India. Thar desert
Journey through the Thar Desert was the most exciting adventure of our India trip. We spent a day and a half in the desert, enjoying its beauty and tranquility while traveling on camels. Upon reaching one of its dunes, we stopped for the night under the starry sky, witnessing the most beautiful sunset of the trip...
Departing from Jaisalmer at dawn, we reached a remote location to witness the sunrise in the desert...
With us was only our local guide Dalpat, who accompanied us throughout the trek and became a true friend to us....
Dalpat lives in a village deep in the heart of the desert and works as a guide for the Trotters tour company during the tourist season and in the hottest periods, at the quarries. While we admired the sunrise, he prepared masala chai and a light breakfast for us...
Meanwhile, his son brought two camels from the nearest village. One camel, named Ali Baba, was 12 years old and was ridden by Diana, while I got an eight-year-old camel named Kalu...
And so our journey began...
After traveling for 2.5 hours, when the sun started to scorch, we stopped for lunch in the shade of trees. Here, Dalpat started cooking, lighting a small fire and preparing vegetable ragout, making dough from water and flour, and baking bread...
Meanwhile, our camels, freed from their saddles, roamed around and tasted their favorite thorns from desert bushes...
After lunch, we rested in the shade while the sun was at its strongest. We also had time to take photographs...
Meanwhile, Dalpat cleaned the dishes with water and sand and went to gather the camels, which had wandered a bit away from our camp. During this time, when Dalpat left us, we saw five children, the eldest of whom carried an axe. They greeted us and tried to communicate, but the conversation did not progress as they did not understand English at all. All we understood was that they were looking for firewood. Later, Dalpat explained that they were going to chop down a tree to build a hut, as many residents of desert villages cannot afford to build houses from stone...
After riding a little on the dune, we stopped in a good place to spend the night, and Dalpat organized masala chai for us...
In the evening, Dalpat arranged dinner for us, after which we continued to sit by the campfire and talk. Our desert guide told us about his not-so-easy life while answering our questions. Seeing a large number of wind turbines in the desert, we asked how long they had been installed. Dalpat described the history of the windmills installed over ten years ago and how they helped villages in the desert survive. He described the problems they faced without electricity, the biggest of which was the lack of clean water and the spread of infections as a result. With wind turbines and electricity, they were able to pump water from underground and use mobile phones, allowing them to call a doctor and seek help from relatives and friends. The wind turbine park in the Indian desert is one of the largest in the world...
Next, we asked Dalpat how he learns about news in the world, as his family cannot even raise money to buy a television, and Dalpat did not attend school and cannot read or write... Dalpat replied that some of his fellow villagers tell him about the news, and also about one of his goals to someday buy a television, which his wife and children have long dreamed of, visiting neighbors who have TVs to watch Indian soap operas... But our guide did not look sad, according to his story his family now lives much better than before... Before, to survive, villagers collected firewood and firewood, carrying them to town for sale, to buy any food... He also told about drug smuggling across the border with Pakistan, and how his grandfathers on camels crossed that border, which made them inaccessible to border guards in the dunes... Then there was no border as such, and border guards somehow did not have camels :)... Now, the border with Pakistan is fenced with an electric fence and drug smuggling on camels is no longer relevant... Dalpat attributed the possibility of finding any work and the possibility of education for children, which is carried out in particular with the help of various Western organizations... He also talked about the time of the coronavirus, when villagers were forced to stay at home, which also took away the ability to work in their own garden... But also said that the financial assistance of the government was very helpful, and Dalpat praised the Indian Prime Minister Modi...
Dalpat continued to amaze us all the time, in addition to speaking English, he also spoke French, German and Japanese fluently... And so funny and with such an accent performed that I even regretted that I did not record it on video...
And then, when it was already dark, Dalpat took some canister and started drumming and singing, and I tried to accompany...
Later, we went to sleep... Mattresses and warm blankets were prepared for us... It was very pleasant to fall asleep under the stars and sleep under the open sky...
In the morning, our guide and his son prepared breakfast and our favorite masala chai...
At sunrise, Dalpat brought the camels, and we began to slowly pack up...
Saddling our desert ships, we set off on the final journey... Now Dalpat no longer held the reins of the camels, as we were able to handle them skillfully ourselves...
Two and a half hours later, we reached the place where the car was supposed to pick us up... We said goodbye to Dalpat, taking a selfie as a keepsake...
Thus ended our extremely pleasant adventure in the Thar Desert... Next, we were driven to visit a very beautiful Jain temple, after which we went to Jaisalmer, where we spent the rest of the day...
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