As of now this is work in progress. I don't have the time or patience to write the entire trip detail in one go. So please come back again, if you are reading it.
Planning Stage
I can't remember precisely when the three of us - Sumit, Suranjan and me - decided to go to the Desert National Park this year (February 2017). I guess it was one of those lazy evenings at CRC when the three of us met with Arijit. I made it clear that I would go only if the group size was limited to just the three of us or four (plus Arijit of course). I didn't think that the plan would actually come to fruition, because we make such plans every time we get together at CRC. But soon I realised that the two lung specialists were rather serious and we finally decided on a date. We would go to Jodhpur by plane from Calcutta and from there by road to the desert. The docs wanted to reach on Friday and come back on Monday.
I chose to go to Jodhpur a couple of days in advance so that I could tick off two of my bucket list items - a stay at the Jodhpur Circuit House and a trip to Khichan. I booked the ticket for Wednesday 15th February, 2017 and the docs would come on Friday 17th.
A few days before the trip Arijit wrote a mail to a few very important people asking them to ensure hospitality and other logistical support for us during our stay. We had no idea what sort of royal treatment was awaiting us. For reasons of confidentiality and privacy I will withhold these details. But suffice it to say that this was one of the finest trips we have ever done. And even ten per cent of this wouldn't be possible without the active support of the Rajasthan Forest department.
Jodhpur Circuit House
Those who have seen Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella (and if you are a Bengali you have seen it) wouldn't need to be told what is special about the Jodhpur Circuit House. Those who may not know - a Circuit House is a state owned and operated accomodation for government officials; under certain situations even private guests are allowed to stay here - as did the iconic detective Feluda and company in that epoch making film which even Salman Rushdie regards as one of his most favourite.
A few years ago when I came to Jodhpur on a self drive trip with Monisha and Mampu I saw that the Circuit House hadn't changed much from what we saw in the film about 40 years ago. That is when it struck me that I must spend at least one night here for nostalgia's sake. Arijit had told me that it wouldn't be any problem at all to organise this.
So here I was at the reception counter in the afternoon of 15th February, 2017 with just a little bit of trepidation. Is the room really booked in my name? To my greatest relief I was recognised by my name and allotted room number 25 on 1st floor. I entered my name and other details in the official register. Even the register has remained the same as shown in the film. It was quite a thrilling experience to do this because in the film the register played an important role in solving the mystery.
I took a shot of the historic front corridor of the House and posted it on my facebook wall. This corridor holds an important place in the film and saw a lot of action. The post was an instant hit with friends.
The room was large with a comfortable bed, a working TV and a big sofa set. The bathroom is unusually large again with a working geyser. The shower wasn't functional but in Feluda's den you can ignore such things.
After about half an hour's rest the vehicle which brought me here from the airport came back to pick me up and off we went to Guda Bishnoi for some basic birding. This is a Bishnoi village about 20 kms outside Jodhpur where there is a large pond with lots of migratory birds - ducks and waders. On an odd day one can find black bucks here too.
Guda Bishnoi's other claim to fame is this is the place where that famous black buck committed suicide (and we are all unnecessarily blaming poor Salman Khan for poaching). Guda Bishnoi, I later learnt, is also close to Khejarli village where 364 Bishnois famously sacrificed their life trying to protect the khejri tree by hugging them when the king's men came to cut them down. This incident apparently happened in 1730.
Bishnois are still very famous for their love for nature. I have seen photographs of Bishnoi women breast feeding orphaned black buck calf. They are also fighting the legal battle against Salman Khan for his alleged poaching of a black buck.
The Guda Bishnoi Lake did not yield anything new for me except a wire tailed swallow which was a lifer for me. Other than that there were ruffs, little grebes, common teals, ruddy shelducks and an odd spotted owlet (mentioned in the order I saw them).
I didn't spot any black buck or chincara. But having been to Tal Chhapar before I have seen all the black bucks that one needs to see in seven incarnations. I saw a small flock of Ruff, few Brahminy ducks among the more exotic birds. Other than them there were common coots and little grebes and the odd northern pintail or common shelduck.
Again the forest guard at Guda Bishnoi was very cordial. Offered me tea, biscuits and bananas. The guard seemed fairly knowledgeable about birds.
Back at the Circuit House I retired for the day with the television playing Mohun Bagan match which we sadly drew. Next morning we were to leave for Khichan by 5 am. So I hit the bed early after a terrible dinner of bhat, dal and sabzi at the canteen.
Khichan Village
The vehicle came to pick me up at around 5.15 when it was pitch dark outside. We set off for Khichan so early because to see the action one needs to be there by 8 am.
Those who may not know, Khichan is a village near Palodhi in Jodhpur district about two and a half hours' drive from Jodhpur city, where demoiselle cranes land in thousands every year for about 5/6 months. The locals feed them grain and the number of birds coming from central Asia is increasing every year because of this.
To the seasoned birder, always eager to tick off his species list, this is not a big deal. In Khichan you only get to see demoiselle cranes and nothing else. So most wouldn't waste time on it. I had always wanted to see the spectacle of thousands of large migratory birds and also talk to the people who make this possible.
I had a small misconception about Khichan which got cleared in this trip. I always thought Khichan was a Bishnoi village. But I discovered it was not. The man who does the feeding of the bird is from the Mali caste. And the money - all of Rs 35 lakh every year - comes mostly from the Jain community.
The road to Khichan from Jodhpur goes through Osian - a place where we had come last time with my family. I just couldn't recognise the road in the dark. We had tea somewhere on the way with a few biscuits but I wasn't allowed to pay. We kept on proceeding. The driver showed me the Osian temple on the left hand side. It seemed in the dark to be an elaborate affair. On the way I saw the road kill of a desert cat. Faint hearted, that I am, I didn't stop the vehicle for further investigation.
We took a right turn from the main road at a place before the Palodhi town to enter Khichan. The sun had risen already but there was a light cloud cover. It was slightly chilly. I had a light fleece on only and that was adequate.
We call Khichan a village but by Bengal standards it's a small town of sorts with most of the houses being made of concrete. I didn't see a single thatched roof hut - the common sight in Bengal villages.
Finally we stopped in front of a small football ground type field with boundary walls on two sides and barbed wire fencing on the other two sides. Inside were hundreds of demoiselle cranes feeding off the ground and calling constantly. There were a few hundred pigeons also. If anyone wants to record the call of these cranes Khichan is the most ideal place. I already had recording of the species from Tal Chappar so I didn't bother.
We stopped infront of a house that was next to this feeding ground. I was introduced to the owner of the house - Sewaram Mali (he didn't tell me his surname but I learnt about his caste later). He invited me to the first floor roof top to see and photograph the feeding from a vantage point. There were a few foreigners who were clicking away happily.
Sevaram seemed a very humble villager. He told me he raises some Rs 35 lakh ($ 500,000) every year from the Jain community to feed these birds. He has been doing it for the last 22 years. He also works on cow welfare. There was another local forest official who came to meet me. Mr Shantilal Sharma. After about an hour of photography and general chit chat - when I also saw - hundreds of more birds flocking to the feeding ground from far off, we went off to Kurja Resort for breakfast.
Sewaram told me this year some 22,000 birds have come. He also showed me a handwritten note book where he has been maintaining a daily trend report every single day for the last seven years. He scrupulously notes down the arrival time of the first bird and the last bird in the morning and the departure time of the first and last bird every morning. This he has been taught by some foreign crane enthusiast.
Meanwhile, I also met a naturalist/guide who hails from Bikaner. He had come with a few foreigners and I was introduced to him by Sewaram. He said he had a PhD in herpetology and takes birders and other nature lovers for birding and snake tours to Tal Chhapar, Jod Beed, Khichan and Desert National Park. He also has a small home stay kind of place in Bikaner.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the luxury resort of Kurja (the local name for demoiselle crane) in such a remote kind of place. There was a huge manicured lush green lawn (as opposed to the ochre fields of the area) in the middle of the resort with small cottages on either side. There were a few luxury tents too - the kind we slept in Osian earlier. The guests seemed to be some elite Indian Army or Airforce battalion wearing overall kind of uniform.
The dining hall was huge but with hardly any guests. The waiter seemed to know what fried eggs meant. I ordered for two of them and toasts - a little more than my home brerakfast. He brought me four eggs, saying, ``you ordered for two" - meaning one is actually two !!! Anyway I ended up eating more than double my normal breakfast. It was quite well made. I have no idea how much it would have cost me because I was not allowed to pay. I enquired about the tariff of the place and was told it was anything from 2k to 4k.
Out in the village we saw huge flocks of the cranes sitting in the open fields. I stopped at one of the places to do some photography. I saw a motorcycle being ridden behind them and then the flock took off in fear (I was later told there was a blast somewhere in the distance) and a most unfortunate thing happened. One of the birds hit the low overhead electric line and fell down like a brick. The forest official informed someone who came quickly on a motorcycle and picked up the dead bird in a sac.
At around 11 am we called it a day and came back to Jodhpur. On the way we stopped at the Osian temple. As I said, it is quite an elaborate affair and a large temple complex built in the 9th centurry on top of a small hill. Later I learnt that Osian had many other temples including some ancient Jain temples. Probably I need to come here once again.
I treated my team to lunch in a road side dhaba where to my utter amusement I found the waiter was a Bengali guy !!! The food was really bad though.
Jodhpur to Sudasari
My bill at the Circuit House came to some Rs 3500 for the two days. The taxi arrived at 12.30 or so and I left with him for the airport to receive the other two members of the party. The guy is a youngster called Madhan Kachhwaha. He came all the way from Jaisalmer to fetch us. The docs were supposed to arrive at the Jodhpur airport at around 1.15 but they finally emerged at 2.30. Jodhpur airport being really small their plane, though it had landed on time, didn't get the space to taxi !!!
I thought we would have lunch together on the highway. We stopped at a non-descript place on the highway near a town called Balesar. We had a hearty vegetarian lunch and tea etc here. The salad was served thoughtfully on a large papad !!!
The journey resumed. It's an arid desert landscape with small bushes on a yellow and perched earth. There was hardly any visible settlement anywhere. On the way came Pokhran - famous for its nuclear power test range. Ramdevra is just 15 kms to the right of this town. We didn't have a lot of time in hand otherwise I wouldn't mind the 15x2=30 km ride to see the station. But that will have to wait. For now we are going to Sudasari.
The driver said it is near Sam ut as per our calculation it was some 15 kms from Sam. By the time we reached Jaisalmer it was well past 7.30 or so in the evening. Sonar Kella came to our right. It looked gorgeous with the lights on but we didn't stop the vehicle for even a customary mobile shot. We kept proceeding towards Sudasari. It was just as well that we should come here later with our respective families. None of us had ever been to Jaisalmer. Suranjan wanted to buy some yellow stone cups and plates as mementos. The driver said he would organise when we drive back on 19th.
We informed the forest official in Jaisalmer (I am withholding the name to give him privacy) that we were on our way to Sudasari and he said, "wait a minute. Let me find out if they have made arrangements for your dinner". That is when the remoteness of the place hit me. Finally we learnt that our dinner was waiting at Sudasari and we could safely go there.
I was really disappointed by Sam. It looked like a very commercial small touristy town with luxury tents on the side of the road with small LED bulbs lighting them up. Looked very crass. The dunes were apparently on the left hand side of the road.
From Sam we turned left (the straight road goes to the border in Tanot) and kept following the narrow and ill maintained state highway. Till Sam the road is excellent with not a single serious pot hole anywhere. But the road from Sam to Sudasari and beyond is pretty bad. A forest official later explained to me that they do not want it to be repaired for a very good and smooth road because that would mean fast traffic and a lot of road kills. We didn't see any traffic on this stretch. In fact on the entire stretch from Jodhpur there is hardly any traffic.
This Sam to Sudasari road is really pitch dark everywhere. You cannot see a single electric light source anywhere till the horizon. The moon had yet to come out and the darkness was total. It is very difficult to find such a place anywhere in India. We saw a lot of jumping small mice in front of our car. Later we learnt that those are kangaroo mouse, with the front legs being small. After about 15 kms we saw a mile stone saying Sudasari 0. There was absolutely nothing anywhere in the vicinity of this. It was a little uncanny feeling. Where are we, after all?
We soon realised there was a complex of sorts to our left with a barbed wire fencing and an opening in it which would serve the purpose of a gate. There were small single storied houses inside. More like single rooms in the middle of the desert and nothing else. Our driver wanted to enter it but we said wait here. We couldn't see anyone and didn't think it would be prudent to leave the road.
Up ahead on the road we could see a check post. And nothing beyond. Soon we could see someone coming towards us from the right hand side with a flashlight. It was Kailash, (a forest guard who was later to become our personal batman of sorts), whom the driver happened to know. He asked us to drive ahead a little more and enter the gate on the right hand side.
Finally our journey of the day came to an end. In the darkness of the night we could not understand the surroundings but later we realised it was literally in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing in any direction. We were given two cottages built in the desert style. In one the two docs went and that became our main living room while I went to the other one. The room is large with a double bed and a table and a chair. The bathroom was clean with a proper commode and basin etc.
There were two LED strips hanging from the walls - one in the bathroom and the other in the bed room. There were two tiny windows. In the available light you cannot read a book but you can certainly carry on an adda, which we did. As side dish we were offered slices of tomatoes, onions, cucumber, raddish etc. It was quite a lavish salad spread. If we had any idea about the remoteness of the place we would have carried some vegetables and other provisions for the cooks there.
In And Around Sudasari
The next two days were spent in exploring the area around Sudasari in a white Gypsy with two extremely knowledgable people - Sarvjeet Singh, the forester and Kailash Ram the guard. Between them they know the desert like the back of their palm. And of course they also know animal behaviour and what to expect. Sarvjeet-ji also had fantastic knowledge and grasp over light and angle for photography. It was he who always drove the Gypsy and took us through dunes. It was my first time driving through the dunes. He made it look like cake walk.
It is impossible to describe where all we went. I kept recording arbitrary GPS waypoints during these forays. I have the maps created out of such collected data. If anyone needs them I shall be glad to share, though I don't see any practical utility for them.
In these two days, apart from the flora and fauna we also saw first hand how the Rajasthan Forest department is doing everything in its powers to save the Indian bustard.
One of the prime threats to the big bird is human encroachment of its habitat. Villagers, even in this seemingly nowhere land, are constantly trying to cultivate the forest lands and claim them as their own. The forest department is therefore fencing the important bustard habitat with barbed wire fencing. These are called closures. Each closure has two huts and a few forest guards who are constantly monitoring their domain for the movement of GIBs. Living in the cities we have no idea how remote these closures are and how terribly basic the facilities are. But they are doing the job to the best of their abilities.
During our forays we also came across another green Gypsy with two guys sporting a beard, pony tail and jeans (I hope you get the picture). They are from the Wildlife Institute of India who are studying GIBs. They bring out important report from time to time and these guys are perhaps collecting the all important field data. I don't care if they have pony tails or dread locks their dedication and sacrifice is tremendous. I was told they live in Sam.
Our exploration of the Gajaimata Dune, which is quite close to Sudasari forest camp, was the most productive in terms of the number of GIBs we saw. Seven in two days to be precise. Two on day one near a "guzzler" (the Rajasthan Forest name for an artificial watering hole) and five more on the next day. There are hides near the guzzlers but the one we chose to sit in on the second day turned out to be in a shabby condition and not suitable for photography. Also the light was coming from a wrong direction. Next time we go and there will certainly be a next time we will go better prepared.
I will not post any more details of what bird we saw where but will post a series of photographs. Because it's all desert with no landmark and it is pointless trying to say what we saw where and when. On the first day we went to a large white dune near the Dav village. To reach this village we drove endlessly through the desert. There are millions of tracks in the desert and only these local drivers can navigate through them. We saw many "dhanis" in the middle of nowhere with humans inside.
A dhani is a small hut made in the middle of the desert and away from the village. The villagers stay here temporarily for grazing cattle and farming - I seriously did not understand what the cattle could graze on in this place. We did see some sheep and cows near the dhanis. They buy water from tractor/trailers. Each trailer full of water costs Rs 1400. I was told it costs Rs 700 in Sudasari.
On the way to Dav village we came across another village called Chohani. These are very cute little villages straight out of the sets of Hindi films.
The Dav dune is one of the cleanest dunes we saw till then. No foot marks, no plastic, no sign of any human habitation anywhere in sight. We came across four young boys who were going home - they said some half an hour's walk from there - with loads of fire wood on their heads. They squatted on the sand to see us and kept on gaping at us. I wonder what sort of questions they had in their mind. I spoke to them very briefly. They looked very happy to be asked questions about their family and home. I was curious to know if they had sisters at home because the practice of female foeticide is prevalent in certain Jaisalmer villages. To my great relief they said yes they had sisters at home.
The Dav village came a few kilometers after the dune. We got a more vantage view of the village as the road - there is a black top road here - is a little higher than the village. We saw some girls going home, possibly carrying water from the village cistern. If the government encouraged it a little I am sure very high end home stay tourism could be promoted in such villages.
On the second day we went to another dune inside a closure called Kanoi closure. This is far better than the Dav dune in terms of colour and shape. This dune is near village Ganga and we were told that the villagers of Ganga were in a tussle with the forest department to gain access to it because the Sam dune was dying for tourists and they want to bring in tourists to this so far unspoilt place.
The drive from this dune to Sam was through a very tough dune stage where Sarvjeet drove expertly after engaging the 4-wheel drive. The docs were bored with the vegetarian food and bought cooked mutton at Sam. The Sam tents were all empty as the tourist season was over.
On 19th our car arrived early morning and we bid farewell to them all. We will surely be back.
A Note For Tourists
Many of my friends have asked me as to how to go to these places. I must be very shameless and tell you that if you are a general tourist with no connection in the forest department in Rajasthan your options are rather limited. You have to stay in a place like Sam or Khuri and have a taxi at your beck and call and depending on how much of the desert he knows (most Jaisalmer taxi guys wouldn't know much of the desert) you can go to the various places where he takes you. These will be on the road and not inside the closures.
For that you come to Sudasari and talk to the forester here. They will organise a camel cart for you with which you can enter the closures. But it is not practical for birdwatching. Only the forest department Gypsy is allowed inside the closures.
Planning Stage
I can't remember precisely when the three of us - Sumit, Suranjan and me - decided to go to the Desert National Park this year (February 2017). I guess it was one of those lazy evenings at CRC when the three of us met with Arijit. I made it clear that I would go only if the group size was limited to just the three of us or four (plus Arijit of course). I didn't think that the plan would actually come to fruition, because we make such plans every time we get together at CRC. But soon I realised that the two lung specialists were rather serious and we finally decided on a date. We would go to Jodhpur by plane from Calcutta and from there by road to the desert. The docs wanted to reach on Friday and come back on Monday.
I chose to go to Jodhpur a couple of days in advance so that I could tick off two of my bucket list items - a stay at the Jodhpur Circuit House and a trip to Khichan. I booked the ticket for Wednesday 15th February, 2017 and the docs would come on Friday 17th.
A few days before the trip Arijit wrote a mail to a few very important people asking them to ensure hospitality and other logistical support for us during our stay. We had no idea what sort of royal treatment was awaiting us. For reasons of confidentiality and privacy I will withhold these details. But suffice it to say that this was one of the finest trips we have ever done. And even ten per cent of this wouldn't be possible without the active support of the Rajasthan Forest department.
Jodhpur Circuit House
A few years ago when I came to Jodhpur on a self drive trip with Monisha and Mampu I saw that the Circuit House hadn't changed much from what we saw in the film about 40 years ago. That is when it struck me that I must spend at least one night here for nostalgia's sake. Arijit had told me that it wouldn't be any problem at all to organise this.
I took a shot of the historic front corridor of the House and posted it on my facebook wall. This corridor holds an important place in the film and saw a lot of action. The post was an instant hit with friends.
 |
| You could expect Mandar Bose to walk out of that door any moment wearing a flat cap and looking like a crook |
The room was large with a comfortable bed, a working TV and a big sofa set. The bathroom is unusually large again with a working geyser. The shower wasn't functional but in Feluda's den you can ignore such things.
After about half an hour's rest the vehicle which brought me here from the airport came back to pick me up and off we went to Guda Bishnoi for some basic birding. This is a Bishnoi village about 20 kms outside Jodhpur where there is a large pond with lots of migratory birds - ducks and waders. On an odd day one can find black bucks here too.
Bishnois are still very famous for their love for nature. I have seen photographs of Bishnoi women breast feeding orphaned black buck calf. They are also fighting the legal battle against Salman Khan for his alleged poaching of a black buck.
The Guda Bishnoi Lake did not yield anything new for me except a wire tailed swallow which was a lifer for me. Other than that there were ruffs, little grebes, common teals, ruddy shelducks and an odd spotted owlet (mentioned in the order I saw them).
I didn't spot any black buck or chincara. But having been to Tal Chhapar before I have seen all the black bucks that one needs to see in seven incarnations. I saw a small flock of Ruff, few Brahminy ducks among the more exotic birds. Other than them there were common coots and little grebes and the odd northern pintail or common shelduck.
Again the forest guard at Guda Bishnoi was very cordial. Offered me tea, biscuits and bananas. The guard seemed fairly knowledgeable about birds.
Back at the Circuit House I retired for the day with the television playing Mohun Bagan match which we sadly drew. Next morning we were to leave for Khichan by 5 am. So I hit the bed early after a terrible dinner of bhat, dal and sabzi at the canteen.
Khichan Village
 |
| Community feeding at Khichan |
The vehicle came to pick me up at around 5.15 when it was pitch dark outside. We set off for Khichan so early because to see the action one needs to be there by 8 am.
Those who may not know, Khichan is a village near Palodhi in Jodhpur district about two and a half hours' drive from Jodhpur city, where demoiselle cranes land in thousands every year for about 5/6 months. The locals feed them grain and the number of birds coming from central Asia is increasing every year because of this.
To the seasoned birder, always eager to tick off his species list, this is not a big deal. In Khichan you only get to see demoiselle cranes and nothing else. So most wouldn't waste time on it. I had always wanted to see the spectacle of thousands of large migratory birds and also talk to the people who make this possible.
I had a small misconception about Khichan which got cleared in this trip. I always thought Khichan was a Bishnoi village. But I discovered it was not. The man who does the feeding of the bird is from the Mali caste. And the money - all of Rs 35 lakh every year - comes mostly from the Jain community.
The road to Khichan from Jodhpur goes through Osian - a place where we had come last time with my family. I just couldn't recognise the road in the dark. We had tea somewhere on the way with a few biscuits but I wasn't allowed to pay. We kept on proceeding. The driver showed me the Osian temple on the left hand side. It seemed in the dark to be an elaborate affair. On the way I saw the road kill of a desert cat. Faint hearted, that I am, I didn't stop the vehicle for further investigation.
We took a right turn from the main road at a place before the Palodhi town to enter Khichan. The sun had risen already but there was a light cloud cover. It was slightly chilly. I had a light fleece on only and that was adequate.
We call Khichan a village but by Bengal standards it's a small town of sorts with most of the houses being made of concrete. I didn't see a single thatched roof hut - the common sight in Bengal villages.
Finally we stopped in front of a small football ground type field with boundary walls on two sides and barbed wire fencing on the other two sides. Inside were hundreds of demoiselle cranes feeding off the ground and calling constantly. There were a few hundred pigeons also. If anyone wants to record the call of these cranes Khichan is the most ideal place. I already had recording of the species from Tal Chappar so I didn't bother.
We stopped infront of a house that was next to this feeding ground. I was introduced to the owner of the house - Sewaram Mali (he didn't tell me his surname but I learnt about his caste later). He invited me to the first floor roof top to see and photograph the feeding from a vantage point. There were a few foreigners who were clicking away happily.
Sewaram told me this year some 22,000 birds have come. He also showed me a handwritten note book where he has been maintaining a daily trend report every single day for the last seven years. He scrupulously notes down the arrival time of the first bird and the last bird in the morning and the departure time of the first and last bird every morning. This he has been taught by some foreign crane enthusiast.
Meanwhile, I also met a naturalist/guide who hails from Bikaner. He had come with a few foreigners and I was introduced to him by Sewaram. He said he had a PhD in herpetology and takes birders and other nature lovers for birding and snake tours to Tal Chhapar, Jod Beed, Khichan and Desert National Park. He also has a small home stay kind of place in Bikaner.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the luxury resort of Kurja (the local name for demoiselle crane) in such a remote kind of place. There was a huge manicured lush green lawn (as opposed to the ochre fields of the area) in the middle of the resort with small cottages on either side. There were a few luxury tents too - the kind we slept in Osian earlier. The guests seemed to be some elite Indian Army or Airforce battalion wearing overall kind of uniform.
 |
| Last rites After this we went to the local village pond where I got a good portrait of a ruff and a male common teal. I also saw hundreds of cranes flying overhead and going towards an open field nearby. I had thought that they might come to drink water but was told that that is not what happens. |
 |
| Ruff |
At around 11 am we called it a day and came back to Jodhpur. On the way we stopped at the Osian temple. As I said, it is quite an elaborate affair and a large temple complex built in the 9th centurry on top of a small hill. Later I learnt that Osian had many other temples including some ancient Jain temples. Probably I need to come here once again.I treated my team to lunch in a road side dhaba where to my utter amusement I found the waiter was a Bengali guy !!! The food was really bad though.
Jodhpur to Sudasari
My bill at the Circuit House came to some Rs 3500 for the two days. The taxi arrived at 12.30 or so and I left with him for the airport to receive the other two members of the party. The guy is a youngster called Madhan Kachhwaha. He came all the way from Jaisalmer to fetch us. The docs were supposed to arrive at the Jodhpur airport at around 1.15 but they finally emerged at 2.30. Jodhpur airport being really small their plane, though it had landed on time, didn't get the space to taxi !!!
I thought we would have lunch together on the highway. We stopped at a non-descript place on the highway near a town called Balesar. We had a hearty vegetarian lunch and tea etc here. The salad was served thoughtfully on a large papad !!!
 |
| Lunch break in the middle of nowhere |
The driver said it is near Sam ut as per our calculation it was some 15 kms from Sam. By the time we reached Jaisalmer it was well past 7.30 or so in the evening. Sonar Kella came to our right. It looked gorgeous with the lights on but we didn't stop the vehicle for even a customary mobile shot. We kept proceeding towards Sudasari. It was just as well that we should come here later with our respective families. None of us had ever been to Jaisalmer. Suranjan wanted to buy some yellow stone cups and plates as mementos. The driver said he would organise when we drive back on 19th.
We informed the forest official in Jaisalmer (I am withholding the name to give him privacy) that we were on our way to Sudasari and he said, "wait a minute. Let me find out if they have made arrangements for your dinner". That is when the remoteness of the place hit me. Finally we learnt that our dinner was waiting at Sudasari and we could safely go there.
I was really disappointed by Sam. It looked like a very commercial small touristy town with luxury tents on the side of the road with small LED bulbs lighting them up. Looked very crass. The dunes were apparently on the left hand side of the road.
From Sam we turned left (the straight road goes to the border in Tanot) and kept following the narrow and ill maintained state highway. Till Sam the road is excellent with not a single serious pot hole anywhere. But the road from Sam to Sudasari and beyond is pretty bad. A forest official later explained to me that they do not want it to be repaired for a very good and smooth road because that would mean fast traffic and a lot of road kills. We didn't see any traffic on this stretch. In fact on the entire stretch from Jodhpur there is hardly any traffic.
This Sam to Sudasari road is really pitch dark everywhere. You cannot see a single electric light source anywhere till the horizon. The moon had yet to come out and the darkness was total. It is very difficult to find such a place anywhere in India. We saw a lot of jumping small mice in front of our car. Later we learnt that those are kangaroo mouse, with the front legs being small. After about 15 kms we saw a mile stone saying Sudasari 0. There was absolutely nothing anywhere in the vicinity of this. It was a little uncanny feeling. Where are we, after all?
We soon realised there was a complex of sorts to our left with a barbed wire fencing and an opening in it which would serve the purpose of a gate. There were small single storied houses inside. More like single rooms in the middle of the desert and nothing else. Our driver wanted to enter it but we said wait here. We couldn't see anyone and didn't think it would be prudent to leave the road.
Up ahead on the road we could see a check post. And nothing beyond. Soon we could see someone coming towards us from the right hand side with a flashlight. It was Kailash, (a forest guard who was later to become our personal batman of sorts), whom the driver happened to know. He asked us to drive ahead a little more and enter the gate on the right hand side.
 |
| I spent two nights in the first one |
There were two LED strips hanging from the walls - one in the bathroom and the other in the bed room. There were two tiny windows. In the available light you cannot read a book but you can certainly carry on an adda, which we did. As side dish we were offered slices of tomatoes, onions, cucumber, raddish etc. It was quite a lavish salad spread. If we had any idea about the remoteness of the place we would have carried some vegetables and other provisions for the cooks there.
 |
| Dawn breaks from my door step |
In And Around Sudasari
The next two days were spent in exploring the area around Sudasari in a white Gypsy with two extremely knowledgable people - Sarvjeet Singh, the forester and Kailash Ram the guard. Between them they know the desert like the back of their palm. And of course they also know animal behaviour and what to expect. Sarvjeet-ji also had fantastic knowledge and grasp over light and angle for photography. It was he who always drove the Gypsy and took us through dunes. It was my first time driving through the dunes. He made it look like cake walk.
It is impossible to describe where all we went. I kept recording arbitrary GPS waypoints during these forays. I have the maps created out of such collected data. If anyone needs them I shall be glad to share, though I don't see any practical utility for them.
In these two days, apart from the flora and fauna we also saw first hand how the Rajasthan Forest department is doing everything in its powers to save the Indian bustard.
One of the prime threats to the big bird is human encroachment of its habitat. Villagers, even in this seemingly nowhere land, are constantly trying to cultivate the forest lands and claim them as their own. The forest department is therefore fencing the important bustard habitat with barbed wire fencing. These are called closures. Each closure has two huts and a few forest guards who are constantly monitoring their domain for the movement of GIBs. Living in the cities we have no idea how remote these closures are and how terribly basic the facilities are. But they are doing the job to the best of their abilities.
During our forays we also came across another green Gypsy with two guys sporting a beard, pony tail and jeans (I hope you get the picture). They are from the Wildlife Institute of India who are studying GIBs. They bring out important report from time to time and these guys are perhaps collecting the all important field data. I don't care if they have pony tails or dread locks their dedication and sacrifice is tremendous. I was told they live in Sam.
Our exploration of the Gajaimata Dune, which is quite close to Sudasari forest camp, was the most productive in terms of the number of GIBs we saw. Seven in two days to be precise. Two on day one near a "guzzler" (the Rajasthan Forest name for an artificial watering hole) and five more on the next day. There are hides near the guzzlers but the one we chose to sit in on the second day turned out to be in a shabby condition and not suitable for photography. Also the light was coming from a wrong direction. Next time we go and there will certainly be a next time we will go better prepared.
I will not post any more details of what bird we saw where but will post a series of photographs. Because it's all desert with no landmark and it is pointless trying to say what we saw where and when. On the first day we went to a large white dune near the Dav village. To reach this village we drove endlessly through the desert. There are millions of tracks in the desert and only these local drivers can navigate through them. We saw many "dhanis" in the middle of nowhere with humans inside.
A dhani is a small hut made in the middle of the desert and away from the village. The villagers stay here temporarily for grazing cattle and farming - I seriously did not understand what the cattle could graze on in this place. We did see some sheep and cows near the dhanis. They buy water from tractor/trailers. Each trailer full of water costs Rs 1400. I was told it costs Rs 700 in Sudasari.
On the way to Dav village we came across another village called Chohani. These are very cute little villages straight out of the sets of Hindi films.
 |
| A beautiful little house in Chohani Village |
 |
| Chohani village elders playing cards |
The Dav dune is one of the cleanest dunes we saw till then. No foot marks, no plastic, no sign of any human habitation anywhere in sight. We came across four young boys who were going home - they said some half an hour's walk from there - with loads of fire wood on their heads. They squatted on the sand to see us and kept on gaping at us. I wonder what sort of questions they had in their mind. I spoke to them very briefly. They looked very happy to be asked questions about their family and home. I was curious to know if they had sisters at home because the practice of female foeticide is prevalent in certain Jaisalmer villages. To my great relief they said yes they had sisters at home.
 |
| The Dav brothers stopped to gape at us |
The Dav village came a few kilometers after the dune. We got a more vantage view of the village as the road - there is a black top road here - is a little higher than the village. We saw some girls going home, possibly carrying water from the village cistern. If the government encouraged it a little I am sure very high end home stay tourism could be promoted in such villages.
 |
| Dav village before dusk was to set in |
 |
| Dune inside Kanoi closure but closer to Ganga village |
The drive from this dune to Sam was through a very tough dune stage where Sarvjeet drove expertly after engaging the 4-wheel drive. The docs were bored with the vegetarian food and bought cooked mutton at Sam. The Sam tents were all empty as the tourist season was over.
On 19th our car arrived early morning and we bid farewell to them all. We will surely be back.
A Note For Tourists
Many of my friends have asked me as to how to go to these places. I must be very shameless and tell you that if you are a general tourist with no connection in the forest department in Rajasthan your options are rather limited. You have to stay in a place like Sam or Khuri and have a taxi at your beck and call and depending on how much of the desert he knows (most Jaisalmer taxi guys wouldn't know much of the desert) you can go to the various places where he takes you. These will be on the road and not inside the closures.
For that you come to Sudasari and talk to the forester here. They will organise a camel cart for you with which you can enter the closures. But it is not practical for birdwatching. Only the forest department Gypsy is allowed inside the closures.
