| On our way to the camels we stop at the temple Karnimata, a sanctuary for
hundreds of holy rats. Like the other temples we've visited, we have to
take our shoes off to visit. It is considered good luck to have a rat
run across your feet. I accidentally kick a rat, which might be the
cause of bad luck later on our safari. |
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We pick up our camels at a Bishnoi village
and get to see this baby water buffalo. It was sleeping on the floor of
this hut when we woke it up. The Bishnoi are conservationists and
vegetarians, so their territory has an abundance of wild animals that
have been hunted out of the rest of the desert.
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The house is incredibly beautiful with baked
clay walls and a spotless courtyard. Kids come from all over to see us.
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From the Bishnoi village, we
pick up our camels (Mayna a female, and Manu a male) and start to ride
into the vast Thar Desert. One camel pulls a cart with food and 4
people, and one of us rides the other camel. After three minutes riding
on the back of these gangly beasts, we are glad to have a cart. Every
camel step lurches you this way and that, making it a chore to stay on.
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Our three guides haven't had many tourists
lately. They spend a lot of time on the trip trying to talk us into
doing another longer safari.
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These camels don't look very big when they
are kneeling, but standing up, they tower over you. And when you are
sitting on top of them, you feel very high indeed.
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The process of getting up or down is pretty
dramatic and you have to hold on tight to keep from getting pitched
forward.
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Julie bellies up to the bar. Just after I
took this picture, there was a little ruckus involving the male camel to
the right of the female camel that Julie is riding. It just so happens
that now is the middle of the camel breeding season. Males froth at the
mouth when they are in need of a female, as it were.
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Just our luck. Our camel safari is
interrupted by a flat tire on the camel cart. Our driver has to go back
to a nearby village to borrow a replacement cart for us to complete the
trip. After being stranded in the middle of nowhere for about an hour,
we have to rush a bit to get to our scheduled dune before sunset. So we
all pile on the cart to move faster. After a dinner of sand with a
little food in it, we sleep on the dune and a wild dog curls up and
sleeps on Julie's legs.
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On the second day, we visit another village.
Politeness dictates that I have dismount my camel when I ride into the
village so it doesn't appear that I am peeping over walls and into
houses.
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