I often forget how beautiful the simplest things are; the night sky, the stars, the shifting dunes of sand, and then one magical day, they were all brought to life for me in the middle of the Sahara desert.
I don't spend much time in the desert. It seems like endless expanses of nothing for as far as my eye can see. And yet, when you get closer, you see that the ever changing dunes, the sky painted with a brush that only Mother Nature wields, and the vastness of it all makes it alluringly beautiful.
I spent one night "glamping" in the desert and it was everything I thought it would be and more. But first- let me tell you about how I got to the desert camp.
We took 4WD vehicles most of the way. It wasn't all that scenic- it was hot, flat and rocky. And finally as we pulled over the last hill- there in the distance I saw the orange mountains of sand beckoning to us. But how to get there? I took one of the oldest forms of transport . . . a camel.
Now I thought long and hard about whether riding a camel was for me. My inner discussion went from "are the animals well taken care of?" to "what if I fall off?" But in the end, the camels beckoned to me and since he (she?) was kneeling and making it really easy for me to climb aboard, I did. Now this particular camel came with a saddle that had a handle where the saddle horn should be which made me a lot more comfortable than just balancing up there on my own. It's especially helpful for the mounting and dismounting as the camels go back legs first, front legs next in their approach to getting up and down and you are either being flung forward or back. But once I got the hang of it and the slippery feel of walking through the desert sand, it was almost relaxing. Stirrups would have been nice because I always feel more secure when all of me is attached to the saddle but this was a bit more free flowing. We rode for about 40 minutes and over the last hill- there I saw our camp!
Now there is no power in the desert, obviously, but since this was "glamping" and not camping there were 10 or so giant tents set up in the desert with generators that gave a hint at civilization. This was part of an Abercrombie and Kent experience and they have generators to run some things like the pumps for the water and a couple of lanterns in the tents. There was a king sized bed, a sink area, a camping toilet and hand shower. It was hot out on the desert but that was to be expected.
But the real magic came out at night when the lanterns were lit, wine glasses raised and dinner in the food tent came alive with everyone telling their stories from the dessert. It was one of my favorite things from this trip!
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