Camels, camels, and more camels

Sunday, the Excellent Adventure team turned to camels. At least, we found camels. Ahmedabad is located in an arid area of India, and we were on our way with camels on the brain from the archeological site called a “stepwell” or vav located in Adalaji 18 kilometers from Ahmedabad to the aptly named Jesuit mission Shrine of Our Lady of the Camels in Kadi.

     After posing with a camel yesterday, Ashley had declared she was “almost happy” but wanted to see a camel cart to make her closer to “happy.” Sure enough, we spotted one on the road outside the stepwell. It had passed the entrance to the site when we saw it, and was headed out of town. Ashley and I walked quickly after it, but it soon became obvious that the blasted long-legged beast was moving quicker than we were, so we set off running – I can’t imagine what the locals must think about crazy Americans. After about a quarter-mile, we got ahead of the camel cart and both of us took pictures.

     After we rejoined the group, Father Vinayak told us that we would see lots of camel carts because the area we were entering used them for field work, milk, and pulling carts. Sure enough, we saw lots of camel carts as we sped by on our way to the chapel.

      Then, suddenly, the road was blocked by a herd of camels (see above). I’ve never seen so many; we later found out that the herd comprised 36 animals.  Like a flock of kids, the driver pulled over, out jumped all seven of us, cameras in hand, racing after the camels, which were being herded into a fenced-in area where they immediately began munching on trees.

       The camel-drivers (two are pictured with Father Vinayak and his ever-present cell phone) allowed us inside the huge pen (about three football fields in area) where we got right up to the camels. Vinayak proved quite adept at mimicking the drivers’ camel calls, while the rest of us just enjoyed the incredible experience of standing within a few feet of that many camels, which are a lot bigger in person than they look in pictures.

       One of the sights that I’ll fondly remember is standing watching the animals when one moved away from the trees and began moving gracefully toward another area passing within three feet behind Ashley and Kellie who were both looking at digital photos on their cameras totally unaware of the 7-foot-high, more than a thousand-pound beast walking past.

         Another can be seen in that picture above of Ashley chasing after the camel herd. If you'll notice the road is dotted with small round objects left by the camels, and she was hopping madly around them.