Camel safari

I think I just had my favourite experience on the trip so far. We arrived for our camel safari nice and early at 8 pm, when it turned out he said 8-8.30pm James' British intuition kicked in and so we had 30 mins to kill.

After a tea and some biscuits across the way we saw we were being joined by a 3rd member who said he'd only wanted to do one night but had to do two with us because that's all that was available. He was a cool guy who we got on well with but we both couldn't remember his name and then left it too late in the trip to ask again without seeming rude.

We started with a 1 h car ride to the camels and who were waiting patiently beside the road for us. We'd heard you should lean back as they stand up because you get thrown forward, even with this advice in mind it was still a huge lerch forward that I was sure would take me straight over the camels head, but I survived.

The main thing you realise when your on the camel is how tall they are. At almost 12ft off the ground it afords a great view of the surrounding scenery but also seems like a long way to fall.

We begun and we all quickly got uncomfortable, the movement of the camel quickly chaffed our sit bones and our tailbone. At a quick village stop to get supplies we all gingerly got off the camels and got to know the local children who kept asking for pens. James said they did that 15 years ago too when we went on a similar safari.

After another couple hour we stopped by a shaded tree and had lunch which our guides cooked over a open fire and consisted of masala chai, some puffed rice items, and curry with rice and chapatti, all freshly made right there.

Once the heat of the day died down we got back on the camels and on to the dessert dunes. We arrived and went for an explore while our guides set up the sleeping tents and roles to sleep outside and made dinner. (These two guys did everything! It was hard not to feel bad, hopefully our generous tip at the end made up for it).

After another tasty meal by the camp fire we headed to bed which was warm and comfortable, even if it smelt of camels. I had a great night's sleep but James got bothered by his stomach again, as did our other guest we found out in the morning.

After a nice breakfast spread of toasts, fruit and tea we got back on the camels and spent the day much the same as the previous one, arriving in the afternoon into another area of sand dunes which was even more scenic and peaceful. We all felt more confident on the camel with each passing day even if we were still all very soar after a 2 hour ride.

The best thing about the trip was the peace and quiet, there was barely anyone around and the wildlife was so bountiful and came so close it was so enthralling. The morning sparrows got very close to our breakfast blanket and the birds with red butts playing right above our heads into the shady tree on our lunch break.

On the last night under the stars it was almost an effort to close my eyes, as I didn't want to stop the beautiful view, but watching the sunrise over the dunes from the warmth of our sleeping matt's was almost as good.

On our return journey back our guides got the camels to trot which was great fun and bounced us around even more! It was really hard to say good bye, even though they camels stank, farted and pooped a lot the whole of the day without them I left myself longing to be back in the wild watching the world unfold on their little backs.En savoir plus