Vintage Monday

~ Desert Adventures ~

On a Safari: The audio-visual presentation of "First Trans-Thar Camel Safari" will not be easily forgotten. It covered 400Km through sand and more sand, and occasional villages and the rarest of rare commodity in a desert, water.

The expedition comprised a 9-peron team - three girls and six men. Thirty-one-year-old Govindh Singh Deo, ex-Mayo College, led the team, with Mandipp Singh Soin as his deputy.

Behind this presentaion were the Soins - Mandip and his copy-writer wife, Anita. Mandip has all along been associated with mountaineering. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Manip is the Dirtector of Ibex Expeditions and Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.

The safari was the first attempt at crossing this desert on camel back, opening yet another exciting avenue in adventure. The route took the team through arid, dry landscape. Good drinking water in this area was scarce and presented some problems. The group started from Jaisalmer on February 18 and arrived in Kutch on March 1.

Camel Safari: For adventure lovers the vistas are endless - from hurtling down the Ganga on a raft, to racing across the Himalayas in fast cars. Now a group of nine young and spirited people have completed an adventure of their dream by traversing 350Km across the Thar Desert from Jaisalmer to the Rann of Kutch on camel-back. The trans-Thar camel safari was the first of its kind and the young adventurers, including three women, are in their 20s and 30s.

Some of them had experience in mountaineering, but none had travelled  in the desert before. in any case, none had ever before ridden a camel. It took them time, therefore, to adjust to the ambling gait of the ship of the desert. The first three days of the trek were the toughest, especially on their posteriors. No matter how many cushions they used, there was no relief to sore bottoms.

For all that, the 10-day trek was a memorable experience, according to the participants. The landscape of the desert was magnificent.. On two windy  days, they watched with wonder the silky smooth dunes changing shapes and patterns. For miles there was nothing on the horizon - just a few thorny bushes and cacti to relieve the brown expanse of the sand.

The fleeting glimpses of wildlife sent the expeditionists into raptures. They did not see a single great Indian bustard, but they did encounter the magnificent black buck, spotted deer, grey fox, ibis and sand grouse. They sighted several peacocks setting ablaze the desert with their exquisite colouring.

The camels were hired at Jaisalmer for Rs. 130 a day. Normally, camels do not do more than 20 to 25 Kms a day, but for the safari they were pushed to give more mileage. At Barmer, which is mid-point between Jaisalmer and the Rann, a fresh set of camels is obtained.

Out in the desert, the young camel riders also met several Rajasthani musicians playing their khamancha. One of them was a celebrity having just participated in the Festival of India in America.

At night they pitched tents and camped five to six km from a village. Though the days were hot, the nights were cold. A camp fire was lit and food cooked on it. The Border Security Force which was out on an exercise in the area accompanied the travellers a good part of the journey and gave useful tips. One of these was that a lot of onions should be eaten and even strewn around their tents to ward off snakes.

Clean drinking water was scarce, and the safari was advised to drink water only from tubewells. Several cups of tea were drunk every day not only to slake thirst, but to ward off the heat. The BSF also taught them desert etiquette. It is, for example, considered disrespectful to ride a camel through a village.

Thanks to several sponsors, the safari cost the young adventurers just Rs. 50,000. A video film of the journey has been made in the hope that others can be spurred to do a similar trek. The team consisted of Govind Singh Deo, Mandip Singh Soin, Shiv Dayal, Pradhuman Singh, Sanjai Jatar, Anita Soin, Rajiv Luthra, Gayatri Luthra and Meera Sood.