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India Where To Go
Jaisalmer and around
In the remote westernmost corner of Rajasthan, a good 100km beyond its closest neighbour Pokaran, JAISALMER is a desert town par excellence, its sand-yellow ramparts rising out of the arid Thar like a vision from The Arabian Nights. Rampant commercialism has dampened the romantic vision somewhat, but even with all the touts, hustling merchants and tour buses, the town deservedly remains one of India's most popular destinations. Villagers from outlying settlements, dressed in dazzling red and orange odhnis or voluminous turbans, still outnumber foreigners in the bazaar, while the exquisite sandstone architecture of the "Golden City" is quite unlike anything else in India.
Jaisalmer in jeopardy
Signboards, banners and electric wires may have horribly disfigured Jaisalmer, but the tourist boom has created a far more serious, potentially irreversible threat to the town's survival. Erected on a base of soft bantonite clay, sand and sandstone, the foundations of Rajasthan's most picturesque citadel are rapidly eroding because of huge increases in water consumption. At the height of the tourist season, around 120 litres per head are pumped into the area - twelve times the quantity used fifteen years ago. Many believe the troubles started in the late 1980s when the city spent Rs9 million on replacing the open sewers with covered drainage; unfortunately their technological trick backfired and large quantities of water ended up seeping into the soil, weakening the citadel's foundations. Compounding the problem has been the increased planting of trees, which keeps the ground moist. The result has been disastrous; houses have collapsed and significant damage has been done to the sixteenth-century Maharani's Palace. In 1998 six people died when an exterior wall collapsed, and five more bastions fell in 2000 and 2001. (Ironically, recent drought in Rajasthan has dried the fort out and no great damage has been reported since - although a normal monsoon could change that quickly.) Jaisalmer is now listed among the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH: www.intach.net) has spent more than $100,000 repairing the Maharani's Palace, and an international campaign, Jaisalmer in Jeopardy (JiJ), has been set up to facilitate repairs throughout the fort. JiJ has already upgraded more than half of the 350 homes in the fort with underground sewerage, repaired their facades and replaced grey cement with traditional material. To see some of its work, visit the new Heritage Centre inside the palace. Despite the repairs, city authorities still think the best way to save the fort is to evacuate the 2000 people who live there and start the drainage repairs over from scratch, an expensive and time-consuming venture much opposed by the thirty-plus hotel owners inside whose earnings depend on tourism. The JiJ campaign relies substantially on donations. If you'd like to help, contact Sue Carpenter at 3 Brickbarn Close, London SW10 0UJ ( & tel:+44(0)20/7352 4336, www.jaisalmer-in-jeopardy.org). Bear in mind, too, that you can make a small difference by not staying in the fort or, if you do, by conserving water as much as possible while you're there.
The Town
Gadi Sagar Tank and the Folklore Museum
Camel safaris from Jaisalmer
Few visitors who make it as far as Jaisalmer pass up the opportunity to go on a camel trek, which provides an irresistibly romantic chance to cross the barren sands and to sleep under one of the starriest skies in the world. Sandstorms, sore backsides and camel farts aside, the safaris are usually great fun.
Although you can travel for up to two weeks by camel from Jaisalmer to Bikaner, treks normally last from one to four days, at prices varying from Rs350 to Rs1500 per night. For most travellers, the highlight is the evening under the desert stars and usually find that departing around 3pm one day and returning the next at noon is sufficient. Unfortunately, the price you pay is no longer an adequate gauge of the quality of services you get. Hotels are notorious for sizing up potential clients and charging prices on a whim, and some of the best treks can go for as little as Rs500. It pays to shop around, ask other travellers for recommendations and bargain appropriately. We've listed a few dependable operators below, though the list is far from exhaustive and not every trip they offer is the same. A lot depends on whether the guides are friendly, how big the group is, and what expectations you have. Make sure you'll be provided with an adequate supply of blankets (it can get very cold at night); food cooked with mineral water; a quota of fruit if you're paying anything over the average; and a campfire. As a precaution, have the deal fixed on paper, giving the maximum size of the group, details of the food you'll be getting, transport and anything else you've arranged. If you're only going for a day, none of this applies, but wear a broad-brimmed hat and take high-factor sun-protection lotion and plenty of water.
Following government restrictions on routes, most safaris head out to the assorted villages west of Jaisalmer. Some visitors find these overrun dunes, especially those near Sam, touristy and barely more than a scenic trash pit. However, it's possible to arrange a few days' amble through the desert without stopping at any monuments. And if plans to broaden access for tourists to the area adjacent to the Pakistan border prosper, a veritable no-man's land would open up. Taking a Jeep at the start or end of the trek enables you to go further in a short time, and some travellers prefer to begin their trek at Khuhri. Longer treks to Pokaran, Jodhpur or Bikaner can also be arranged. Firms running treks into restricted areas (see "Around Jaisalmer") should fix the necessary permits for you, but check in advance.
However much you intend to spend on a trek, don't book anything until you get to Jaisalmer. Touts trawl the train from Jodhpur, but they, and the barrage of operators combing the streets, usually represent dodgy outfits, most of which are based at one or other of the small budget hotels north of the Fort. Some offer absurdly cheap rooms if you agree to book a camel trek with them, but guesthouse notice boards (not to mention our postbags) are filled with sorry stories by tourists who accepted.
Recommended operators
Adventure Travel (tel:02992/252558, just south of the first Fort gate, gets rave reviews for seeking out remote locations and providing fringe amenities, like real mattresses and sheets, for low prices. More expensive, but equally dependable, is Sahara Travels in Gopa Chowk (tel:02992/252609, www.mrdesertjaisalmer.com), run by the instantly recognizable "Mr. Desert," a former truck driver turned Rajasthani model and movie star. "Don't make a booking until you see the face," is his motto. Thar Safari (tel:02992/254296, tharsafari@hotmail.com) in Gandhi Chowk is one of the oldest and most reputable agencies, and among the few genuinely concerned about protecting the desert environment.
Of the hotels which organize camel safaris, Shahi Palace has a deservedly good reputation and virtually guarantees you won't see another tourist, though their prices are known to fluctuate. Among the budget alternatives, the friendly Ratan Palace offers excellent value for money. They've been running trips for more than a decade into a stretch of drifting dunes south of Sam that only a couple of other operators are allowed into.
In the remote westernmost corner of Rajasthan, a good 100km beyond its closest neighbour Pokaran, JAISALMER is a desert town par excellence, its sand-yellow ramparts rising out of the arid Thar like a vision from The Arabian Nights. Rampant commercialism has dampened the romantic vision somewhat, but even with all the touts, hustling merchants and tour buses, the town deservedly remains one of India's most popular destinations. Villagers from outlying settlements, dressed in dazzling red and orange odhnis or voluminous turbans, still outnumber foreigners in the bazaar, while the exquisite sandstone architecture of the "Golden City" is quite unlike anything else in India.
Jaisalmer in jeopardy
Signboards, banners and electric wires may have horribly disfigured Jaisalmer, but the tourist boom has created a far more serious, potentially irreversible threat to the town's survival. Erected on a base of soft bantonite clay, sand and sandstone, the foundations of Rajasthan's most picturesque citadel are rapidly eroding because of huge increases in water consumption. At the height of the tourist season, around 120 litres per head are pumped into the area - twelve times the quantity used fifteen years ago. Many believe the troubles started in the late 1980s when the city spent Rs9 million on replacing the open sewers with covered drainage; unfortunately their technological trick backfired and large quantities of water ended up seeping into the soil, weakening the citadel's foundations. Compounding the problem has been the increased planting of trees, which keeps the ground moist. The result has been disastrous; houses have collapsed and significant damage has been done to the sixteenth-century Maharani's Palace. In 1998 six people died when an exterior wall collapsed, and five more bastions fell in 2000 and 2001. (Ironically, recent drought in Rajasthan has dried the fort out and no great damage has been reported since - although a normal monsoon could change that quickly.) Jaisalmer is now listed among the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH: www.intach.net) has spent more than $100,000 repairing the Maharani's Palace, and an international campaign, Jaisalmer in Jeopardy (JiJ), has been set up to facilitate repairs throughout the fort. JiJ has already upgraded more than half of the 350 homes in the fort with underground sewerage, repaired their facades and replaced grey cement with traditional material. To see some of its work, visit the new Heritage Centre inside the palace. Despite the repairs, city authorities still think the best way to save the fort is to evacuate the 2000 people who live there and start the drainage repairs over from scratch, an expensive and time-consuming venture much opposed by the thirty-plus hotel owners inside whose earnings depend on tourism. The JiJ campaign relies substantially on donations. If you'd like to help, contact Sue Carpenter at 3 Brickbarn Close, London SW10 0UJ ( & tel:+44(0)20/7352 4336, www.jaisalmer-in-jeopardy.org). Bear in mind, too, that you can make a small difference by not staying in the fort or, if you do, by conserving water as much as possible while you're there.
The Town
Gadi Sagar Tank and the Folklore Museum
Camel safaris from Jaisalmer
Few visitors who make it as far as Jaisalmer pass up the opportunity to go on a camel trek, which provides an irresistibly romantic chance to cross the barren sands and to sleep under one of the starriest skies in the world. Sandstorms, sore backsides and camel farts aside, the safaris are usually great fun.
Although you can travel for up to two weeks by camel from Jaisalmer to Bikaner, treks normally last from one to four days, at prices varying from Rs350 to Rs1500 per night. For most travellers, the highlight is the evening under the desert stars and usually find that departing around 3pm one day and returning the next at noon is sufficient. Unfortunately, the price you pay is no longer an adequate gauge of the quality of services you get. Hotels are notorious for sizing up potential clients and charging prices on a whim, and some of the best treks can go for as little as Rs500. It pays to shop around, ask other travellers for recommendations and bargain appropriately. We've listed a few dependable operators below, though the list is far from exhaustive and not every trip they offer is the same. A lot depends on whether the guides are friendly, how big the group is, and what expectations you have. Make sure you'll be provided with an adequate supply of blankets (it can get very cold at night); food cooked with mineral water; a quota of fruit if you're paying anything over the average; and a campfire. As a precaution, have the deal fixed on paper, giving the maximum size of the group, details of the food you'll be getting, transport and anything else you've arranged. If you're only going for a day, none of this applies, but wear a broad-brimmed hat and take high-factor sun-protection lotion and plenty of water.
Following government restrictions on routes, most safaris head out to the assorted villages west of Jaisalmer. Some visitors find these overrun dunes, especially those near Sam, touristy and barely more than a scenic trash pit. However, it's possible to arrange a few days' amble through the desert without stopping at any monuments. And if plans to broaden access for tourists to the area adjacent to the Pakistan border prosper, a veritable no-man's land would open up. Taking a Jeep at the start or end of the trek enables you to go further in a short time, and some travellers prefer to begin their trek at Khuhri. Longer treks to Pokaran, Jodhpur or Bikaner can also be arranged. Firms running treks into restricted areas (see "
However much you intend to spend on a trek, don't book anything until you get to Jaisalmer. Touts trawl the train from Jodhpur, but they, and the barrage of operators combing the streets, usually represent dodgy outfits, most of which are based at one or other of the small budget hotels north of the Fort. Some offer absurdly cheap rooms if you agree to book a camel trek with them, but guesthouse notice boards (not to mention our postbags) are filled with sorry stories by tourists who accepted.
Recommended operators
Adventure Travel (tel:02992/252558, just south of the first Fort gate, gets rave reviews for seeking out remote locations and providing fringe amenities, like real mattresses and sheets, for low prices. More expensive, but equally dependable, is Sahara Travels in Gopa Chowk (tel:02992/252609, www.mrdesertjaisalmer.com), run by the instantly recognizable "Mr. Desert," a former truck driver turned Rajasthani model and movie star. "Don't make a booking until you see the face," is his motto. Thar Safari (tel:02992/254296, tharsafari@hotmail.com) in Gandhi Chowk is one of the oldest and most reputable agencies, and among the few genuinely concerned about protecting the desert environment.
Of the hotels which organize camel safaris, Shahi Palace has a deservedly good reputation and virtually guarantees you won't see another tourist, though their prices are known to fluctuate. Among the budget alternatives, the friendly Ratan Palace offers excellent value for money. They've been running trips for more than a decade into a stretch of drifting dunes south of Sam that only a couple of other operators are allowed into.
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