The Serai, a desert camp where the silence is the luxury

A family that came to film the desert

• First love: Ranthambore, where the family built SUJAN Sher Bagh in 2000.
• The Serai, 2009: SUJAN describes it as the first tented camp of its kind in western Rajasthan.
• Then the leopard hills: four years later came SUJAN JAWAI, in the south.
• The name: a serai, in old north Indian usage, is a caravanserai, a walled resting place on a trade road where merchants, camels and travellers stopped for the night.
• Caravan country: Jaisalmer grew rich on exactly that traffic, on roads between the Indus country, Gujarat and the Ganges plain.
• The design: it draws on the royal camps of Rajputana, the travelling encampments of tents and walled enclosures a ruler took on tour or on a hunt.
• Relais and Chateaux: the association of independent luxury hotels. It tells you the camp is run as a hotel, not a seasonal tent village.
• The town you came for: read our Jaisalmer guide for its history.

A hundred acres of the Thar, left as it was

• Dawn birds: partridges calling from the bushes, larks rising, shrikes watching from the thorn tops.
• Winter raptors: hunting over the open ground.
• Morning tracks: desert foxes and hares on the sand, and in the warmer months the long, looping trail of a monitor lizard.
• A naturalist walk: the gentlest introduction to how the desert works.
• Darkness: far from the lights of town, on a clear winter night the Milky Way stretches from one horizon to the other.
• When to look up: our page on stargazing in the Thar explains when the skies are darkest.

The villages beyond the wall

• Water decides everything: look for the old village tanks, the covered wells and the low walls built to catch every drop of rain.
• Steady work: many people at desert camps come from villages like these, as cooks, drivers, gardeners and musicians, in a region where farming depends on a monsoon that can fail.
• Walk as a guest: our guides ask before you photograph anyone, and explain the customs of the house if you are invited in for tea.
• Go deeper: our page on rural homestays describes a fuller version of the same experience.
• The road east: on towards Pokaran, the dunes of Manvar and the old Marwar heartland around Jodhpur.
• The right way to arrive: across this caravan country, with the fort appearing on its ridge at the end.

Canvas on stone

• Private plunge pools: in the larger tents and suites, heated in winter.
• The grandest: sits within its own walled encampment, with space to dine and lounge privately.
• How tents are given: allocation is the camp's to make, so we don't promise one. We tell SUJAN what you need, whether a pool of your own or a tent close to dining for an older guest.
• Sound: canvas lets in more than stone. Here that is mostly a pleasure: wind, birds, perhaps a distant village dog.
• Cold nights: in December and January you want the heating on, and a hot water bottle appears in the bed.
• Warm weeks: at either end of the season, the veranda shade and the plunge pool make the afternoon.
• Read more: our guide to luxury desert camps covers tented stays across Rajasthan, and our journal on a night in a desert camp answers the questions guests ask most.

Dinner by firelight, breakfast from the farm

• Farm mornings: collect eggs and watch the cows milked before breakfast. Children remember it for years.
• Dinner in the desert: a private table in the bush or on a dune, with lanterns, a campfire and a menu planned for the evening.
• A Marwari dinner: bajra rotis with white butter and jaggery, ker sangri and kadhi.
• Raab in winter: a thin porridge of millet and buttermilk that desert families drink against the cold.
• The dishes explained: our Jaisalmer food guide.
• Give notice: the camp is remote and plans supplies from Jaisalmer and the farm, so a few days' warning for Jain, vegan or allergy menus makes a real difference.

The spa in the walled garden

• Yoga and meditation: offered daily.
• Early sessions: when the scrub is cool and loud with birds, a good reason to set an alarm.
• When we book treatments: the hot middle of the day, between the morning outing and the late-afternoon drive.
• Dry air: so is the skin of anyone who has spent three days in it.
• What to ask: our page on spas and Ayurveda explains the traditions and what to ask a therapist.

How we spend days from The Serai

The seasons at The Serai

• March: the days are hot again.
• From April: extreme, with summer highs among the most severe in India.
• Opening dates: desert camps adjust their seasons to the weather, so we confirm them each year.
• February: often the loveliest month, and it usually brings the Jaisalmer Desert Festival to town. We confirm the dates and book well ahead.
• Christmas and New Year: the busiest weeks. The camp fills months in advance.
• Month by month: our best time to visit Jaisalmer guide has the detail.

How long to allow

• Two nights: possible, but one of your days goes mostly on the road.
• Four nights: room for a long day out to the Desert National Park, or to Kuldhara and Bada Bagh.
• If the fort matters most: pair a night or two here with a night in town or at Suryagarh.

Who The Serai is for

What most visitors miss

• The new-moon week: time your stay to it and the Milky Way is at its brightest.
• The villages beyond the wall: most travellers pass them on the highway. Walk in with a guide and you see how the desert actually lives.
• The empty afternoon: a long, quiet stretch in the shade of your veranda, with nothing to do, is the reason to come this far.
• The arrival: coming from Jodhpur, you reach the camp before the town, so the desert is your first impression of Jaisalmer.

The Serai on our journeys

• Straight from Jodhpur: on the Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer route, you sink into the quiet before seeing a single sight.
• Three wildernesses: many guests combine The Serai with Sher Bagh in Ranthambore and JAWAI among the leopard hills.
• No long days: we plan the drives so none is too much.

Before you go

• Binoculars: for the birds on the estate at dawn.
• Modest clothes: for temples and village visits.
• Small notes: for buying directly from embroiderers and craftspeople, and for tipping the musicians.
• A star map: downloaded before you arrive, as mobile signal can be patchy.
• Dietary notes: sent a few days ahead, so the kitchen can plan its supplies.

Getting to The Serai

• By air: Jaisalmer's civil airport has seasonal flights from a few Indian cities, mostly in winter. Schedules change, so we check. See airports and flights.
• Charters: private ones can be arranged with notice. Our helicopter and charter journeys team plans them.
• No transfers: your chauffeur stays throughout, so days in town and desert evenings need no taxis.

What we tell friends before The Serai

• Pack for both extremes: a warm layer, hat and gloves for winter mornings and evenings, sunscreen for midday.
• Dawn with a naturalist: the hour when the desert shows itself.
• Dress for temples and villages: cover legs, shoulders and upper arms, and ask before photographing people. Our etiquette guide explains why.
• Look up: download a star map before you arrive, as mobile signal in the desert can be patchy.