Here in Jaisalmer


On a camel in Jaisalmer

After the noise and bustle of Udaipur and Jodhpur, Jaisalmer provided some welcome calm. The main traffic on it’s wide, sandy streets was cattle and even the smaller alleys inside the fort were quiet.

 

As you approach the city, the fort rises up out of the desert like a giant sandcastle. Everything in the city centre is sand coloured, giving the impression that you are a tiny borrower living on on a beach, waiting for the wave that will make you homeless.

 

You can stay inside the fort but it’s not advised as appparently the weight of all the guesthouses etc. is taking it’s toll on the structure of the Fort. We chose instead to stay outside with a view of the Fort because, as Karl Pilkington says, “I’d rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave.”

 

The view from our room

The view from our room

 

The main attraction of Jaisalmer is the camel trips into the desert and we were not going to miss out! I was a little bit worried about how the camels were treated but I did a bit of research and couldn’t find anything negative. From what we saw, they seemed to be well treated and seemed to roam freely when they weren’t ‘on duty’. The working camels certainly looked a lot healthier than the ones we saw just wandering in the desert (unlike the poor things in Agra which were a very sorry sight)

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

We went on the standard overnight trip which I think is what most people do and for us it was perfect – any longer on the back of a camel would have been pretty painful! We were driven into the desert to meet our camels and guides who greeted us by milking a goat to make us chai!

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

Then we mounted Johnny and Romeo (our new humped friends) and bumped along through the desert. Eventually we reached the dunes where we were to spend the night and we played in the sand whilst our guides made a fire and cooked our dinner. 

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

 

The dunes were really stunning, I had never seen a landscape like it before and we enjoyed running up and down taking pictures as the sun disappeared. After a delicious campfire dinner, we were shown our beds for the night: blankets laid out on the top of a dune, underneath the twinkling sky. We wrapped up and lay there, marvelling at the night sky. 

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

 

On a camel in Jaisalmer

Our bed for the night!

 

We woke up just as the moon was rising, and the sun wasn’t far behind it. After a campfire breakfast we rode Johnny and Romeo back to civilisation and crashed for the rest of the day. 

 

The remaining time in Jaisalmer was spent exploring the fort and the bustly market streets around it. It’s such a small town, and the dominant sandstone colour can play tricks on you. A couple of times if we’d stopped and looked ahead we could’ve been in an old British country village. 

 

Jaisalmer is probably not worth a visit unless you’re going to go on the desert safari, but given they’re affordable and an absolutely magical experience – in our humble view – there’s no reason why you wouldn’t!

 

We left with fond memories of this sandy, peculiarly quiet town, and bunked down on the train for a 15 hour journey to Jaipur. 

 

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