Roopangarh Fort & Desert Safari

Roopangarh

Up and out of bed by 8am and on the bus for another 1 1/2 hour journey. Us girls needed a wee by then so we popped in to a nice hotel to use their facilities. On the way out the men at the hotel gave us all Red Roses to say Happy Valentines!!
We had a jeep ride for another 45mins to get to Roopangarh Fort. This is a place where Sting has stayed!! The place is amazing!
James and I had a choice of 3 rooms (Number 1 being haunted - we didn't go for that one!!) The ropom we did settle on was modest and had a huge balcony area with views of the surrounding village and beyond.
We settled in quickly, with the help of a beer and played cricket with the Fort staff on the tennis court. It was a very competitive game as Shailendra (our guide) kept making up rules as we went along. This didn't bother us much as he was on our team and it was in our favour! We did lose by 17 runs though (bloomin aussies!)

We went for a orientation walk around the village. Going into some of their houses where they also work - Carpenter, Ribbon maker, pottery maker, and a lady who made local cigarettes (up to 500 per day and got paid Rs40 - about 50 p!) Went to a place where they made bangles from a wax. When I was Passed one I accidently dropped one so had to pay for it - oops! We were overrun by the local children running after us wanting to shake our hands, practice their English and have their photos taken with the digital cameras!
By the time we got back to the Fort it was just the right time to go to the roof for a drink and watch the sun set.

Sunset from roof at Roopangarh Fort

The Staff had made us a fire by the tennis court and we had dinner prepared for us.

We looked at the Suite that Sting stayed in - It is massive!

Feb 15

After a rocky start this morning we were 10 minutes late for the jeepss. According to my watch though we were 20 minutes early, but watch was half an hour slow!

We had about an hour jeep ride to get to Pushkar. We left our luggage at the hotel and headed into the town for a look around and a spot of lunch.
James had an Israeli pizza - it was all abit wrong as it had a puff pastry base!

Walked around the lake and around the ghats, over a bridge and there they were - the camels!!!

Camels were chosen at random for us. "Lean back" was the advice of the guides. We rode into the desert for about 2 1/2 hours until we got to the site to make camp. James' camel had kept sticking its tongue out of the side of its mouth and making grunting noises - pleasant. Mine was a lot more chilled and mostly my guide let go of the lead and chatted to the others on the ground!

Yet another sunset, just different scenery! James got an amzing photo of the camel sillouette with sunset behind (got advised to put it in for the intrepid competition!) When we looked at it a little later realised the camel looked as though it only had 3 legs!!

Camel in Sunset in Pushkar Desert

We all sat round a fire that had been made from dried camel dung - surprisingly it didn't smell! Dinner was served in the dark, but wasn't that great - bit too spicy for me!

We all slept under one tent (all 13 of us!)

Feb 16
Don't think many of us had a very good sleep, as there were a few snoreres amongst the group!
We set off at 7.30am for a gentle hike up a hill next to the camp (7 of us). When we rested shailendra took us to the next peak, then the next and the next!! When we could see the camp was a mere speck in the distance we turned round and headed down again!

As we were nearing the camp we saw camels coming towards us, one was James' camel. The camel guides decided to pack up camp and set off without us!! At this point we hadn't had any breakfast, water, or, more importantly, any suncream. As you can imagine I was not a happy bunny!!
But, back on the camels we went! It was only an hour trek this morning back to our hotel. The only snag was that because we set off so early we were 2 hours early to check in. We all had to sit in the sunshine, by the pool with no swimming bathers - gutted!

We were finally allowed access to our luggage and swim suits cam straight out. James was the first in the pool - It was freezing cold! I was next in. Had to keep trying to swim up and down but it was so hard to breathe cos it was that cold. Only 2 of the aussie ladies made it in for a couple of lengths.

Had a hot shower to try and warm up. James then went into shut down mode - shivering and trying to get warm. I left him in his sleeping bag with blanket and 2 duvet things on him!! I then went in to town shopping!!!

Pushkar is a very modest town and the only place with a Brahma Hindu temple. I managed to get myself a skirt, top and scarf all for the same price as 3 kingfisher beers (Rs370 - about 4 ponud 30p!)

When I got back to James I had to get him out of the sodden sleeping bag and get him warm again.

We had our last dinner as the whole group (except James as he was in bed) by the lake in Pushkar at the sun set restaurant.

written by

James & Tracey on February 14, 2007 from Pushkar, India

from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour

Send a Compliment

snorers rock

written by Iamthedaddy on February 22, 2007

Wow! the camel photo is spectacular! well done!

written by

gertrudeyoung58 on March 9, 2009

comment on this...