A quick look back at the fort that rises out of the desert.
We suspect its all around.
We didn't find any of the car parks at guest houses inviting.
There are apparently some in the area.
Its seen the truck!
Endangered.
Just on the edge of a patch of sand dunes (about 3km x 1km).
Shortly after arrival a tractor passed.
Shortly after that a friendly visit from a well spoken villager. Just checking us out. Very friendly and helpful. Liked our vehicle.
We declined the offer of a camel ride - there are camels on the skyline.
Not endangered.
Spelled Khoodie on our maps.
Which means the leading edges of some dunes have patterns.
No sign of insect tracks.
Its probably a plain ordinary green bee eater.
Nice to see the tail.
Its either young, or a bit cold like us.
The wind is a bit biting.
They obviously know we are here.
About as close as we could get.
We also briefly saw a desert fox, and nilgai (bluebull, a large antelope).
They seem to live in the edge of the dunes.
Day two our hunting skills have been honed to a level of perfection that is still somewhat lacking in finesse.
I don't think we'll tire of watching them.
Graceful comes to mind.
Too fine for our eyes whatever it is.
We've also spotted them chewing on low tree branches.
Relatively small animals. They can obtain all the water they need from vegetation. They can survive lengthy times without water.
Peak day time temperature is struggling to reach 20 deg C.
In summer it can be between 45 and 50 deg C.
Probably the squirrels are smaller so maintaining their temperature is easier.
Not sure what its finding to eat among the camel dung.
Just finished reading a new scientist article that describes changes in animal size as temperature changes, with some reference to climate change.
We were watching the gazelles from the truck but they were disturbed by camels being led by.
We think the tourists and camel leader were too interested in us to notice the gazelles.
Not sure where this guy was racing off to but impressive to watch. Maybe practising for camel races in February's desert festival.
I'd walked across the flat bit trying to get closer to a Nilgai, which turned out to be a cow!
Maybe we'll need the heater again tomorrow morning (6 deg C).
Now we've had time to stop and think ....
We thought India was going to be a bit of a challenge, despite all our travel experience, to the extent we wondered if we were coming here because we thought we ought to.
Rather we've found the travel much easier than anticipated and the mixture of cultures, religion, history and wild life thought provoking.
There's a fox near the right edge of the photo.
Taken through the window. It watched us as we watched it. More shy than the gazelles, and solitary.
Now all we need is for a nilgai to wander past!
The vacuum pump on the loo had been stalling a bit recently before reaching cut off vacuum.
They are interested in the carbon filter for the exit of the vacuum pump.
Figured that the lower volts from the new batteries and the circuit board edge connectors becoming tired meant there wasn't enough oomph.
Connected pump directly to switched power supply. Indicator lights work as normal. Turn pump off manually when light goes green!
I was spotted fixing the loo.
Some time later motorcyclist turned up. "Could I fix the ignition switch, the desert made it stop working".
These camel riders were in a party of eight or nine from the next village. Stopped for brief chat and offer of chipatis at their village.
Earlier we were filled in on the difference between Sam and Khuri for dunes.
Sam is Muslim. All about money. Khuri is Hindu. Respect for visitors.
And of course, by connection some of the entries in the UK Megalith website.
There wasn't much space left near the dunes at Sam, rows of tent hotels.
Everything accessible by camel or jeep.
For the adventurous there's always flying behind the jeep.