Indian Camel Initiative Procures Milk for Rajasthani HotelsUnited Nations Declared 2024 as International Year of Camelids

January 22, 2024 | 7:31 P.M.

Two Taj Hotels properties in Rajasthan, India — the famed Taj Lake Palace Udaipur and the Taj Fateh Prakash Palace — serve camel-milk feta cheese on their breakfast buffet menus.
I know this as I visited the source of this cheese while on holiday earlier this month. Also providing this treat is the Kaner Resort in the village of Hapasar in the same region. The initiative to supply camel-milk products derives from a not-for-profit organization in Sadri, Rajasthan — close to all three hotels — called Camel Charisma. Camel Charisma is part of the Kumbhalgarh Camel Dairy, which is educating locals and visitors about the importance of the camel in regional life. Camels used to be omnipresent in Rajasthan, but different tastes, different agriculture and husbandry trends and a lack of education about the animals have led to them almost becoming extinct in the area. The initiative accepts rescued camels from other regions, with the idea of eventually setting them to work in producing milk — currently, 200 liters are produced in every session of milking — and future generations. The camels I met at Camel Charisma had a great deal of space to roam around in and munch acacia plants, which they seem to relish as though they were cereal snacks. If a human munched on one of those, it would be straight to the accident and emergency. Herding the camels as they have done for countless generations are the Raika people of Rajasthan, whose center is Sadri.

The camel is the state animal of Rajasthan, a title bestowed in 2014, so much work is being done to restore its status and benefits. My wife, Francesca, and I and two friends stumbled into the site not knowing we had inadvertently stumbled into the first conference of the International Year of Camelids. I discovered on a recent trip to India that camel milk is truly delicious. (Terence Baker) Yes, 2024 was announced to have that accolade by the United Nations, so there we were, four usurpers whose collective knowledge of camels went as far as knowing they are dromedaries. The camels here are one-humped dromedaries. Other camelids are llamas, vicuña, guanaco and alpaca. The other participants were all world-renowned camelid experts.

They had come from Peru, Mongolia, Germany, Kenya and Iran, and there was a celebrated American cheesemaker who was helping locals with dairy techniques, and, hopefully, other cheeses for local hotels. They all were contributing to the local hotel industry, while I can only imagine my presence was utterly arbitrary. Well, other than I enjoyed it and it gives me opportunity here to advertise it.

I had a drink of fresh camel milk — actually, I had several as it tastes delicious, creamy with just a hint of salt. The traditional way to drink it is to pick a leaf of the aak (Calotropis procera) tree, pinch it, pour the milk in the valley created and drink. I asked a camel expert what camel experts collectively are called, and she did not have a definite answer but said, unheeded, that “camelogists” probably was the best term. We left the camelogists and drove to the small city of Udaipur. Here we stayed at the wonderful, Mughal fort-style Bujera Fort Hotel, which was built by an English hotelier, along with his business partner, over the past 30 years and opened in 2016. The hotelier, Richard Hanlon, runs the hotel and also sources fabrics, antiques and other Rajasthani delights for London’s celebrated Firmdale Hotels. As we were guests when a local sports event was to take place, we were invited to the Chunda Polo Grounds, within walking distance, for the annual Chunda Cup. The local team, the Chunda Warriors, won 4-3 across four chukkas, and the audience was comprised of local dignitaries and what I guessed were influencers. The commentator was perhaps the greatest thing about the visit to the polo.

“Ladies look prettier, and men look more handsome sitting on horses than they do sitting in cars. It is a known fact!” he once said. “He has an imposing beard, and I have never heard anyone say a bad word about him,” he also said, referring to one of the polo players. “Two things I know are impossible. To live in the past and to live in the future. But we here are in the now, and that now is polo,” he added. Comments worthy of more hotel feta cheese!

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