Also known as the Great Indian Desert is the 18th largest subtropical desert in the world. It is 200,000 square kilometres in area and how else to travel this ocean of sand but on the "ships of the desert". My first camel trip!
The plan was to travel by camel to our campsite and sleep under the stars. I suppose there's a clue in the category of desert "subtropical". We had just finished dinner when the thunder and lightening started, followed by heavy rain! The camels were abandoned and Monty called for the jeeps-back to the hotel in Jaisalmer!
Can you guess why we couldn't stay in the desert if there was a lot of rain?........snakes!

 In the summer of 2013 I spent a month in India beginning with a three week Intrepid North India Unplugged tour and ending with almost a week in Kolkata. I was very lucky to have Monty Bhatt (2015 World Guide Award Winner) as our tour guide on this "basic" trip. Basic in Intrepid travel terms means local trains, buses, tuk-tuks, rickshaws and basic accommodation- home-stays and guesthouses. We got a true sense of India and got to partake in lots of Indian everyday life. The tour has changed slightly and can be found here. Monty has since set up his own company Undiscovered India Travel.
​You will see from my account and photos, that Monty or Intrepid Travel are a great way to visit India.