Desert Dust

The Thar desert covers almost three quarters of Rajasthan and the western side of the state is known as the ‘Land of Death’!

Quite the opposite this area is so full of life!

The desert is sparse but covered with a mass of low scrub. Both animals and humans however have adapted well to this challenging landscape. Interestingly  there are many similarities to the Kimberley. Many plants the same and along with the camels and donkeys we also note the, what seems like, an invasion of Brahman cattle.    

Bikaner, one of the many desert towns was once on the trade route of the great merchants. With their camel caravans loaded with wares they used Bikaner as a staging post and so the town flourished.

As a result the imposing Junagarh fort (well worth a look ) was constructed between 1589 and 1593 by the then ruler Raja Rai Singh.

Outside the fort the actual town felt less busy than many others and it was nice to wonder around amongst the people and share their amazing life on the street.

From here we continued on to Jaisalmer, ‘The Golden City’.

The country was dead flat and as we approached the town of Jaisalmer. We couldn’t help but notice the amazing ancient fort, situated strategically on the hilltop looming out in the dusty distance.

It looked like the sand castles I am sure you all remember building, with the upturned buckets of sand as kids.

My sand castles only ever lasted until the next tide came in, whereas this incredible sandstone structure has stood the test of time with it’s construction dating back to 1156 AD. It is a living fort as subsequent rulers have added to the original structure and no longer is it just the Palace inside the mighty walls but now home to 5000 inhabitants.

We zig-zagged through four massive gates and climbed the gentle rise to the top. Massive wooden doors with large spikes protruding through the top half were designed to eliminate the possibility of the elephants of an invading party ramming through.

Inside the fort itself we were greeted by the string of souvenir and snack sellers. A real sight to see!! The women in their beautiful traditional saris and decorative nose rings were all happy to see a new wave of people and what we found interesting was that the majority were Indian local tourists. We seemed to slip by un-noticed.

Narrow winding alleyways headed off in every direction. We picked one and tried to get lost!! No luck as all the tiny streets seemed to hook up at some point and the walls were an obvious boundary, but it fun just to wonder without taking note of our tracks.

It was alive with people, motorbikes and of course cows roaming around the alleyways. It felt a little like Thamel in Kathmandu to us. A great little rooftop restaurant called ‘Free Tibet’ was an awesome spot to enjoy a plate of vegie dumplings and an amazing view. Below we could see the surrounding sprawling  new town where apparently 70,000 people call home.

After lunch we met with our driver for a trip out to the ‘Sam’ sand dune area some 40 klms west of town.

It’s was a good road and ‘what’? no traffic so Mr Ishu offered us a chance to drive.

Thommo had driven in Europe, the USA, much of South East Asia and all of Eastern Africa, he was confident to have a steer, but knew that he had adapt to the many quirky Indian techniques.

Roads in India are NOISY and it is seems almost mandatory to constantly toot your horn! We told Mr Ishu that this relates to road rage at home!! In India it just works.

As you approach an oncoming driver it is customary to give a quick toot almost like a ‘hi there, I am behind you’ and then another one to make sure he sees you and finally again when preparing to pass.

Finally, one more to say you are beside him and merging back in front of him. If you haven’t lost count already you may just get a return toot to say clear to merge. It is very entertaining considering that this tooting game works for almost everything, cows, donkeys, camel carts and stationary trucks.

Balding tyres? No worries! Poor brakes? No worries! Faulty blinkers (actually we think they are just stuck on J ), Nothing else really matters BUT a broken horn, well that would be the unthinkable and in their eyes just not safe!!

We did however arrive safely at the Sam sand dunes, the first true 100% sand dunes that we had seen in the Thar desert. Sam is popular among tourists as it presents an opportunity to participate in a late afternoon camel ride or Jeep Safari through the dunes.

Both Gools and I had ridden a camel before and have seen plenty while we have been based in Broome. We felt no need to take a ride but did wander around and grab a few photos.

As we headed back to town we were happy to avoid the oncoming tsunami of tourist buses and cars all heading west for the sunset.

A few klms from town Mr Ishu diverted off the highway for a quick look at some interesting ‘cenotaphs’ or as he called them ‘Chhatri Bara Bagh’

These are elaborate stone structures built in commemoration of the passing of important rulers of the region and while the area was a little neglected, the structures were quite impressive and a nice spot to watch the sunset without all the people.
Once the sun went down we headed into town and you guessed it went for some great food. The restaurant ‘Trio’ was a real find. A nice cold beer with dinner was a perfect way to wash away today’s desert dust!