Desert Safari

This morning we met up with our hired locals for an overnight camel safari into the desert. I wasn't sure how authentic the experience would be since the surroundings in Zhongwei are really dry, but they used the land extensively for farming. We met up with the two local farmers/guides on the edge of one of this greenhouse farms where eight camels were waiting for our group.



There weren't any lessons necessary as we hopped right onto our camels and were off. Camels aren't the smoothest ride. I don't even care for riding on horses, but they are pretty manageable to work with. We worked in caravan style...one camel tied to another in a line. We rode out of the farm and were into sand dunes within an 30-45 minutes where we spent the rest of the next 24 hours...totally in isolation and the surroundings very much like you might envision in the Sahara with lots of sand with an occasion dry shrub.



We rode for about 4-5 hours with a one hour stop for lunch, mostly fruit. Camels are very tiring to ride. We had plenty of padding, but camel riding uses leg muscles you would never think about using. When I would get off of mine, I could barely even stand.

We pulled up to our campsite around 4p...in a bowl surrounded by high dunes in all directions to block out the wind. We played cards and had a great feast that night. Our feast consisted of pork and veggies and rice, all Chinese style, which is hard to describe how tasty it was. We also had grilled tofu and sweet potatos and spiced lamb and pork on the grill that night.



It got a little chilly during the night, but our campfire kept us warm until bedtime. Thankfully we didn't freeze. I think it got down to about 45 degrees.

Who would have thought of a camel safari in China?