Even though this was not the rainy season, our day in Udaipur got washed out. Torrential rain fell all day, making it impossible to go for a boat ride on the lake. That, however, was fine with us. We quite enjoyed one day of curling up with a good book in our hotel room. We napped, slept and enjoyed a day off before hitting the main reason for our trip to India!
A few years ago we had both watched a YouTube video of a spectacular event: the annual Camel Fair in Rajasthan. It looked so brilliant that we did some more research to learn about it. Begun as a local trading place for livestock, the Pushkar Camel Fair is over a hundred years old and the largest camel fair in the world, with thousands of camels, but also Indian horses, buffaloes and cows on display, to sell or trade.
Of course, the dates of the Fair are set. And even though we didn’t particularly want to travel in November, we checked with India Travel back in January to see if they had hotels with availability during the Fair since all accommodations fill up for that time period. They sent us a list of fabulous looking hotels and so we booked!
En route to Pushkar we visited the Ranakpur Jain Temple, in wooded hills along a narrow winding road. Monkeys swung from branches as a little rain continued to fall. The temple site was still busy with Diwali vacationers. We joined the - mostly local - crowds by taking off our shoes - and strolling through the 15th century complex. Built of light marble from the local hills, it has many different halls and over 1,400 columns, all intricately carved.
It was evening by the time we reached our oasis for the next few nights: Ananta Resort was on the outskirts of bustling Pushkar. With the Fair in full swing, we could already see hordes of colourful women in red and orange saris selling vegetables and fruits; camels sporting red balls on their noses and draped with colourful reigns strolling along the roads and families walking everywhere. But our hotel was a green oasis, quiet and inviting with a beautiful swimming pool and lovely restaurant.
We spent the next couple of days soaking it all up: camels as far as the eye could see in the desert hills of Pushkar. All dressed up and ready for their big event, just like the people. It truly was a feast for the eyes. Colourful tents, camel carts, tarps for whole families to sleep and cook under, children chasing each other…
There was a large display of sand sculptures all dealing with the camel fair.
We simply strolled through the sand and admired camels all day. People smiled and waved at us and asked to have our picture taken with them - which was fine with me since I wanted théir pictures, too! There were more westerns here, but it obviously was a real, local event.
That night, at sunset, I attended a special Hindu ceremony: Kartik Poornima (Full Moon of Kartik) which is the spiritual climax of the Pushkar Fair. It was an amazing experience to be stuck among hundreds of (mostly) women in red saris, singing, chanting and waving oil lamps, all reflected in the holy water of Lake Pushkar. Legend has it that Lord Brahma created the lake when a lotus petal fell to earth, making it exceptionally holy.
Thousands of oil lamps lined the steps to the lake, while everyone held more candles and oil lamps and the crows formed on solid mass of people giving thanks. This day alone made our entire trip to India worthwhile! And there was still so much more to come…
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