We drove fast and reached our campsite in time at Sam Village. We had plenty of daylight to do the activities offered in the camp package. After all, we got a traditional Rajasthani welcome at sam village. Ziva always loves this kind of stuff.
Welcome to Sam.
It was a Saturday night. So, all the camps and their tents were booked. We did an advanced booking for two tents. However, due to some reason, they provided us one big tent with extra beds. They charged us for only one tent. That was ok with us. After all, it was a question of only one night.
The camp was good. The tent was spacious with all the modern amenities. Hot water was only available during the morning. The one-night package included a camel safari, dinner, and folk dance. Jeep Safari was not included in the package. We asked the camp manager to arrange a jeep for us.
Welcome to Campsite.
Within 15 minutes, the manager told us that our jeep was ready. The jeep was going to take us to the dunes and, get the Camel Safari done at the dunes. I was excited about this jeep Safari. We asked the driver to give some tips. He told us to have fun, that's it. We got ready and boarded in the Thar.
Ready for the Jeep Safari.
We started with a bang. There was a big speaker in the Thar and, loud music was going on. We all were having fun. The jeep was cruising on the nice road. Ziva was dancing and enjoying the ride. And then, the Thar took a turn and started doing offroading in the Sand. Well, normally I love this kind of experience. Fast offroading on the loose send by a 4*4 vehicle with an experienced driver, that's like a dream came true.
That happened to be a nightmare for me. The driver was fast and tackling those big dunes with the highest possible speed. I was worried about Ziva. In fact, all of us were worried about her. At each and every slope, Thar used to bounced like a ball. We had to hold Ziva tightly. I wanted to tell the driver to keep it slow but, due to loud music, we were not able to communicate with him. After a while, I leaned forward and told the driver to stop the vehicle. I instructed him that we have a 5 years old kid on board and he needs to keep it slow.
He tried to drive slow. However, his slow was fast for us. Overall, it was a bad experience for me. My entire attention was on taking care of Ziva and holding her properly. The silver lining was Ziva loved the experience.
We were not able to take any pics neither we shot any VDO.
We reached the dunes. It was overcrowded with lots 4*4 and camels. Our jeep driver arranged our came Safari and told us that he would pick us up after sunset.
Sam Dunes.
Ziva, my five years old daughter trying to make herself strong. However, we were able to identify fear on her face. We gave her some time to get relaxed. We told her the same kind of desert Safari happens in Dubai but by a more comfortable vehicle. I have never been to Dubai. I can relate this experience with one of my offroading excursion on a dry river bed with this kind of loose sand
. (Offroading excursion with the Offroad Club of Gujarat (OCG))We were pretty slow but, this driver was fast. I wanted to do it again. I made a mental note to do a Night jeep safari (without Ziva).
Sacred Ziva.
Ok, these kinds of things happen to kids and, after some time they forget it. Kids love sand and we had plenty of sand just in front of us. We let her play in the sand for a while.
Ziva and Sand
Ziva loved playing in the sand. She forgot the offroading shock. Time was running out. We got ready for our camel safari. Camel Safari was part of the package. so, we didn't fix a rate for it.
Camel Safari.
Ziva loved camel Safari. At the end of the Safari, the camel guy asked for the payment. We said it was part of the package. However, he was not ready to listen to anything. We tried to search for the jeep driver. He wasn't there. In the end, we had to pay for him. We wrote down the name and number of the camel guy. Later, we took it up to our camp manager. The camp manager was co-operative and, he paid us back. This is a scam going on with the camel guys at Sam duned. Don't ever ride on a camel without fixing the rate or confirm that it's part of the package.
Anyway, we didn't want to spoil our mood for that incident. We forgot it and once again started playing with sand. Many 4*4 were doing rounds on the dunes. It was fun to watch them. We were waiting for the sunset. We witnessed an amazing sunset on Sam dunes.
Sunset
After sunset, The jeep driver was waiting for us. This time, I clearly told him to take it slow. He assured me that way back to the campsite won't pass from dunes. I took his number. I wanted to try a night Safari in the desert.
We reached the Campsite. We got freshen up. The central area of the campsite was ready for a folk dance performance. We love Rajsthani folk songs and dance. They are always energetic and passionate. Ziva got the company of other kids. The artists were good. They were always ready to sing all the songs requested by the tourists. The wife also sang a song with their music setup. Overall we had an amazing time followed by a good Rajsthani traditional dinner.
At Campsite.
After the dance and dinner, the ladies went to sleep. And we called up the Jeep Safari guy. Ok, now we asked him to make it as tough as possible. I also told him to let me drive a bit. The Thar guy was ready for it. We had an amazing time in the dunes under the lights of the headlight and moon. I tried my hand on the Thar. I was not able to drive as fast as the driver. However, as per the driver, I did well. This time we loved it.
We got back to the campsite and, tried to search the Milkyway. There was plenty of pollution due to all the 4 *4's crazy offroading. Milkyway was not visible at all. We called it a day.