Video Credit: DW News Preserving Rajasthan’s camel herds
The raikajourney.com: a truly immersive 4 Night/5 Day travel experience with the nomadic Raika and their camel herds in Sadri, Rajasthan, India.
You will learn about their ancient ways of living in harmony with their animals and nature, and their valuable contribution to conserving biodiversity.
Forage for medicinal plants with a Raika healer, and understand why camel milk has such healing properties. Play, sing and dance with with women of this community and, the highlight, sleep under the stars with the Raika herdsmen.
The Raika are a semi-nomadic indigenous tribe that believes they are divined to care for their beloved camels. While the Raika are highly resilient, they are facing an extreme threat from the pressures of modernization - lack of access to land, spiraling costs along with less demand for their animals and their services.
Due to the drastic decline in the camel population in India, the state of Rajasthan has finally declared the camel as the state animal in an effort to protect the camel which represents so much to Rajasthan and Indian culture but many of the efforts are actually hastening the decline.
The Raika Journey is conceived as an experience that is not only a sensual delight but also teaches us about a way of life that does away with the normal contraptions of our consumerist life.
You will learn about pastoralism in general and about raising animals in an ethical and eco-friendly way that is crucial for both biodiversity conservation and food security.
“The Raika journey was a wonderful life-changing experience. Spending time with the camel herders, their families and sleeping one night under the stars with 70 camels was magic”
Lisa Steny, Raika Journey Participant 2018
The journey will take place on 12-16 Nov 2019 and consists of a full 5-day programme with practical workshops, talks and unique experiences with 4 nights accommodation (based on double occupancy) and all meals included.
Translators will be available throughout the journey. The cost is only $875 USD ex airfares, transfers, visas and insurance.
Highlights from the programme include:
- Going on a forest walk and foraging with animal healer and ethnobotanist Dailibai Raika
- Sleep under the star-lit sky in the company of a Raika camel herd, being put asleep by their rhythmic ruminations.
- Listen to the magic mix of song, dance and recital by a Bhopa narrating the story of how the camel came to Rajasthan some 600 years ago.
- Visiting a collective of Raika shepherds and their flock of thousands of sheep while on migration.
- Try your hand at making camel goodies, such as cheese, yogurt, poo paper, soap or Kumbhalgarh)
The journey is facilitated by LPPS, www.lpps.org a well-respected NGO that has been advocating for nomadic people and their animals for over 25 years, in particular the Raika and their camels.
All profits from the experience are donated to LPPS.
You can register your interest here
