Camels on Parade

Our tour is nearly over, but I have not been near a computer for ages. Our camel tour is done, we have been to Jaisalmer where we had our best tour guide yet - an audio guide which we could turn off if it went on too long - we spent a day touring villages near another fort/palace, took a train journey overnight on three tiered bunks, and this morning we saw the awe inspiring Taj Mahal.

But back to camels. Yes, Geordie didn't ride on one, but Nigel did. We were driven out to the desert just a few kilometers where we met our camels for the first time, and of course their drivers. There was a camel each, although the drivers did ride on some of the camels.

My handsome camel, (they are all male since it would be problematic for females apparenntly, and would interfere with child rearing?), was named Gangu, which, according to Rudy, our guide, means "the stupidest animal in the world). Very unfair since my camel was certainly smarter than any sheep I've met and it certainly obeyed all the commands without complaint.



Gangu wasn't really smelly either. His coat was rough, and he was damned high when I was in the saddle, but he was as charming as a camel could be. I'm sure we bonded by the time the trek was over.

Getting on a camel is not hard, but when the camel rises one is lifted so high above the ground! I feared for my poor osteoportic bones - if I had fallen off I would have broken my hips, my shoulders and my pelvis too, I'm sure of it. And I worried about my pelvis a lot because on the camel I felt spread-eagled. And I still ached from the stretching my ligaments got from the three hour trek.

And one thing I will tell you now that is not mentioned in any of the literature I have read about camel trekking - it hurts. The worst part was the jogging (versus sedate walking by the camel, I mean). Oh god, bouncing up and down continuously, with my camera bouncing against me, my right hand holding the pommel, my left hand holding the back of the saddle. I felt very unbalanced so hung on for dear life.

For the women reading this, apparently it is not quite so bad. Most of them reported almost enjoying the ride and feeling very secure on the camel. Men must be different because the other man in our tour group had to have his saddle adjusted during our rest stop. One of the women told me she even took pictures while she sat looking around. I wish I could have felt so confident.

Along the way we did see one wonder of nature - a baby goat had been born moments before we arrived. When I saw it, it was bleating, struggling to stand on its legs, still wet from the birth and with its umbilical cord still dangling. Out in the desert with just the mother to make sure it survived. There was a shepherd somewhere, but he wasn't with the mother goat - but it was managing quite nicely on its own.

We stopped again not far from our site because the jeep was there. My driver asked me at least twice if I wanted to ride and I stayed the course - I was not going to be the old man who had to drive, which was good because we only had about 15 minutes more of travel (they could have asked earlier, I thought, but I still wouldn't have transferred to the jeep).

At camp we had gaily coloured tents with comfortable camp cots and very warm blankets. After getting the ligaments working again, we got to enjoy the desert with a gin and tonic in hand, and then enjoyed a lovely dinner with five hot dishes rustled up by the cook tent. We even had dessert - a semolina pudding. And we didn't stay up late either. The stars were beautiful, but we were tired and we had to be up by 7:00 am to go back to town, so we snuggled in early and slept the sleep of the just (or the just worn out).

border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140414032091569362" />

In the morning we got hot water delivered to our tent, we had a breakfast with freshly made omelets, toast and thank heaven lots of coffee. It was a nice culmination to our trip. Getting into the jeeps to roar back to town was an anti-climax but I was more than glad not to have to do it on a camel.