The Best Desert Safari in Rajasthan

Thar desert is not a scrubless, leafless expanse like vast stretches of African and Arabian deserts are. Golden dunes without any greens are a few and scattered around Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jodhpur. So desert safari in Thar, does not exactly mean what it means in Arabian deserts.

What is a Desert Safari in Thar, Rajasthan like?

Desert Safaris in Thar desert of Rajasthan usually means a camel safari, which you ride upon in and around the famous areas of Sam sand dunes, Khuri and like.

It passes through small hamlets, and you get to see locals in their own environment; living in traditional mud and thatch huts, wearing local dresses, singing and playing local musical instruments. These places are always geared for tourists and thus crowded and somewhat plastic.

However if you go to interiors, safari takes a real rustic turn.

Where to have an Experience Rich Desert safari in Rajasthan?

At Khichan. Khichan is a small town, 140 kms away from Jodhpur and nearest train station is at Falodi, 4 kms away.

Khichan is widely known for the thousands of Demoiselle Cranes, that come here for wintering and people of Khichan do everything to give them a safe shelter with abundance of food. Its streets have some fine Havelis made with sandstone.

However, the most beautiful experience to have in Khichan is Desert Safari conducted by khichan Resort.

Desert Safari at Khichan

Here the safari includes a Four wheel drive in scrubby sand dunes, dusting away from one hamlet to another, and those hamlets are sometimes as small as a single house.

Lunch stop is at a farmers hut, sitting pretty and solely in his Bajra farm. There is a camel safari in a place which looks remotest part of the world, and it all overlooks a never ending expanse of solitude, remoteness and desert.

Safari starts in morning and ends by evening, and the experiences are more than a months tale of stories.

No sooner that we started, white shouldered kite on the acacia tree signaled a good omen. A few partridges crossed the road quickly. Bay-backed shrike sat nonchalantly on the electric wires.

A few more minutes and a Black kite peered down from a perch on a leafless, crooked tree. Another family of partridges looked out from a shelter underneath the Aakda tree.

Our guide cum driver was a 22 year young boy. He and my two boys- one teen and one kid then, made an awesome threesome.

A Chinkara stood alert among the white cottony Bui plants. An egyptian vulture flew out of nowhere when we made a stop for plucking ripe and semi-ripe Ber. The big and bulky Steppe Eagle kept a close watch on us from her perch on a faraway acacia tree.

Our first stop was Dhani, a small hamlet of five mud huts with thatched roofs. Dogs barked and our guide had to come to our rescue to let us get down from the vehicle. A well, some round and some rectangular huts, a semi-pakka room completed the building plan of this hamlet.

One of the residents had Emu in his home. It has laid eggs. Emu!! In the Thar desert??? Yep. Men can do anything. He also had a Vodafone puppy, a white rabbit, some cows and a few children.

Two Khejri trees and many Aakda bushes filled the neighborhood. A little beyond was a green patch of his field. Yes, it did tick every checkbox of Thar landscape.

Next stop was an orchard of vegetables and a maize farm. Orchard had carrots, radish, brinjal, tomatoes, green chillies and some leafy greens.

A huge tree provided shade for a baby in a cloth swing, his mother sitting on the bare earth, grandpa and uncle sitting on a knitted Charpoi. A few clay pots for water also rested quietly in its shade.

Cows mowed and someone came to fill water for cows, and he also put fodder in front of cows. Cows now went quiet and began eating.

As we came out and started for our next destination, a lonely Chinkara took a note of our visit and then leaped away. A black buck stood in the shade of Ber tree.

Wheeling further deep and deep, a trail of dust followed us. Kids could not stop themselves from running down the sandy slope of the dunes.

While they slide and jumped and collected sand in their hands to let it blow freely in the desert breeze, we stood soaking the squeals of kids and the sigh of wind. Blue sky basked in the sun and dunes looked as if taking an afternoon siestas.

Some thrilling maneuvers of four wheels to climb up bigger dunes, turning around in tough sands made kids go exhilarated.

It was afternoon by the time we reached to a water body called Johad in local language. A few large trees , a handful of cattle, two chinkaras, and a wagtail made it their watering hole. Tranquility and contentment must have found itself at home here.

Traditional Rajasthani Lunch

It was lunch time and we reached another house, located more remotely than all this. Another mud hut with thatched roof was our dining hall.

We washed away the dust and sand and escaped from the blazing winter sun to the spic and span interiors of this simple hut. Four seats with white clean clothes were ready to rest our bumped bums.

The humble hut, with its grass roof from outside and mud walls,
but inside it was a neat and elegant piece of ethnic engineering and craftsmanship.

A single big stump of a tree, with radiating thinner beams, held up the thatched roof. The roof outside was all grass but inside it was a piece of art. Reeds of locally available plants were dried, laid out in radiating circular pattern and then tied up with bales of concentric circles.

Charpais were folded up neatly on the sides except one. Mattresses and blankets were tucked in a corner. A colorful traditional dhurrie was spread on the polished mud floor.

Owner of the house returned from farm and was delighted to find that I could easily talk and understand his language.

Food was laid out. Laapsi, Kadhi, Ker-sangari ko saag, gatte ki sabji accompanied Bajra roti. Food was authentic, unpretentious yet very Satvik and tasty. Everything was settled with two big glasses of buttermilk. The buttermilk, hand churned in a clay pot, tasted heavenly.

Camel Safari on Dunes

After some more lazing around, we hopped onto our Gypsy to another place for a camel ride. Camels were waiting there for us.

Me and Manish were not much interested in camel safari and kids were to have a ride. It was optional in this desert safari and we opted only for kids having the safari, which was to last for an hour.

I decided to sit in the shade and Manish thus had to accompany kids in their safari. While they were on camel, Manish had to follow on foot, just after a full lunch and in the sun.

After the usual hiccups of mounting the camel, kids happily saddled ourselves on its humpy hump. Camel owner was a taciturn Muslim man. Years of sun and wind were written in fine lines on his face.

Their ride took them to more and more sand dunes, alert chinkaras and leaping chinkaras, aakda bushes, Kair and Khejdi, and some other desert trees. Down below, they looked at our car and they told me later that it looked a tiny tot car in a land spreading lazily to the horizon.

Later, Manish told that kids were enjoying running the camel and for once, he lost sight of them. He was completely lost because desert looks same all around and it is very difficult to apply the general urban sense of direction. Luckily, he spotted them after a while and followed them.

Another halt at another Dhani to watch Dhurry making and buying if you are interested. Dhurries were beautiful but very expensive. Same Dhurries can be bought in the Bazaars of Jodhpur and nearby places for half the rate.

Johad, the traditional water harvesting body of Thar Desert

After a few more off-reading thrills in the where-there-is-no-man stretch of mighty Thar desert, stopping in between to view the traditional looms for making dhurry, we stopped at a Johad.

Johad is a traditional water harvesting technique of Thar desert where water is collected from the scanty rains in the rainy season and then used as long as it lasts. It usually has some big trees around it.

This was certainly a lovely stop in the softly approaching evening of desert. Our guide told us that big herds of camel come here to drink water and he wanted us to experience that majestic moment.

We were touched by his generosity and caring nature. But it did not happen that day. However, the fleeting moments of evening, sudden splash of colors in the sky, murmur of silence is still etched in my memory.

When evening was over and twilight tried to stretch the day a bit more, a colony of Indian Vultures and a few Egyptian vultures took their perch on the electrical poles for the night.

A desert fox added to the list and ended our day on a happy note.

• Travel Tips:
• Safari is provided exclusively by Kurja Resort, Khichan.
• Khichan can be reached conveniently from Jodhpur, Jaisalmer. Nearest railway station is Falodi.,
• Salt panes and evening flight of hundreds and hundreds of Demoiselle cranes must not be missed.
• Havelis in the village streets give a good idea of life that was in this once prosperous town.

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