Sunset in the Desert

One afternoon in Jaisalmer I took the chance to head out into the desert for sunset.  I drove out with a bunch of backpackers to an area of the desert covered with rolling sand dunes.

Some of the other backpackers had arranged to take a camel ride across the desert for a few hours, but I swore I wouldn’t be sucked in (I’ve traveled on a camel before in Australia – not comfortable!).  When we arrived at our destination we found that every local farmer and shepherd had brought their camel along in the hope of making a quick buck.  As the lone backpacker without a pre-arranged ride I was hounded by all of them.  The cost for a one hour ride started at about US$20, but just by saying “no” a lot of times, next thing I knew the price was down to about $1!  So hey, why not?!

A man and his camel – I can’t remember his name but the camel’s was Sonia…