The Desert....

After the lushness of Meski we headed off to the Erg Chebbi dunes in the Sahara for a three night stay at the Auberge Cafe du Sud, originally a French Foreign Legion Fort. Part of this stay included a 90 minute camel ride into the dunes for an overnight stay at a Berber camp where we would be able to see a spectacular sunset and then get up early to watch the sunrise. Well that was the plan.... The guidebook says there is on average one day of rain in this area and guess what day it happened? So although we got to see a bit of a sunset we were all quite excited by the following thunderstorm and lightning show! However we then realised that the tents were nothing more than large blankets and the rain was getting in. Luckily it was only a short sharp shower and our overnight bags hadn't got too wet. After a surprisingly comfortable night we were up at 5.15am to get back on the camels for our not so comfortable ride back to the Auberge as the sun rose. We all agreed that although it had been a good day and night out, none of us were in a rush to get back on a camel again anytime soon!

The girls having a ride across the desert in Ray's Unimog.

One day snowballs and a couple of days later, the desert. We think we managed to take away a large portion of the desert judging by the amount of sand in the van and our clothes!

Another campfire on the day we arrive. Throughout most of the trip we have been at altitude and the nights have been quite cold. For our night in the tent we all slept in our clothes

We shared camels with the girls - Amy and Bob on the way home. Looks like the camel behind is after something in Bob's rucksack!

Our luxurious accommodation in the desert. Yes the scarf may look silly but with the wind and the sand it was needed!

A camel train. All ideas of the desert being deserted were soon put to bed - it was more like Kings Cross at rush hour. On Saturday night all the locals come out as well and sit on the dunes to watch the sunset.

There is nothing elegant in getting off a camel!

Another camel train passing the van.

Chloe watching the sun through a telescope. One of the guys on the trip is a keen astronomer and had bought some of his equipment along as the desert is a great place to look at the stars ....assuming that there are no clouds around of course!

June and Hymie!