Camel Safari in the Desert

We booked a 2 day camel safari to take us out into the desert. The hotel arranged everything for us and at 9am a jeep picked us up to drop us into the desert, there Dina and Keville were waiting for us with all of our supplies and 3 camels. We were able to choose our own camels and their names were Kua and Johnney. Matt’s camel was a bit stubborn, refusing to stay with the group, taking time to eat and then galloping to catch up with the rest of us. We rode into the desert for about 3 hours before stopping in some dunes to make lunch. Dina made us some chai tea, chapatti and fried vegetables over a fire (which were so incredibly good!!!) and Keville taught me how to make chapatti. We then set off for about 3 hours further to the next set of dunes where we played cards, made dinner and setup for the evening. There were a few locals who stopped by our camp to chat and one old man who came to bring us some beer! Who knew you could get beer in the middle of the desert?

I can’t even describe the sky that night, it was the start of the new moon so all you could see were endless stars and constellations. I’ve never seen stars like that in my life. We slept on blankets under the stars with Keville singing some traditional songs, beautiful. We awoke at sunrise with Dina bringing us Chai tea and breakfast of eggs, toast and jam in bed! We watched the sun rise over the dunes and then prepared the camels to set off again. I don’t think either one of us wanted to get back on our camel, riding for a full day our inner thighs and bottoms were in sore shape. We set off again for another ride, stopping along the way for the camels to drink some water and again just to rest for a bit in the shade.

We only had a few hours left of the safari and we headed to the location in the desert where the jeep had dropped us off for lunch before leaving. Johnny must have been ready for Matt to get off his back as he bucked him off when we arrived at our spot. Matt landed in the dunes on his feet though… Dina made us some tea, chapatti, rajasthani vegetables and rice and then we took a nap under a big tree waiting for the jeep to arrive. It was a great two days in the desert and we bid farewell to our new friends.