Camel Safari

On Christmas Eve, we took a jeep out to the Thar Desert for our 2 day camel safari.  There were 6 others in our group: Two from South Africa, one from Canada, two from New Zealand, and one from Australia.  It was quite interesting to hear their stories about home - especially the couple from South Africa.  

It was incredible being in the desert as we didn't see another soul the whole time we were out there (it was a very nice break from Dhaka!).  The temperature was very cold except for the middle of the day when we were able to take off our hats and jackets.

As far as the camels, I was surprised to see how tall they were.  It was quite the ordeal for them to get up and down - and some of them made loud noises in irritation.  We talked about how much personality we thought they had.  I found myself laughing often at the various noises that came out of their mouths.  We were told that one of the camels on our safari was an 'army camel'.  He was definitely the oldest looking, and he had foam coming out of his mouth constantly.  He also made the most noises out of the bunch.  Each of our camels had names, but we decided to give them our own names instead.  I nicknamed mine Peanut and he named his Lumpy - his was pretty original, don't you think? ;)

Riding Lumpy

Peanut and me!

His camel seemed to be hungry all the time.  Every few minutes he would stop and chomp on some grass or shrubs.  It was very amusing to watch as he would yell "uh uh!" like he used to do with our dog when she did something wrong.  

Getting up and down on the camel was quite difficult.  We had to lean back and forward at different times so we didn't fall off.  I think this picture was taken when I nearly fell off.  

At lunchtime, the guides let the camels wander and eat; however, in order to keep them from getting too far, they tied their front two legs together so they had to sort of hop around.  The faster camels had three legs tied together.  Even with their legs tied together, they managed to wander a surprising distance.

Near the end of our first day, the guides grabbed lots of sticks and tied them onto the camels' backs to take back to our camp site.

The camels' only water break of the day 

We tried taking a photo of ourselves with the sunset in the background, but we couldn't get it so our heads weren't blocking the sun.  We gave up after 6 or 7 tries.

Thar Desert Sunset - absolutely breathtaking

 I thought the clouds were gorgeous.  I found it interesting how they seemed to simply end all at once in the distance.

We spent Christmas Eve sleeping on the sand after a long day of riding camels - and boy was it cold!  We were entertained around the fire by Rajasthanian singers, dancers and musicians; and we ended the night with some impressive fireworks.

After a long night of trying to stay warm under our measly 2 blankets (we were definitely not prepared!), we woke up to a beautiful sunrise on Christmas Day.