KEY POINTS:
At the start of a 12-day walk through Australia's East Simpson Desert, we meet trekkers winding up an earlier journey.
We've driven for two days in a 4WD truck, past indigo mountain ranges and through desolate gibber plains. The spectacle that greets us, as we crest the last sandy dune, looks like a scene from an adventure movie. Seventeen camels are hobbled or tethered to gum trees, their coats ranging in colour from straw to caramel and rust. The giant animals, through their thickly lashed eyes, size up and quickly dismiss the interlopers.
Battered pack saddles stand in two lines ready to be loaded with boxes, swags and jerry cans of water. The young cameleers who have escorted the trekkers this far look like dusty, swaggering extras in an Indiana Jones flick. With eagle feathers in their Akubras, and wearing their stock whips and oilskins as casually as their smiles, they greet the new arrivals and replacement crew.
Everything required to keep 17 people alive for the next two weeks is laid out.
This is the way humans have traversed the arid lands of continents for millennia. The Outback Camel Company describes itself as the last breath of a tradition pivotal in exploring the unforgiving but beautiful heart of Australia.
Company founder and stockman Andrew Harper, aged 43, began hosting camel treks in the Australian outback in 1995. These days he has 27 camels and runs up to nine treks and longer expeditions during the winter months in South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland. Treks run for up to 12 days (there are two days on each side of the trek getting travellers to and from the starting point), while expeditions cover up to 450km in 28 days. No two trips are the same.
I first considered the trip after reading about Harper's journey across the Tanami desert. This story embodied the notion of travel uncomplicated by 21st century-technology and refreshingly devoid of the phoniness that characterises so many so-called adventure travel experiences.
Neither adventure travel nor eco retreat; not a riding camp nor a camping holiday, this brand of getaway defies travel templates. Throw in the camel factor, absence of showers and back-up vehicles and it's way off the radar for most people.
"We're not tour guides," says Harper. "We are stockmen going out into the desert with people. It's not a novelty act."
All travellers in our group, including three who undertook back-to-back treks, were Australian but the tours regularly attract Europeans, Americans and New Zealanders. For some people the absence of backup is a problem, especially at rare times when floods preclude a timely departure.
"I've had people say they simply must head back to the office as scheduled. I've had to tell them there is no way they can make it because the road is flooded and won't be passable for days," says Harper.
Charismatic and something of a maverick, Harper attracted international attention in 1999 when he walked with camels from coast to coast across the Tropic of Capricorn, demonstrating in web logs how camels can bring an unprecedented level of freedom, flexibility and even luxury to otherwise hostile terrain. His experiences debunked the myth of camels as unlovely beasts of burden.
The camels carry swags, food, water and other gear on saddles almost identical to those used by the Afghan cameleers who opened up the deserts to Europeans more than a century ago.
It is estimated that more than 500,000 of the animals roam the Australian interior, descendants of those released into the bush when modern transport made them obsolete.
With so many camels roaming the interior, encounters with them are common. On this trip, we saw three groups, including a rust-coloured herd that came to within a few hundred metres of us.
Lone bulls often mistakenly assume that castrated domestic males are part of a mobile harem. One magnificent lone male loudly displayed his amorous intentions for almost 24 hours until the crew brought out a gun and fired warning shots. Even then, he came back for one last mournful stare at the objects of his desire.
After spending 12 days with these massive animals — shepherding, saddling, loading, unloading and grooming them — the idea that camels might be dismissed as anything less than enchanting is perplexing. One or two of the animals on this trek noisily proclaimed their impatience with the loading procedure most days. But there was no spitting, hissing or vicious behaviour. They take to desert life with staggering ease, drawing sustenance from desert plants when they are not working and happy to go without a drink for up to 12 days.
One crew member recounted an incident in which a camel took a mattress off the back of a parked ute and proceeded to hoosh down on it for the night.
Trekking with camels allows a more sensuous and less superficial experience of the terrain than a 4WD camping holiday.
The Simpson, one of the great sand ridge deserts, lies in the middle of Australia. History books tell of explorers who met a grisly demise, inadequately prepared for the ravages of territory with sporadic rainfall. Aborigines knew enough about the land to live here.
On windless days, the only sound is the inward and outward flow of your own breath. At night, throbbing spangles of stars, blazing meteorites and moonlight are so bright you wake convinced you've been caught in headlights.
The most common question at the end of this trip is what it is like to go without a shower for more than two weeks. In fact, it isn't a problem. Baby wipes can make you feel a lot better after a long, hot day. On one bright, hot afternoon, after a particularly long walk, we were each given a rationed container of precious water to bathe in. The feel of cool water over my sweat-and-dust caked skin will go down as one of the sensual highlights of my life.
The absence of toilets takes some getting used to. Keeping an eye out while indiscreetly crouched behind a spindly bush, hoping I wouldn't be sprung — or worse, left behind — made for some nerve-racking moments. But I got used to it. The biggest challenge is emerging from a cosy swag in the freezing pre-dawn gloom to pull on stone-cold clothes. If only I'd wised-up earlier to the trick of sleeping in my clothes.
Rising at dawn for breakfast, our daily schedule involves fetching the camels, unhobbling them and leading them back to camp for saddling and loading, a 90-minute process. At the command of "up camels!", two strings of eight and nine camels stand and begin the six-hour walk (with a one-hour lunch stop and regular breaks) to the next destination, chosen on the basis of camel feed and firewood stocks.
The age of the 13 trekkers in our group ranges from 30-something to 74 and nobody seems to struggle with the pace. Despite three wholesome meals a day and many snacks, I drop 4kg and the pristine air clears my sinuses and skin.
Perhaps the greatest surprise is the quality and range of meals prepared by the staff each day. From cakes, breads and puddings to rich pulse soups, stir fries, quiches and pasta, it is extraordinarily good.
This trek exposes the extent of the East Simpson Desert's fragility. The ravages of the pastoral industry were merely a stunning first blow to a terrain that has since been irrevocably damaged by feral animals especially rabbits and, yes, even camels.
But the good bones of the desert's intrinsic beauty remain. In the peach blush of a rising sun at dawn, under a dome of stars at night or when storm clouds jostle and stoush above the plains, it is the kind of beauty that can make a person feel part of a much bigger picture.
There is much to be said for the desert as a leveller. The dunes and the camels don't care what's on your CV. Unlike the big smoke, this part of the world seems to bring people together on our trip in the simple business of walking to nowhere in particular.
There was always the option of walking in groups but most trekkers go it alone for extended periods, becoming mere dots in the distance.
At the risk of sounding like a new-age nutter, my trek experience is that it is an inner journey. Where else in our busy lives do we get the opportunity for extended, uninterrupted contemplation?
TRAVEL NOTES
Getting there
Qantas offers three direct services a week to Adelaide and daily connections via Sydney. The camel trek included two-day road transfers from and to Adelaide.
More information
Trek route: This 16-day trek in the East Simpson Desert involved 17 camels, four staff and 13 trekkers. The trek headed south on the west side of the Warburton River, before following the dunes to Cowarie Station, through the northern Simpson to the whiter sands of the dunes around Lake Eyre. Daily schedule: On most days trekkers wake at first light, pack away swags and luggage, eat breakfast and bring in the camels from their night feeding posts by 8am. They start off at 9am, with regular breaks and a one-hour lunch stop, pulling into camp by 3pm. The unloading process takes 30 minutes, ending with massages for the camels and afternoon tea for the trekkers. Dinner is served around the fire about 6.30pm. Most trekkers are asleep by 9pm.
Fitness
This moderate trek requires reasonable fitness, walking at a pace between 3km/h and 5km/h, up to 17km a day.
Food and water
Water is available for drinking only. Take snacks such as chocolate, dried fruit and nuts.
What to take
Everything you take needs to fit into a bag provided by the organisers. Must-have items include good walking shoes, daypack, 1-litre water container, wide-brimmed hat, headlamp and good quality sleeping bag. Swags and pillows are supplied. Warm gear is essential as nights are cold. Take baby wipes for keeping clean.
Useful websites
www.camel-expeditions.com,
www.western-australia.com,
www.southaustralia.co.nz,
www.travelnt.com,
www.queensland-holidays.co.nz,
www.australia.com
Booking
Contact your nearest Aussie Specialist Premier Agent on 0800 151 085 or talk to your local travel agent.
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