Day 7: Rest Day

Wash day
see all photos »

A less cold night, and a lie-in..... what more could you wish for in the Sahara Desert?

Last night Mostafa posed the civilised question: 'What time would you like to take breakfast in the morning?'  Well that made a change from '7:30 breakfast, 8:30 we leave'!!  We had settled on 'taking breakfast' at 9:00.  Time to take photos of the sunrise, have a wash, do the laundry.  The neighbouring acacia bush served as a clothes drier - so long as the camels stayed away!

Getting the hump

Vicky, Sue & Sharon on the camels
see all photos »

What does one do on a day off in the middle of the Sahara Desert? Surprisingly (given it was our rest day), we all elected to go for a walk, heading off in separate directions across the flat plain.  Perched on a rock, I enjoyed the view and tranquility - until a couple of small girls appeared and tried to sell me some dodgy looking felt camels and requested I took their photo (of course I was also supposed to pay them for the privilege).  Escaping them, I headed for the abandoned building across the plain, with a very immobile camel next to it.  Closer inspection proved the camel to be made of sand!  Well Milton Keynes has concrete cows, why shouldn't the Sahara have sand camels?

Afternoon tea at the auberge
see all photos »

After a leisurely lunch, the highlight of our afternoon was to be riding the camels (I'm not sure if it was going to be the highlight of the camels' afternoon....).  The camels obviously knew this, as they made a point of wandering as far away as they could just before 4pm.  But once caught and saddled up, it was the girls who would take the first turn.  Getting on was remarkably easy.  Staying on feels a bit more of a challenge when the camel starts moving.

We were expecting a donkey-ride-at-the-beach kind of thing - 5 minutes of being led in a circle.  But we were led away from camp, way past the auberge, before turning back - about a 30 minute ride.  After the first few minutes of hanging on for dear life, you settle into the rhythm of the camel, and it's quite relaxing.  Or it would be if you were sitting in the right place.  If , like me & Vicky, you were sitting too far forward when the camel stood up, you're stuck sitting on the hump, and you wold not believe how uncomfortable that is!  However, we all stayed upright, and managed not to fall off when we returned to camp and the camels couched (front legs first) to let us off.

For the second trip, Pete got the ride all to himself.  Jim was nowhere to be found......... not daft, our Jim.  Again, the local children had gathered to watch us; although I think they were more interested in our cameras than the idiots we were making of ourselves on the camels.

After a final, lingering, hot shower (plus identification of parts left very tender from sitting on the camels), and mint tea with the boys at the auberge, we headed back to camp in the dark.  And got lost again.