Published on Nov, 2023
My wife and i took this experience at end November 2023 in Jaisalmer. In total it was almost 7 hours in duration, starting at 2pm, it was longer than we expected....but that was not a problem considering we did quite a lot in that time.
We were picked up by Kabil in a Jeep, and we drove to an abandoned desert village, where we explored it for 20-30 minutes.
Next stop was at an oasis (basically a lake that never runs dry - don t expect date palms and fruit trees... it is not that kind of oasis !).
We then stopped in a small village where we could see houses using mud walls to keep them cool. There was also a chance to meet local people, and although some of the children have developed the annoying habit of asking for money, some adults invited us to see their homes. It was a very good example of how people in the villages live.
These first 3 stops are each about 20-30 minutes apart by Jeep, so there is a fair amount of travelling by Jeep, but not too much to make it uncomfortable. After another 30 minutes we changed transport mode and met two boys from a desert village who were to provide us with the camel riding part of the journey. Our driver took the Jeep and would drive to our dinner camp to start preparations for dinner.
The camel ride, we found out as we went, was not along a beaten path, or around a track, but was from a semi arid area into sand dunes, and ultimately to our camp for dinner. We rode the camels for around 45 minutes... certainly long enough to say you ve ridden a camel, and not too long to pick up any sores ! We arrived at the campsite about 45 minutes before sunset, and had Chai and papads as snacks and we could wander around the dunes to watch the changing colours as Kabil and the boys prepared dinner, and taking photos in the dunes. We had dinner by campfire and saw some desert animals, mainly antelope.
Dinner was surprisingly good considering the cooking was over wood fires and consisted of three different vegetable dishes... dal, curry and veg curry with chapati. We had a leisurely dinner and then watched the shadows of the fire and the blackness of the desert sky while the team ate and then cleared up.
The camels were left to roam and then it was time to go home, and dropping the boys off at their village on the way, Kabil drove us back to our hotel. The journey back was just under an hour - so a fair distance 45km or so.... we got back to our hotel just before 9pm
Kabil was a good safe driver, who spoke excellent english and gave good advice - telling us not to bother taking a guide at the abandoned village. It also turned out that he was a good head chef ! The boys were amusing, one speaking excellent English despite not having learnt it at school, while the other was a little shy, but was able to speak English too.
All in all it was a really fun experience and it did not feel like it was a typical tourist camel safari...it was definitely more than a camel ride to dinner!
Tips for people wanting to take this trip.... there is a fair amount of driving from and back to Jaisalmer to get to such a great remote location....so be prepared for 3 hours of Jeep time. We ate a late breakfast, and then had dinner in the desert, but you won t eat until 6.30 pm... there are no real snack stops along the way. It is desert, and temperature drops fast, so make sure to have an extra layer. The jeep is open with closeable covers, so it can be windy unless you ask for the covers to be closed.
We would thoroughly recommend the experience with Harish and his team !
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