Travel Journals XVI: Camel Safari
When i decided to change my plans and come to Rajastan, one of the deciding factors was that i would have the chance to go out on a camel and explore some real desert. After a few days, I had managed to persuade a few others that this was a good idea. the plan was that we'd ride out in the late afternoon until sunset, set up camp, spend the night in the desert and return the next morning. You can apparently camel-trek for over four days through most tour companies. By general consensus, we all agreed that anything longer than overnight would just be stupid and unnecessary. Following the inevitable period of running around pointlessly, gathering supplies and asking where the hell is So-and-so, twelve of us were standing in the expedition staging area admiring the business end of a hand full of disgruntled looking dromedaries. A camel's natural expression is one of supercilious disdain for it's fellow living creatures. Some of the bolder, more open minded members of the trek decided to not be taken in by appearances and went to make friends with the beasts. This turned out to be a mistake. I managed to withdraw my hand just in time to avoid a set of long yellow teeth and received a completely superfluous warning from the driver that camels bite. no one else fared any better.Some of the drivers then kissed their charges on the nose. No one in the world can entirely resist showing off. It turns out that camels are exactly as belligerent as they appear. More than any other domestic animal (and in this category i include the cat!) camels are completely indifferent to our presence. they respond to commands with extreme reluctance and usually have to be prodded with a stick before they do anything other than lounge around, sigh heavily ,and chew on what appears to be soap.
We were paired off, directed towards a reclining camel, and instructed to mount. Once aboard and if not entirely secure, in a position where we would not immediately fall off, the camels were instructed to stand. This is a gradual and extremely unstable process that involves unfolding each pair of legs separately and is accompanied by the constant fear you will be pitched to the ground. once aloft, you realise that the camel is an rather tall animal with very few places to hold on to. the caravan was assembled into a sloppy line behind the luggage cart and set off into the wastelands. once we were safely clear of anything we could cause serious damage to, our drivers tossed us the reins in turn. in other words we were given a piece of clothesline to hold, so we could pretend we were in control of the situation. Early on in the process i had come to the conclusion that the animals had already memorised the route ages ago and would proceed along it at their own pace regardless of any attempts to steer, get the camel to speed up, or slow down from the rider. this didn't prevent anyone from trying though. I can claim some moderate degree of success here because i actually managed to dissuade my camel from eating things. There are actually a few less comfortable forms of transportation than sitting astride a camel for three hours, but most of them involve a vehicle that is either on fire or a third world bus. it became obvious that we were doing one of those things only tourists do not long after we set off when all the camel drivers, now free of their duties, rode the luggage cart. they would shout encouragement back to us play us songs on the portable radio and practice the new phrase that my Portuguese co rider Suzanna had accidentally taught them (Madre Mia!).
The desert surrounding Pushkar is entirely innocent of majestic rolling dunes. Instead it is sparsely populated by the kind of scrubby plants that put more energy into growing thorns than leaves. tall yellowing grasses sprout irregularly and the entire scene is presided over by barren jagged mountains. it is quite beautiful in the light of the setting sun. doves, francolin, parrots, mynahs, lapwing, peacocks and a collection of the heartier birds lurk in the brush only to explode out in a flurry of wing beats if you approach too close. every so often we would pass a gypsy encampment or farmstead with it's attending livestock. Mostly this meant goats, but there was a fair share of cattle and chickens and one entirely unanticipated elephant. I became embroiled in a lively debate at one point on the differences between pigs and water buffalo. it was startlingly difficult to explain that pigs didn't have horns.
When twilight fell the expedition reached it's destination: a patch of desert that was in all respects identical to all the rest of the desert aside from the presence of a water pump. the lights of Pushkar could be seen on the horizon. we awkwardly dismounted and formed a rough circle of blankets. soon a campfire was assembled and before long bottles appeared mysteriously and began to slowly travel around the circle. dinner was a simple dish of rice, dal, and hot rolls and other vegetarian delicacies. we sat talking and laughing for hours under the light of the half moon, our conversation punctuated occasionally by supernatural gargling, rumbling and blarting noises from the camels. at some point our guides disappeared to sleep somewhere more comfortable. we were left alone to fall asleep one by one under the crystal clear stars to the rhythmic music of camel mastication .
I awoke just before dawn, hiked to the foothills of the mountains and returned as the rest of the team was beginning to stir. the camels, each tied to his own thorn bush watched us drink our chai and toast with contempt. A herd of grazing Nilgai came within sight of our camp. I was able to approach rather close to this herd of large horse-like antelope before a passing herdsman shouted to scare them away.
The ride back to Pushkar went along the roadway and was comically shorter than the ride out. As we waved to an endless stream of excitable toddlers, the last lingering vestiges that we had been any distance from civilization faded away. this was probably for the best because at the time of writing this, a full 24 hours later my legs still ache.
In unrelated news the first thing i saw this morning were a pair of monkeys in the guesthouse kitchen. they were munching on something when i arrived on the scene. one of them saw me and instantly bolted, the other casually selected an onion ad took a few bites before deciding he didn't like it and had better things to do. Evidently they had amused themselves with the laundry i had left out on the line before pilfering breakfast. as i fished my shirt off of the roof with a stick, it occurred to me that it was possible to get too close to nature
J
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