Camping in the Sahara

[expedition_retirement]

At about the midpoint of our trip our itinerary took us into the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert. Our bus took us as far as the city of Douz, where we met a group of four wheel drive trucks that would transfer us to our camp in the desert. We split into smaller groups for the trucks, and we were driven for about 30 minutes on a road into the desert before we headed off-road into the dunes for another 30 minutes.

Our camp was a collection of tents in the midst of the dunes. Each tent had a bed and a small bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. The tents were arranged around a large fire pit, and across from a central dining area. After we settled into our tents, we all walked out to the top of a nearby sand dune to enjoy some wine as we watched the sunset.

After sun went down, we gathered around the fire pit, where our hosts demonstrated how they cook bread in the coals of the fire. While the bread cooked, they played some music and danced. Finally, when the bread was done, they also dug up some clay pots that held the stew they were cooking by the fire. We then moved to the dining area for our dinner.

When dinner was finished, we retired to our tents for the night. The temperatures dropped down near freezing overnight, so we were thankful for the big pile of blankets to put on the bed. The next morning, we woke up in time to watch the sun rise over the dunes before having breakfast and boarded our trucks to drive back across the dunes to return to Douz.