Omar The Camel Boy
Jaisalmer Desert, Rajasthan, India, Asia
Camera: Rolleiflex
The story: "While traveling I seek to experience the romanticized lifestyles of our world. I want to experience what it is like to travel in a canoe, down a crocodile and hippopotami infested river, to ride through the jungle on an elephant, or to ride a camel with a nomadic caravan in the desert.
My friend Omar helped me fulfill the latter. I embarked from Jaisalmer in India for a five day camel safari in the Rajasthani sand dunes along the Pakistan border. Hours on the humped beast invited reality to my romanticized Hollywood view of caravan life. The sun, the sand, the sand in the food made it all too real. Omar was only a boy and yet he owned three camels, and therefore he was considered a wealthy man, a man to be respected. By the last day I was glad to see the walled citadel on the horizon, with promises of showers, cold drinks and a clean, sand-free bed. Before saying goodbye, Omar and his prized camel posed for my camera. It is amazing how the old saying "People resemble their pets" applied here too."
