Rajasthan : Jaisalmer

JAISALMER FORT
RIDE INTO THE DESERT NATIONAL PARK TO VIEW SNAKES AND BUSTARDS
THIS IS THE JAISALMER FORT
PALACE PAVILION IN AN ENCLOSED LAKE
DANCES FROM THE LOCAL PEOPLE
RIDE INTO THE DUNES ON A CAMEL BACK

I have always been a traveller and felt like a traveller . Their is a natural force that pulls me towards places and explore them but sitting in a closed Aircinditioned Bus is not the way i like travelling. The best way to travel is to decide to go at place 1 , pack essential luggage and within 1 hr of deciding reach another place 2 and keep the feel of the fresh air rushing into your face alive.

Travelling to Jaisalmer from Udaipur is a long journey . thank god the roads are good and you can easily cruise at 80 kmph. As you pass along the terrain of rajasthan green prosopis and acacia trees vanish from both sides green farms of overhanging jowar crop ready for harvest and bajra crop vanish . Its all barren all around and small statured horizontally prolific trees have grown aroung the roads and bushses at various points in the middle. For long hours you dont have a village or a habitation and then you pass by POKHRAN and rest for a colddrink which you dont find. the air is dry and biting hot . the grounds hardness which was experienced in the middle of journey ( due to the aravallis and rocky substratum ) has given way to a sandy texture. You are depressed as you dont find the drink.

You go on reach the Rajasthan Torism Hotel and explore the city after some rest.

Well Jaisalmer is a expansively built city . roads are broad and shops and residential areas are far off . Traffic is minimal and beauty is maximal. You happen to see a Heritage hotel built all alone in a barren land of red rocks as if it were a medieval castle . Nearby are huts of the same construction materials but round and cylindrical shapes with conical domes . Some groups of tents are seen - tourism is promoted through these.

Away from these is the Desert National Park which you cover on a camel cart and see the GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD - really a rare sighting.

The sand dunes ? where are they i ask the driver i want to see the real desert . The driver told me - Sir actually the deserts have been largely afforested specially after and as a result of the Indira gandhi canal . The area around the canal is now no more a barren land but covered with prosopis FORESTS for large areas . Still we managed to see the sand and the dunes . you can enjoy caml riding here and view the sun as it drops into one of these dunes.

Enjoy the local dance and songs of the beautifully and colourfully attired girls in the night . They amaze you with their go round and round dance and flexibility of the body with which they do tricks. Culturally these people and the people across the border are the same- u r told.

Next Day you explore the nearby lake built in the middle of a palace and enjoy boating there . you observe some pavilions in the middle of the water and try to avoid them and reach an island in between where herons are waiting for you . But actually they were not as they fly away at your arrival.

The jaisalmer fort is another pearl in the RAJASTHAN STRING OF FORTS. beautifully and exquisitely built with innovative ways of aircculation it is place from where you can see the whole city in pink ( as you can with all rajasthan forts ).