Desert, desert, desert .... always gives you that sense of loneliness, danger and horror. Really ? I've been to a few deserts
before coming to Sahara, but nothing before can compare to its scale. We stayed in a oasis hotel, on the edge of the Big Sand Dunes.
From the hotel roof, we can see how vast this desert can be.
The first night, we stayed on the roof of the hotel. It was just cool, not chill. We had clear sky and see lots of
stars. It was a good feel, hoping the following night at the sand dunes would be this great as well.
The next morning, we woke up to feel the daytime heat. It was H.O.T.. We then visited a lake, where lots of gulls amd flamingos
rested and sipped water there. It was strange to the half-dried up lake. As we walked along the lake side, we could feel the mud
and we could see the footprints from the flamingos.
From there, we went to visit a village, where we saw some of their local farms. It was interesting to see how they designed their
water system, from the wells into the drains to the farms.
And afterwards we began our camel caravan into the sand dunes for the night. They packed us four camels. They were very friendly, no spits !
As if they knew exactly what they were going to carry us to, we just sat on their humps and move on. About 15 minutes into the ride, a rainstorm came.
It was very windy and raindrops started to heavier and heavier. None of us actually could believe that we got so much rain in the desert. About an hour and a
half, we arrived at a camp. There were a straw hut and a tent. We unpacked the camels, and we tugged ourselves into the tent. Our guide
started serving mint tea and some snacks, and off to prepare us the dinner - targine !
Rain was on and off for the entire night and it was a bit warm inside our tent. We decided to have the door tent open up. However, the strong wind kept
blowing sand into our tent. It was a hiliarious scene when we woke up to find out how much sand got in.
We didnt see any sunrise the following morning. It was just too cloudy. We were a bit disappointed. We continued on to move camp back to the hotel. We picked
up our snowboards, and started going up the sand dunes and try to sand-ski down.
Finally, we were here !
There was a live bat on the wall on our hotel.
First Dinner at the hotel
Targine was our first dinner.
We slept on the roof of the hotel.
In the morning, waking up, we saw blue sky.
Just a simple mattress and a blanket ....
The license plate of our car was falling off.
At the oasis lake, ...watching flamingos over us.
Camels loved to come here and feed, as the plants here were wet.
Flamingo footprints were every where around the lake.
Our gude brought us to the edge of the sand dunes, it's so HOT.
Very strange, as if you were just put into a desert, you felt so deserted, for even just taking a picture.
Villagers captured young desert foxes from the dens, where fox mommys went for hunting.
They had big big ears, and their furs were so soft.
The young man captured those foxes.
This was how they turned on and off their faucets. Water drains come in like that, they will use water for 2 hours each quadrant, and then blocked to divert water to other quadrants.
Oooops, here's froggy froggy..
Coca cola is it ! It's even in this village.
Typically, they hung the rugs in their living rooms, just like the tent.
Kids were there to capture these tourist moments.
Moroccan Pizza
It was so yummy, they had sweet potato, corn and a lof herbs.
They were showing us the different patterns of the rugs, explaning to us the origins of the patterns. I mean they were HARD selling them.
All ready to go !
Come on, Danno !
Danno.
Me ......
The back of Gord.
...and Trina ....
Dan was struggling with his turban while the wind was trying blow it off.
We just arrived at the camp in teh sand dunes.
Hanging out inside the ten.
Step 1 .... cutting up the oniion and tomatoes.
Step 2, ... cut up any other veggies ....and meat
Step 3 .... cut more veggie and lay them up.
Step 4 .... cover it up and bake it.
The next morning ....
Just walking around .... nothing but sand.
Chilling out on top of the big dune.
Not me, .. that's Gord.
Give you an idea of the scale.
Ripples off the sand ....
Run Forest, run !
No ... run, Ken, run .
Our camp ... a straw hut and a tent
Standing like a hero, wasn't he ?.
They, of course have big feet.
Here's my buddy ... dont mess with him, ok ?
Yeah, whatever !
In this straw hut, ...a simple kitchen, storage, ...,mattress etc..
Do you like my new look ? Say "yes", say "I do".
Gord's camel got loose, ......oh mine.
That camel was a smart one ....Gord got a really good deal.
Sitting on a camcel wasnt that bad ....quite comfy indeed!
Our caravan .....
Happily going back ....
..... sand .....
and .. more sand ....
And of course, ME and sand .....
Our caravan, .....
I like this picture the most.
My buddy shadow shot again ....
It's a long road ...When you're on your own...And it hurts when ...
Hot sun was on top of us ... .
Here we go ...
Actually, we were going anywhere ....
Too much friction on the sand ...
Me, instead, chose to sled down ....
Dan's turn ......
This camel was so smart .... he would speed up and ran when it was downhill, carried enough momentum to go uphill.
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