Day 4: Trekking

Walking the dunes at Oum Jrane
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We had to be packed, with the tents stowed, ready for 08:00 breakfast.  As we had no established routine, no idea how to take the tents down, and had not yet sorted out our day packs for the trek, we had wondered if we should get up at 04:00!  In the end we gave ourselves 2 hours - and did not manage to get it down to much less than this for the rest of the trip!

After breakfast al-fresco, the camels were loaded up, and we headed off over the low sand dunes, to start our trek. This was great - exactly how we expected the desert to be.

Camel overtaking....
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The camels did not walk with us; we always started out before them, and every day they'd overtake us, and meet us later.  Yet when you saw them, they gave the impression of sauntering along at a very leisurely pace! Probably broke into a gallop as soon as they were out of sight.....

The sand gave way to a river bed, very muddy and very slippery in places.   It was quite deceptive.  The wet-looking bits were quite solid, and then you'd step on a dry bit and your foot would slide out from beneath you! Hang on, this is supposed to be the Sahara Desert, no-one said anything about mud!

At an oasis in the middle of the sand, we met up with one camel, a camel driver and our cook, who proceeded to prepare a huge plate of salad for us.  We reposed on matresses in the shade of a tree, watched by a couple of small children.  Having an audience felt a little strange, but after a few days we would be used to it - it would happen at almost every lunch stop and camp.  The locals found us as entertaining as we did them.

A short afternoon of sliding through more mud brought us to our camp for the night.  Once the camp was sorted, we were rewarded with mint tea and a plate of biscuits.  As we were not being completely mollycoddled on this trip, as well as being responsible for camp we had to fetch any water that we needed.  Those more familiar with the Himalaya style of trek, where porters attend to all these needs, could be in for a shock on this trip! Jim and I decided to get some washing water from the nearby well - and frankly wished we hadn't bothered!  Between us and the well was another section of muddy river bed, meaning that a trip to get one bucket of water turned into a full-blown expedition! Once there, we had to winch up water in a kind of rubber bucket - that leaked.  So you had to winch really quickly and tip whatever remaining water there was in the bucket into your own bucket, before it drained away.  Sod this for a lark, washing's overrated anyway.  We managed to get back to camp before the others sent out a search party.

After the days' exertions, we were all ready to hit the sack straight after dinner. It was even colder tonight, and it was a very nippy dash to the loo.  Especially if you got lost trying to get across the sand dunes in the dark, like I did.......