Desert Safari in Jaisalmer Part 2 – Scams in Jaisalmer that You Should Know

So here’s the continuation of my post about my Desert Safari in Jaisalmer. I had to cut the post into segments because it’s quite long and would just probably bore you to death LOL! So, if you miss my first post, you can click on this link (Desert Safari in Jaisalmer Part 1 – A Little Hassle Upon Arrival).

Anyway, so I dug up the internet to inform myself about stuff that we should be aware about in Jaisalmer and I wanted to share it with you as well.

Here are some of the scams that apparently are happening in The Golden City of Jaisalmer:

1. The Camel Safari Scam: Most people visit Jaisalmer to do one thing, to experience riding the camel safari at the Thar Desert. However, not everyone ends up with a happy holiday after finding out that they’ve been cheated for the price. When we were shopping around for great deals on the camel safari and the price ranges from 800 to a few thousand per night. The price that you pay should include food, water, transport, sleeping mattresses and camels. You have an option though to go to the “touristic path (more expensive)” which go to some popular spots in Jaisalmer or the “non-touristic path) as defined by the operators wherein you go around various small villages in the Thar Desert.

Since we don’t have much money we got a deal at Hotel Neem Haveli and just paid 550 Rupees/person/day on a 5 day safari (quite a great deal I thought) after being offered ridiculous sums of money in other agencies. But of course, you get what you pay for, sleeping mattresses only and no tents and local vegetarian food only (dhal, chapati, rice and other veggies).

While we were on one of the dunes, we met some Chinese and Korean tourists who asked us for the price of our tour and were shocked since they paid almost triple of what we paid and got the same thing. We found out more ridiculous stories when we got back as well.

Tip: Shop around and make sure that you’re clear on what you’re getting for the amount the you pay. Be clear on details about the transport (to and from the city), food, sights, camel to person ratio, water, sleeping mattresses, tents and other stuff. Ask the tour operator to write those details down for you in a clean sheet of paper and write down the name of the person you’re talking to and write down his phone number as well.

2. Very Cheap Hotels

(sometimes even Free!!!): As soon as we boarded our bus to Jaisalmer (in our case from Jodhpur) we were already welcomed by people offering hotels and safaris in Jaisalmer. We told them that we already booked our hostel in Jaisalmer and the price went lower and lower until it became free. Since, we’re not really interested coz we really booked our hostels already, we just didn’t pay attention to what they have said. These guys are banking on the thought of selling you a more expensive desert safari tour thorough their hostels/hotels.

Heard some ridiculous stories too when we were there about some tourists getting kicked out of these hotels because they didn’t booked their safaris through the,. though I could not confirm this information since I got this from the owner of the hostel I stayed in. Just be cautious on offers that are too good to be true.

Tip: If you’re arriving quite at night, book ahead even for one night and then just look for another hostel the following morning. If you arrive at daytime, then from the bus station, just take a rickshaw to the fort and just walk around there and find some hostels.

If you already book a hostel and is being taken to another one by your tuktuk or taxi driver, stand on your ground and insist that you want to be taken to your hostel/hotel.

3. Pictures for Money: Don’t just take pictures of anyone you see on this trip without asking permission or without having an agreed price (in case you want to pay) as some of them eventually ask money and it’s always better to have a pre-agreed price to avoid shelling out ridiculous amount of money.

These are just some of the scams that I got to know in Jaisalmer, feel free to share more information in the comments section below:

Next: Desert Safari in Jaisalmer Part 3 – Into the Desert We Go