Pushkar Things to Do Tips by Waxbag

Enjoy the Fantastic People at the Camel Fair

When in India during the Pushkar Camel Fair people come from all over the state and country to Pushkar. So you don't have to run around all over India to see people, they come to see you. The colorful dresses and turbans are amazing!

Address: Pushkar, Rajasthan

The Camels and Traders at the Festival

Thousands and thousands of camels with their colorfully turbaned camel drivers covered the sand dunes. Make shift stalls were constructed with sandy lanes for those to live and shop. The desert was converted into a tented city complete with tents for sleeping, tents for eating and drinking and tents for buying anything from camel jewelry to axes. Enormous mounds of hay dotted the dunes where the owner dispensed camel feed after weighing it on a large balance scale suspended from a thorn tree. We saw more herds of camels just arriving, perhaps from a distant desert village. Bards and dancers attracted crowds with their music and spinning females. They were eager to solicit rupees from camera toting tourists. We were encouraged by many to take a camel ride. We declined saying ten days was enough. Some insisted ten days wasn’t enough and that we haven’t really ridden a camel until we’ve ridden their camel. Many other tourists, however,) were tempted to ride the camels (actually more were inclined to be pulled while sitting in canopied carts). The tourist camels were covered in embroidery and mirrors with tassels hanging. In the quiet corners of the desert, owners and buyers were engaged in intense haggling over the price of a beast. Camel tracks were cleared so that the buyer could see the camel run in full stride. An ignorant tourist passing by could easily get trampled by these massive animals. We continued to walk up through the dunes where thousands of camels were being groomed. Some had flowers in their noses. Many were being sheered with a mechanical hand razor with flower or pattern designs. A constant stream of women carried green camel feed on their heads to reach the distant camps. Another stream of women carried baskets of camel dung on their heads to be dried and sold for cooking fuel. Tents were raised and cooking fires made ready for the evenings first chai followed by chapatti and subji.

Address: Sand Dunes of Pushkar