Jaisalmer Desert Festival (05 - 07 Feb, 2012)

Jaisalmer Desert Festival (05 - 07 Feb 2012) - Once a year in winters and on the middle of the continually rising and falling stark yellow sands of the great Thar Desert, the empty sands around Jaisalmer come alive with the brilliant colour, music and laughter of the Desert Festival. The festival is organised by the tourist authorities as tourist entertainment around January-February.

The Desert Festival is an annual event organized in the beautiful city, Jaisalmer. This three days festival is held in the month of February. It is organized in association with the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, Jaisalmer. Desert Festival represents the rich and colourful Rajasthani folk culture and concludes on the day of Poornima.

During the festival, the desert folks sing and dance eloquently to the triumphs and the tragedies of the land. Other major celebrations of the Desert Festival of Rajasthan include the traditional gymnasts, mystical snake charmers, entertaining puppet shows and captivating folk music recitals. The desert festival is also a musical extravaganza where musicians and the renowned artists participate. Along with this, a number of competitions are held in the festival like the turban tying competition, longest moustaches competition, etc. Even the camels take part in a number of events, including camel polo and camel dance. Not only the Jaisalmer fort but the whole Jaisalmer city brims with excitement during the Desert Festival.

Desert Festival of Jaisalmer is a colorful festival held in February every year. You will get to see Cultural events, camel races, turban tying competitions etc. Not exciting enough! Attend the contests to judge the man with the best moustache. Everything is exotic in the Desert festival, amidst the golden sands of the Thar Desert. With a final musical performance by folk singers under the moonlit sky at the dunes in Sam, just outside Jaisalmer, the festival comes to its end. The rich culture of the region is on display during this three daylong extravaganza.

The desert festival in Jaisalmer was started to attract foreign tourists, who always wanted to explore as many facets of Rajasthan as they could in the possible crunch of time. The three-day event stresses more on local elements and heritage. For example, this no-nonsense festival will only showcase Rajasthani folk songs and dance. These are presented by some of the best professionals of the art. Similarly, local customs such as Turban tying etc have been added to make it more exotic and colorful in its outlook. 'The moustache competition' is very popular among foreigners. This is simply because of the surprise value attached to this event. Foreigners can be seen posing for pictures with the winners. This is truly a moment worth preserving.

You will never forget marvels like the famous Gair and Fire dancers that are the major attraction of the desert festival celebrations. Interesting contests including a tying competition and a Mr. Desert contest further enhance the fun of the occasion. A trip to the Sam sand dunes marks the grand finale, where you will enjoy camel rides and brilliant performance by the folk artist under the full moon against the backdrop of picturesque dunes.

The Rajasthan tourism organizes the Jaisalmer Desert fair/festival. There is tourist help cell to deal specially with the problems faced by foreign tourists. The arrangements are monitored by local administration and state of the art Medical vans, equipped with the best of medical amenities, are kept on alert. If you want to buy gifts or souvenirs for your dear ones, this is the place to be. For this place not only have items from and around Jaisalmer but of the whole Rajasthan. Mobile money exchangers are there in case you need to exchange currencies. And if you run out of cash, Guess what! Nearly all the kiosks have the facility to accept credit card.