Jaisalmer-Sam-Khuri-sand-dunes-tour

Camps at Sam

                        After staying at Jaisalmer I planned to visit the famous and popular dunes of Sam and Khuri the next day of my Rajasthan desert safari trip. One can find desert sand dunes on two sides of Jaisalmer at Khuri and Sam, both about 40k. Both are in opposite directions and you can go to either of them. I planned to stay at luxury tents at Sam overnite and visit the Khuri dunes next morning just to compare the two.

Started from Jaisalmer after lunch in a Jeep, the road was fantastic as it is used by the Army to cover the Indo-Pakistan border areas. The first view of the dunes was totally mesmerising as it brought back memories of the desert as seen in Bollywood movies. The place was really abuzz with tourists, transferred to a Camel for a safari and seeing the sunset from a vantage point in the desert. The sunset was truly amazing as one could clearly see the ball of fire disappear all the way below the horizon. After the safari reached my abode for the night, the deluxe tents where I planned to stay the night. The tent was quiet spacious with two bed,chairs,table and still some space to move around. It also had electricity and an attached bathroom and English toilet with running water. Most important, the tents and the whole area was quiet clean inspite of a lot of sand around. After some light snacks and tea there were some great traditional Rajasthani songs and dances, the local artists were just amazing reminding me of Swaroop of Indian idol. The night was cold in the desert but the tents were quiet cosy. I really had a good night's sleep and planned to do another Camel Safari as it was much quieter now and very less people. The morning freshness of the dunes set the tone of the day. The tents had a small bathroom where hot water was also provided,didn't feel like we were in middle of a desert. After a hearty breakfast it was time to move on back to Jasialmer. 

                     After reaching Jaisalmer the next stop was the dunes of Khuri as I wanted to compare Khuri and Sam dunes as I had to leave post lunch from Jaisalmer. The dunes of Khuri are located next to the Desert National Park which is know for the endangered Great Indian Bustard, a magnificent bird found in relatively fair numbers here. The Desert National Park also has a collection of fossils of animals and plants of 180 million years old. Some fossils of Dinosaurs of 6 million years old have been found in the area. Khuri is a small village of Hindu settlers with fairly good dunes nearby. Khuri has developed later than Sam so it is less crowded here, also one of the camps I visited is away from the village and the dunes are almost to your own even in the evening, that was the best part about these camps near Khuri. The tents are simillar with attached toilets and bathroom. I concluded that though Sam dunes were bigger but you can have less crowded dunes at Khuri.

I hurried back to Jaisalmer to have lunch and then catch my train to Jodhpur for my next leg of the journey.
Next- Jodhpur
Dr. R.Anand

  Also see Bikaner trip, Jaisalmer Attractions , Udaipur Devigarh.