Into The Wild – In Jaisalmer Desert

The moment one says Desert safari, what usually comes to mind is camel rides, camping tents and folk-dance shows. But I went on a desert safari that did not include any of these, but it was the most memorable desert safari and a night I will never forget.

I personally don’t like taking joy rides at the cost of poor animals, so I didn’t want to take the camel safari. I requested Himmat bhai, the driver who was also my tour guide, to arrange alternative modes of transport. He politely agreed and so I travelled to the Thar desert in The Thar.

We took a halt in the desert to pick up beer bottles. Apparently, there was only one small house in that area that had a refrigerator where they stored beer. I was elated by the thought of beer in that hot weather and even happier because I never expected to get a chilled beer in the middle of the Jaisalmer desert.

We took a halt at another house for a quick tea. I basically met Himmat bhai’s entire extended family in that house. Those little houses seemed like a lonely island in that vast sea of sand dunes.

I met Himmat bhai’s nieces and nephews and uncles and aunties. They showed me trees of Ker berries and Sangri beans from which they make the famous ‘Ker Sangri ki Sabzi’. It has multiple health benefits as well along with being a high source of protein and fiber, it’s what keeps them fit they say.

They also offered me the best black tea I have had in my life. After some more chit chat and clicking pictures with the sweet kids we left the house to go further deep into the desert. I had no clue that after a while I was about to witness something astonishing that I would happily recall for years to come.

It started with a drizzle while Himmat bhai was driving and by the time we reached the area where we were supposed to cook our dinner, it started raining heavily. It took no time to convert into a thunderstorm.

Himmat bhai had the conventional Quechua tents but I had requested for a real desert night, so we had not pitched any of those. We ran and waited under one shade made of bamboo. It was the weirdest yet most amazing storm I have witnessed.

There was hardly any sound but there was heavy rain, gushing wind and flashes of lights in the sky like thousands of bulbs continuously flickering at once. It went on for a while and then slowly the flickering stopped, the sky cleared, and stars started to make an entry.

Himmat bhai and his team took great care of me and made sure I was comfortable and well fed! His team cooked the most amazing full course meal with daal, rice, rotis, 2 vegetables, papad, pickle, raita and a laddoo for dessert. I could not see anything I was eating, as it was pitch dark but it was delicious!

After dinner they arranged the mattresses, blankets and pillows for people to sit. No room, no tent, no shade. I was directly under the stars. There are very few places I have traveled to where I experienced such quietude. It was one of those moments when you wish you could stop the time.

Stars seemed like a buffet of little jewels at first, then came down crashing like a shower of fireflies. By 3:30 am the stars appeared till the line where the earth and sky appear to meet. The sky faded so much in the background that I could hardly see any empty space. I was on my solo trip but there was another solo traveller from Kolkata who had come for the desert safari. We spent the entire night watching the stars overpower the sky, talking about life, sharing some of our most amazing travel stories with each other.

I was awake the whole night, watching the stars slowly appear, then taking charge of the entire sky, then fading away and then the night slowly turning into the day as the sun started rising. It was one of the most amazing sun rises I have seen.

The entire experience was beyond beautiful but what I will never forget is that these simple people, strangers who had never met me before, people who worked so hard every single day to make a living, made me feel so safe and comfortable in the middle of nowhere.

And even among them, the one person I will always remember is Himmat bhai, who literally behaved like a big brother the entire time and I felt at home while being 1000km away from home.