Dan's Adventure

Julian wasn’t the smartest, he would wonder off on his own, walk through bushes and didn’t like to join everyone else for a drink. What he lacked in smarts, he made up for in strength, carrying a heavy load on his back day after day. Over three days, Julian and I made our way through the Thar desert, plodding along during the day and sleeping on the dunes at night.

Ten of us left Jaisalmer on the first day, driving about 50km out of town to begin our trek. After several hours of walking it was time for lunch; curry, chapattis, chai. We sat in the shade for a few hours waiting for the peak of the heat to pass, a sensible move would have been to sleep, but instead four of us spent the time polishing of a litre bottle of Bagpiper Whiskey. The whiskey was intended to last the entire trip, our lack of planning was however made up for by the desert’s ability to provide. An hour later and our guide had managed to find us another bottle of Bagpiper from one of the villages we passed through for only 300 rupees – not much more than the first bottle had cost in town.

By the time we reached the dunes, we were all feeling the strain of the day. The second bottle of whiskey was almost gone and was helping to alleviated the pain. Our guides once again prepared a meal of curry and chapattis whilst we enjoyed some warm beers as the sun set over the dunes. Julian and his friends disappeared and left us to it.

A torch would have been a good idea as once the sun went down it was difficult to see anything at all. The Kiwi I met in Jaipur will agree with that one as he managed to get lost after going to relieve himself during the night. He apparently wandered for quite some time before lying down on the side of another dune where the guides noticed him and directed him back to where the rest of us were sleeping.

In the morning Julian and his friend could be heard in the distance, they had woken up early and gone off wandering. After a breakfast of boiled eggs, slightly toasted bread and some glow in the dark jam, the guides went of to find them. That morning four of us, including the Kiwi from Jaipur and the American from Udaipur, continued further into the desert for a second night on the dunes whilst the rest returned to Jaisalmer. The second day was pretty much the same as the first but without the whiskey; lots of scrub, a bit of sand and a few dunes. The dunes of the Thar desert are no where near the size of the dunes in Namibia and there is no where near as much sand. The views and the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere were still most definitely worth it.

As the second day continued Julian kept to form, walking through thorny bushes and at times refusing to go in the same direction as everyone else. He was rather stubborn. Towards the end of the day the guides thought it would be a good idea to make us all run so that we would get to our camping spot a little earlier. Whilst fun to begin with, it lost its appeal very quickly, the pain became to much and I was relieved when everyone started to walk again.

The pickup on the third morning couldn’t come quick enough. As we reached the end point I hobbled off Julian’s back and said good bye. I had been warned before the trip into the Thar that a 1 day, 1 night camel safari would be enough and I think I would have to agree. It was fun to spend a second night, but my legs were pretty damn sore afterwards. Sitting on a camel for around five hours a day whilst they get your legs all scratched up from thorny bushes does lose its appeal after a while and when they start running, man does that hurt!

My camel safari was with Ganesh Travels who are based inside the fort in Jaisalmer. Although not the cheapest, I highly recommend them. The guides were fantastic. They fed us tasty meals, kept us supplied with water and managed to find us a bottle of whiskey in the desert!