For the last several days, we have driven a jeep through a restricted area in the Thar Desert. The military uses this area as a bombing range (sometimes we hear the rumble of artillery fire over a ridge only a kilometer away). Tourists are not allowed into this restricted zone. The Riaka tribespeople graze their herds in this area. They move sheep, cattle, and camel about in search of food for the animals. Our entrance into this area was made possible by our friend, Dr. Mehta, a senior research scientist at the Bikaner Camel Research Station. He has also arranged for a veterinarian, Dr. Poonia who does field work in the area, to accompany us. Doing something like this takes a lot of help. At times, our jeep holds up to seven people, including village elders, owners of camel herds, a local guide, an experienced desert driver, the two researchers, and ourselves.

To give you an idea of what it is like here, imagine this. The dry heat of the desert rises off the sand. Your shirt is wet with sweat. Our jeep bounces, rattles, and swerves across a sand track. As we head towards a popular watering hole, we slow to pass camels pulling carts with massive loads of fire wood, sometimes as much as 2000 pounds on a single cart. At times, we are stopped by herds of sheep, their butts dyed red and yellow or other colors. These colors enable the herders to distinguish their animals from other herds. Sometimes the sheep are replaced by herds of cattle that look like Brahma bulls. Beetles the size of fifty cent pieces smack into our radiator grill. The dung beetles are busy on this track. There are a lot of animal droppings which the beetles roll back towards an embankment studded with holes, a dung beetle hotel. Thorny Acacia trees are spaced far apart due to the dryness of the terrain, which in places is covered by sparse shrubs. The local tribesman stare as we pass. We are an unusual sight in this area.

It took us several days and lots of arrangements to find a herd with the type of camels we want to buy. We were looking for females, four to six years of age, not pregnant, in good health, and trained to ride. We are choosing females because males are entering rut in the next couple of months. Rut makes a male camel aggressive and potentially dangerous for several months out of every year. As we traveled, we were shown a number of camels, but we don't feel good about them. They don't look as healthy as we want or they seem to have behavioral problems. Eventually we located a herd of 50 animals. The herders started separating out the camels that meet our criteria. In the meantime, we were invited to recline on camel blankets in the shade of an Acacia tree surrounded by baby lambs. One herder collected twigs to start a fire. This is the part I had worried about for some time. We were about to be offered tea. A herder cleaned cups in the sand which also had the droppings of lambs mixed in. The water was boiled and a camel was freshly milked. A few tea leaves were dropped in, along with sugar and camel milk. The mix was brought to a boil. We were told that the villagers would be offended if we did not take tea with them. I tend to be very health conscious when traveling in far away places and was trying to figure out how to be as safe as possible. Local people have developed immunities to the water and other things that my American stomach might not appreciate. I accepted the cup of tea and brought the boiling liquid to the rim of the cup where I held it in place for as long as my hand could take it. I did this several times to sterilize the rim and then gingerly took a sip of the scalding liquid. It is actually quite good. Time will tell if my stomach agrees. By the time I finished my tea, they had collected the camels for us to look at.

The first three camels all met our criteria. The Riaka herder who rode them was as good as any American Bronco rider and skillfully maneuvered them around the desert with a rope halter, a blanket for a saddle, and a switch pulled from a bush. For some reason he did not ride the fourth camel. He slyly explained that they were all the same and there was no reason and now we should talk price. His first price and conditions were too high and unacceptable. Eventually I shook my head and explained through Dr. Mehta who was interpreting for us that we would have to find another seller. We walked away from the deal. Just before we left, a boy rode after us on a camel. The camel seller would change the conditions and the cost. Dan and I talked it over and said we would consider it, but something about the fourth camel bothered both of us. We wanted to see this camel up close and being ridden. The herder said it wasn't necessary but we insisted or no deal.

To catch the fourth camel, they rounded up 40 camels. Then four herders, holding a long rope between them, waded into the herd. One by one, camels were released from this makeshift corral to capture the one we wanted to see. None of this procedure had been necessary for the other camels we looked at. And it only got more interesting. The herders seemed to watch their distance from this camel more carefully. They forced the camel to the ground and hobbled both the front and back legs. The young boy doing the hobbling was very cautious. He slid the ropes into place, the camel voicing its displeasure with a kind of roaring sound. A halter and blanket saddle were affixed to the camel. The herder then asked if I would like to test this camel. Everything I had seen thus far said NO! The Riaka then got on. His method of riding was also completely different from the previous camels, riding at the very back of the animal rather than up by the neck. When the hobbles were pulled off the camel shot up and galloped across the desert with its owner clinging to its back completely out of control. After dashing through bushes, under trees, and over dunes in an impressive display of a camel being under control rather than the rider, the herder leaped off the animal's back. When the Riaka got back to us, he was sweating and breathing hard. The camel seemed to have enjoyed the whole affair. Then the camel seller looked us straight in the eye and without hesitation said, "She only needs a little work." Dan and I almost fell down we were laughing so hard.

Then a strange thing happened. As I watched the camel, there seemed to be such intelligence in the animal's eyes and such spirit that I immediately liked this camel. After some more haggling, we made arrangements for all four camels to be delivered to the camel research station at Bikaner. The camel seller will help us train the fourth camel. Dan and I discussed that we should each have a primary riding camel. Dan picked the first one we had seen. I picked the fourth.

Find out what happens with the fourth camel as we begin training in the next couple of days.