Kumbalgarh: The Camel’s Swish

Kumbalh Garh (fort at Kumbalh is what it means) sits high up above rows of ramparts in the hills north of Udaipur. It’s not one of the top forts of Rajasthan, but it’s certainly quite impressive. There’s a story in why we saw it: as we departed Jodhpur for Udaipur in the morning, Gene mentioned to our driver the temples Rankapur, which we were to see that day according to the schedule. He hadn’t checked the schedule, our driver, so was unaware of Ranakpar and what are supposed to be stupendous white-marble Jain temples that are pretty much tops in their category for Rajasthan. As we drove ever further and saw signs that Udaipur was ever closer, we asked again about Ranakpur and got unclear answers. Finally, certain that we were past Ranakpur and nearly to Udaipur, with dusk in the foreseeable future (one doesn’t drive most roads after dark in the Indian countryside), we asked again and finally got the car turned around…only to be brought to Kumbalhgarh, which we decided must have been our consolation prize: backtracking to Ranakpur, by then, would have meant arriving far too late in Udaipur, so we got a lovely and atmospheric fort instead. Oh well: next time for Ranakpur.