Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th September
It was great waking up in the desert, the colour of the sand changes at different times of day, it is almost orange first thing in the morning. We saw the sun rise over Erg Chebbi, the big dunes and also the return of around a dozen people on camels who had spent the night with nomad families in the desert, they looked exhausted. Their camels then trooped off to rest until the next load. The sky was blue and it was going to be a scorcher, at least 40 degrees, what better way than to spend it in the Sahara Desert?!
The owner of the auberge and camp site was going to be our off road guide for the day. His name was Mubarak, aged 35 with three children. He lived on site with his family, and was a great negotiator, although I proved a worthy opponent and he called me a Berber woman because I was so good at negotiating him down in price! However I always end up making sure they get a fair price and also tip well! Bartering is a way of life here and the people really enjoy it. I know some people who are not used to it find it tough, but it gets easier with practice. It involves the seller telling you an astronomical price, you feigning absolute disbelief, and telling them a low price, them feigning disbelief and so the interaction commences. It can also involve a calculator passing back and forth as you both furiously tap numbers into it and laugh at the number the opponent has entered. This time I have my own calculator, I have moved into the premier league of negotiating and the sellers love it!
So off we went, off road, into the sand and pistes of the Sahara desert. Before we got her, Ruby had one very careful owner from down South somewhere, and spent her life on a farm pootling about.
Today Ruby’s life has changed irreversibly! Not only has she only been done for speeding in the desert yesterday now she was careering around it through the dunes, almost flipping over a couple of times and she really bloody loved it! What a GREAT day! Gav did all the driving, Mubarak sat in the front to guide and I was in the back shrieking and laughing and rattling about! We covered about 70 miles, across various types of terrain of which actual soft sand was only a small part. A lot of the ground was hard packed sand with sun burnt stones on top, still great fun to drive on and you had to go fast to stop the vehicle shuddering about.
We wouldn’t have had a clue by ourselves, we soon lost all sense of direction as we hurtled one way then the other. Gav kept having to go into 4 wheel drive and back out again as the terrain changed. It took him a while to get used to driving on soft sand and we would be slipping and shuddering all over the place. Mubarak has a great laugh, he shrieks with laughter and it is very infectious, so whilst we were almost flipping the landy over in the sand, we were all laughing like fools! At one point through gales of laughter, Mubarak shrieked “ the car is doing a sand dance” as we rocked from side to side. Gav really got into it though and it began to feel a bit safer.
As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one day, Mubarak decided to take us right across up to the Algerian border. It is marked by a long line of dunes. We then reached an official checkpoint which had a chain and no entry sign across it, with no officials in sight. So did we turn back? Noooo.We drove up to the official building until some officials (not sure if they were police or army) came out.
We had to show our passports and they wrote our names etc down. For a brief moment we actually thought we were crossing into Algeria, but apparently not. They then shifted the no entry sign and chain and let us through! Mubarak took us to a nomadic family who lived in the desert. It was fascinating to see how they lived and there was a wedding in progress.We spent half an hour or so there and got our kite out and flew it for the children who were mesmerised. Then we made our way back to camp. We covered 75 miles off road and both loved it. When we got back to camp we took everything out of the landy and I have a little hand held hoover with which I vacuumed everything! There are so many little gaps in an old land rover that the sand had reached literally everywhere.
So all 3 of us were all cleaned up and feeling pleased with ourselves. Not for long. Almost out of the blue a small sand storm hit! I have never experienced anything like it, it was massively powerful and we almost lost our camping chairs and table and had to quickly put down the awning as it was about to fly off! Sand blew everywhere, it got in our ears, up our noses, I think you get the picture! All that hoovering to have it all blown back in again! It passed after an hour and we got a good night sleep.
On Tuesday we 120 miles or so to Todra Gorge.We plan to drive through it tomorrow to Dades Gorge, which sounds an exciting drive. As a last note, Gav has just shouted from the roof tent ,which he is hoovering following the sand storm ,"Can you pass the fabreeze please, I just want to give it a little squirt"!! Made me smile anyway!
It was great waking up in the desert, the colour of the sand changes at different times of day, it is almost orange first thing in the morning. We saw the sun rise over Erg Chebbi, the big dunes and also the return of around a dozen people on camels who had spent the night with nomad families in the desert, they looked exhausted. Their camels then trooped off to rest until the next load. The sky was blue and it was going to be a scorcher, at least 40 degrees, what better way than to spend it in the Sahara Desert?!
The owner of the auberge and camp site was going to be our off road guide for the day. His name was Mubarak, aged 35 with three children. He lived on site with his family, and was a great negotiator, although I proved a worthy opponent and he called me a Berber woman because I was so good at negotiating him down in price! However I always end up making sure they get a fair price and also tip well! Bartering is a way of life here and the people really enjoy it. I know some people who are not used to it find it tough, but it gets easier with practice. It involves the seller telling you an astronomical price, you feigning absolute disbelief, and telling them a low price, them feigning disbelief and so the interaction commences. It can also involve a calculator passing back and forth as you both furiously tap numbers into it and laugh at the number the opponent has entered. This time I have my own calculator, I have moved into the premier league of negotiating and the sellers love it!
So off we went, off road, into the sand and pistes of the Sahara desert. Before we got her, Ruby had one very careful owner from down South somewhere, and spent her life on a farm pootling about.
Today Ruby’s life has changed irreversibly! Not only has she only been done for speeding in the desert yesterday now she was careering around it through the dunes, almost flipping over a couple of times and she really bloody loved it! What a GREAT day! Gav did all the driving, Mubarak sat in the front to guide and I was in the back shrieking and laughing and rattling about! We covered about 70 miles, across various types of terrain of which actual soft sand was only a small part. A lot of the ground was hard packed sand with sun burnt stones on top, still great fun to drive on and you had to go fast to stop the vehicle shuddering about.
We wouldn’t have had a clue by ourselves, we soon lost all sense of direction as we hurtled one way then the other. Gav kept having to go into 4 wheel drive and back out again as the terrain changed. It took him a while to get used to driving on soft sand and we would be slipping and shuddering all over the place. Mubarak has a great laugh, he shrieks with laughter and it is very infectious, so whilst we were almost flipping the landy over in the sand, we were all laughing like fools! At one point through gales of laughter, Mubarak shrieked “ the car is doing a sand dance” as we rocked from side to side. Gav really got into it though and it began to feel a bit safer.
As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one day, Mubarak decided to take us right across up to the Algerian border. It is marked by a long line of dunes. We then reached an official checkpoint which had a chain and no entry sign across it, with no officials in sight. So did we turn back? Noooo.We drove up to the official building until some officials (not sure if they were police or army) came out.
We had to show our passports and they wrote our names etc down. For a brief moment we actually thought we were crossing into Algeria, but apparently not. They then shifted the no entry sign and chain and let us through! Mubarak took us to a nomadic family who lived in the desert. It was fascinating to see how they lived and there was a wedding in progress.We spent half an hour or so there and got our kite out and flew it for the children who were mesmerised. Then we made our way back to camp. We covered 75 miles off road and both loved it. When we got back to camp we took everything out of the landy and I have a little hand held hoover with which I vacuumed everything! There are so many little gaps in an old land rover that the sand had reached literally everywhere.
So all 3 of us were all cleaned up and feeling pleased with ourselves. Not for long. Almost out of the blue a small sand storm hit! I have never experienced anything like it, it was massively powerful and we almost lost our camping chairs and table and had to quickly put down the awning as it was about to fly off! Sand blew everywhere, it got in our ears, up our noses, I think you get the picture! All that hoovering to have it all blown back in again! It passed after an hour and we got a good night sleep.
On Tuesday we 120 miles or so to Todra Gorge.We plan to drive through it tomorrow to Dades Gorge, which sounds an exciting drive. As a last note, Gav has just shouted from the roof tent ,which he is hoovering following the sand storm ,"Can you pass the fabreeze please, I just want to give it a little squirt"!! Made me smile anyway!
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