Planning our stay in the desert

Six months ago, when we started drafting our travel wish list for India, I wrote down “discovering the Thar desert”. I had never been in a desert before, and the pictures we saw online from Jaisalmer, the famous desert city at the extreme West side of India, made me dream of camels on sandy dunes, walking towards a limitless horizon. Some months and further online searching later, it appeared that these picturesque depictions were hiding a darker reality: camels close to exhaustion because of carrying tourists; the seldom sandy dunes overexploited for the perfect Instagram snapshot; misleading image of the Thar desert, which is one of the most inhabited deserts in the world. In addition to discovering the desert, we also wanted to see a glimpse of rural India, that we had missed by only travelling to cities – when close to 70% of the Indian population lives outside.

When I read about Hacra Experiences Village stay on Soul India, it seemed the perfect fit, right from the start. Rajasthan natives, Gemar and his wife Mewa offer tourists to spend some time with their family in a village nearby Bhikamkor, 2 hours away from Jodhpur and a few kilometers away from Osian / Osiyan. Hacra’s goal is to promote a sustainable way to experience the Thar desert beautiful scenaries, to witness the wildlife, to meet the locals and to understand a bit more about the Marwar traditions (remember that Jodhpur was the capital of the Marwar kingdom?).

On the way to the village: Jodhpur-Osian bus and Osian thousand-year-old temples

All the buses that we had taken during our trip were long-distance buses, so mostly operated by private companies and meeting some quality standards (the reviews of the bus lines on RedBus have helped us tremendously). Until the Jodhpur – Osian line. Rusty metal shell, some seats with stuffing completely pierced, bus stuffed to the brim. And, in the middle of this joyful mess, two little girls who casually used me as a comfy pillow during the two hours. Quite a funny ride 😂

Osian is a tiny weeny city, for Indian standards, with circa 10,000 souls. When we arrived, we got to meet a local guide, friend with our hosts, to discover the local, thousand-year-old Hindu and Jain temples. Oh man, was it worth it! He was the very embodiment of the saying “Everything is possible in India” [to which I would add: “if you negotiate enough”]. Guess who even ended up visiting the areas reserved the priests? Little be said that I stood out!

Note the use of “I” above: since we had landed in India, Dimitri was seen as a local. People started addressing him in Hindu or the local language, and acted in disbelief when he would try to say that he was French – even doubting him. Our local guide asked him, with the most serious tone in the world: “Dimitri, which caste are you [part of]?”. Weeeell…

Sharing moments and cultures

Once this special tour done, Gemar picked us up, for a jeep ride to his home. We stayed three days only with him and his family; I find it yet difficult to pay a proper tribute to what this stay brought us.

We rested during the hot hours of the day, laying on our beds under the tree shadows and being brought Chai, like nabobs. The huts were simple but fresh and clean, with a bathroom reserved for guests nearby. Given the temperatures, our beds were moved outside and we could sleep under the stars, with Gemar showing us the most famous constellations. You feel at peace, when you wake up in the middle of the night and you hear the humming and the tweeting of the night animals (unless there is a brahmin / priest singing all night long 😁). The traditional vegetarian food, prepared by Mewa with locally sourced ingredients, was delicious; both Gemar and Mewa were kind enough to show us the ropes, even if we considerably slowed them down.

We enjoyed the fresh breeze of the morning and the evening, to explore the surroundings, on the look-out for animals and special plants. Here, no jeep safari, our feet only brought us close to chinkaras (the desert antilope, which can go on without drinking for three weeks), camels, many different species of birds (including wood peckers, Indian robins, owls, peacocks), traces of foxes, and many more. I also realized that my optic zoom was not good enough to capture it all – you will just have to trust my word!

The Thar desert would be nothing without its people. Many families are spread around in tight communities, where all contribute from building houses to harvesting. When we arrived to the village in the laste morning, we were invited to share with the men a few swallows of whiskey, with crushed poppy seeds (yes, opium), served directly in the hand. Interesting way to start the day! Thanks to Gemar, who was acting as a translator, we could meet a part of the community, with a delicious Chai brought to us every time we were visiting a new family. My basic Decathlon watch ended up with a joyful girl, who took interest in it –  she will love it more than I would. 🙂 Even if we were oblivious to most of exchanges, done in Marwari, we got a glimpse of what it meant to live in this desertic land: government-funded tanks to catch rain waters; hard harvesting work, involving all family members; people going abroad to bring money back (respect to the young nineteen-year-old man, who was preparing himself to go working in Qatar).

We were not on the receiving hand of the culture sharing only. Curious pair of eyes followed us with attention everywhere. Back to Gemar’s house, when we were washing our clothes, we had an audience. The kids were surprised: did tourists also have to clean their stuff? Didn’t they just idle all day? A little girl was intrigued by my short hair, as well: why would women wear short hair?

If you are ever in the region and in the look for an authentic experience, I can only recommend reaching out to Gemar and his family (via his website Hacra Experience). The guests are hosted in traditional huts, fed delicious vegetarian meals prepared by Mewa and get to experience the Thar desert with long, peaceful walks, expertly guided by Gemar. We left with physical and social batteries fully charged, our head full of memorable moments.

One month in India – the wrap up

Our stay at Hacra closed our last “real” stage in India. We are now on the road to the Sonali border crossing, to go to Nepal. As I write this article, we had to stay a few more days in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. After a month in India, I would like to tell you more about our overall experience, and what we would remember from our trip. The many travel hours to Nepal should give me so time to do so – providing that we can leave!

Thank you for reading us, I am super excited seeing that more and more of you follow our adventures. Lots of love from us, see you very soon!