more decorated. One wall was covered with trinkets, art, and shelving for pots and pans. He really wanted to introduce me to what I assume were his siblings and insisted I take photos. I took a number of photos but I had a hard time getting them to smile for the pictures. I was taken into one room and he pointed to what appeared to be a neatly stacked small pile of colorful cloth. He then reached down and with two hands slowly peeled back a thin blanket to reveal a tiny one month old baby neatly wrapped in traditional cloth. I was not expecting to see what I saw and was very surprised to say the least! The baby was so tiny because Indians tend to be small people but the baby looked healthy. It was really an amazing experience.

I could have spent a lot more time in the village but had to get back to the two other guys who were waiting on me. After all, this was just a brief stop on our way to ride camels in the desert. I explained to the young boy that I needed to leave and gave him some rupees. He seemed much more interested in spending time with me than the rupees. Unfortunately I had to go. One of the many pitfalls of an organized tour. Limited flexibility. After the village we visited two Jain temples then drove further into the desert to meet our camel driver.

CAMEL SAFARI

I was told that we would be joining another group of 4 people but that never happened. It was me and the two older Brits. They were nice enough and we got along ok but one proved to be quite the penny pincher and a skeptic about what we were sold and what we were getting. This attitude unfortunately proved to put a damper on the whole affair. What we got was actually pretty good.

The jeep driver dropped us in the middle of the desert. Baba, a 50 year old Rajpu Camel driver and his two young teenage helpers, Allahdin and Saddam, were just arriving with the camels as we drove up. Babu greeted me with a friendly pat on the shoulder and introduced us to the camels as he packed food and supplies. You could tell right off that these guys know the desert and their camels. It wasn't long before we were riding. About 5 minutes into it I was glad I signed up for the overnight trip and not a 3 or 4 day trip. Riding a camel is not particularly comfortable. I think it takes some getting use to but the view while riding is very nice. I was originally told that we would ride for 1 ½ hours then take a lunch break and ride another 1 ½ hours to camp at some sand dunes for the night. After just 10 minutes we took a break so the camels could drink at a well pond. Babu said we should take a walk to the adjoining village. It was there that I met a colorful turban clad individual who asked me for a pen and we talked for awhile. I just happened to have a pen on me so I gave it to him. He was very happy and never asked me for money. Anyway, with the Camels watered we rode on for another 20 minutes and stopped for lunch. The skeptical Brit had me and the other guy wondering just what kind of Camel trip we were getting.

We parked ourselves under a big shady tree for lunch and Baba and the boys quickly got a fire going and made everything from scratch. Curry vegetables and chapatti were prepared with relative ease and quickness. The food, although quite simple, was good and filling. Afterwards the boys washed the dishes with sand and proceeded to take a quick nap. I noticed the camels had wandered off and were nowhere to be seen. Ok, now I was really skeptical.

After a short nap it took Baba and the boys awhile to find the camels but they did. Once they were brought back to the lunch tree they saddled and packed them really quickly and we were on our way once again. This time for real. As promised we rode for quite awhile. I actually got off the camel to walk and give my rear a break. As we rode along I got to know the boys and Baba a bit more and figured we were in good hands. They are all Rajasthan natives that from the very desert were in. We chatted back and forth. Allahdin spoke very good English and said he learned it mainly from people he had met on the tours. I’m not sure if he had ever attended school or not but he's a sharp kid. Saddam was quiet and spoke mostly Hindi with a crackling boy’s voice on the verge of turning into a man’s voice. Baba spoke decent English with a thick heavy accent. The kind of accent that adds to the ambiance of whole experience.
We rode into the afternoon and sure enough we arrived at some sand dunes with a very nice campsite. When we arrived there was a man sitting there with a used burlap bag lined with a plastic type of used rice bag. He said, “I have cold drinks. Coke, orange, beer”. I asked him where he came from. He replied that he walked in from a village 6 km away. I then asked if he really had cold beer and sure enough he produced one from his pack. I was happy to pay him 130 rupees (less than $3 USD) for the large sized bottle of Kingfisher. Packing in cold drinks is how he makes money. The dunes are relatively popular for camel safaris during the cooler seasons so he seemed to have a good little business going.

Baba and the boys fixed up another good meal from scratch and we made up our beds on cots under the stars for the night. As soon as the sun went down everyone pretty much went to sleep but I hiked up the dunes to sit and watch the moon rise.
By early morning the desert had turned cold with a light ground fog but this quickly changed as the sun rose. I got up early a took a hike amidst the dunes and returned in time for a breakfast of chai and toast. I had spotted two other camps and the Brits were interested in visiting them. The penny pinching Brit was curios what the others paid for a similar tour. We had all paid 2,000 rupees ($40 USD) for the whole deal which in my opinion, considering all we were getting, is extremely reasonable. We walked over and talked to a group of Koreans at another camp. They were getting the same kind of tour for 700 rupees, $14 USD! How does anyone make money? Answer, they don’t. The people of the Rajasthan desert are very, very, poor. I came to find out that Baba makes approx. $40 USD a month and his boys make $20 USD a month. I’m talking about good hard working people. Anyway, the penny pinching Brit felt like we were being ripped off and got me and the other guy feeling bad about paying too much. I suggested we needed to be thinking in pounds and dollars and what we were getting was far less expensive than what we would get in other countries. The only thing that really bothered me was the 500 rupees I was charged for a permit that doesn’t exist. That bothered me.

Anyway, we set off for another day of riding which was different from what I was told but really quite nice. I was originally told that we would be visiting bigger and better dunes the second day but we didn't. However, the desert landscape was very interesting and a large part of it seemed to be covered with a volcanic type of gravelly rock. I also got to talk and joke around with Baba and the boys. I really liked them and felt being in their company added value to the trip. When we visited the other two camps in the morning the other camel drivers seemed a little shady and the camps were not as nice. The desert around Jasilmar along with the local culture is a bit like the wild west so I think being in the right company is a good thing. Baba, Allahdin and Saddam are the right kind of company.

We rode camels all morning and stopped for lunch near a remote road. A jeep was scheduled to pick us up at 1pm but before that Baba fixed lunch of curried vegetables and chapatti from scratch. I gave Baba a nice sweater I had bought earlier for the trip to the Himalaya. I also explained to the Brits that we needed to tip Baba and the boys. We came up with a figure and all pitched in. Baba was happy with the tip but he seemed to be happiest with the sweater I gave him. It would have been nice to spend another night in the desert with Baba but my rear was happy to be off the camel. We parted with big hugs and smiles.

Now, what about the bogus 500 rupee permit I paid for? I was ok with paying a relatively higher price for the camel tour (higher by local standards that is) but being outright lied to and ripped off is another story. The Brits were all worked up about paying 2,000 rupees when they could have gotten a tour for 700 rupees but they really should have shopped around before making a decision and didn’t. We returned to the guest house where we booked the trip and immediately found the couple that owned the hotel. They did not set up the tour. One of their employees did. I nicely told the owners right away that I wanted 500 rupees back and explained what happened. He said he would look into it. The penny pinching Brits handled things a little differently and got into a big argument about how they were over charged. I removed myself from the situation. It was getting ugly. The owners had offered me free use of a room and shower before catching a train in the evening so I retreated to the room. I could hear the owners and Brits shouting at each other at this point.
By time I washed up the Brits were gone and I made my way up to the rooftop restaurant because I still had a couple of hours before catching my train. The owners were on the roof and I sat down with them. They had already given me back my 500 rupees and sincerely apologized for what had happened. They were also very appreciative that I had told them about it. Their guest house is only 2 ½ months old and they know better than to get a bad reputation amidst travelers. The owners are both 30 something’s. Ashraf was born and raised in Jasilmar and Penny is an Aussie who has spent many years in London. The name of their guest house is Apollo guest house. The rooms are very nice, clean, and inexpensive. The food is very good and the kitchen very clean. Penny makes sure of it. As far as Camel tours go, you can definitely find less expensive, but I’d say be careful who you choose to venture into the desert with and be perfectly clear about what you’re getting. Anyway, I had a nice visit with the owners, who I feel are sincere and genuine, before catching an overnight train to Jaipur and a flight to Kochi in the southern state of Kerala….. Time to move from the Desert to the Tropics…