Waves and Curves of Sand Dunes at the Great Indian Thar Desert
Of days gone by...this January during my solo all India motorcycle journey…
After an excellent experience of salt desert, salt pans, flamingos, wild asses and migratory birds at the Little Rann of Kutch, I marched towards the sandy desert of Rajasthan. As I left Gujarat and entered the desert side of Rajasthan the roads and the surroundings became sparsely populated indicating the harsh living conditions. After a stopover at Barmer, I finally reached the sand dunes at the Khuri village, about 40 kms west of Jaisalmer.
I checked into mud houses that were next to the sand dunes. The view across the horizon was fabulous as it was open spaces all around.
After being treated to some traditional Rajasthani desert food of Kher Shangri and rotis, I climbed my ride for the evening – the camel – also known as the ship of the desert. After a not so comfortable ride for 20 minutes, I reached the sand dunes.
Unlike the pictures in my mind, the sand dunes were not 100% sand. Interspersed between sand dunes were various shrubs and thorny bushes. The waves and the curves of the dunes were a great sight and its changing colour on approaching sunset was even better.
I had decided in mind that I would watch sunset across the dunes, but I had close to an hour and half to kill. Luckily for me, I spotted a lot of beetles and decided to follow their trail and see what they were up to. Once I had gotten bored of the beetle, I decided to explore different sides of the sand dunes.
So, began my arduous climb across the dunes to reach dunes at a higher elevation. Upon reaching the top of a certain dune, I spotted small settlements in the middle of the slightly greener side of the dunes. On returning I found out that these were desert tribal settlements.
The sights across the sand dunes got prettier as it approached sunset time. The sunset was not spectacular here, but the golden glow from the sand dunes will possibly remain etched in my memory forever!!
To see India through the eyes of a motorcyclist’s lens, visit the album below.
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| my solo all-india motorcycle journey |
