1/3
We woke up around 7 and had some coffee. We had arranged to meet Ahmad around 8.30 at his shop. Yesterday we bought two ”China bags” to have our duvets, pillows, blankets and clothes in. We had tried that everything fits inside so it was not a problem to pack, the problem for me was more to decide what to bring 🙂 Hot in the day and cold in the night makes it more difficult to choose. Yesterday Mike and me stayed up late so we were a bit tired in the morning when we were packing. We were running a bit late and didn’t have time for breakfast, good start…:-) Luckily Ahmad was a bit late too so we had time for some sugary mint tea before we left to go to his friend, Riadh’s place.
There we took a horse and cart to where the dromedaries were. It was so nice to see them again and we could feel they were excited to go out in the desert. Ahmad’s friend Walid was waiting there with his two dromedaries, Lahmar (means red) and Lasfar (means yellow) and when we arrived they started to load everything that we were bringing on the dromedaries and then we started to walk. I was holding Bourak (meaning the flying horse, Pegasus, in Arabic) and Mike was holding Lahjal (meaning mixed colours, white front legs).
We kept walking for a few hours and then stopped for lunch. Ahmad made a really good Tunisian salad and mint tea and Walid made the sand bread. It was really cool to see how he made it, first he made a fire then he made the dough with flour, water and salt, let it rest for a bit, then he put it under the ashes directly on the sand. When the sand is hot it moves in a different way, it sort of looks like water flowing, that’s how you know that the sand is hot enough to bake the bread in. When it’s done you take it out and hit it with a towel to get the ashes and sand off. And voila, you have delicious bread without a single grain of sand, amazing!
We walked for a few more hours in the beautiful desert and found a good spot to make the camp for the night. We had borrowed a pop-up-tent from Ahmad and found a good place between some dunes to put it up. We laid out our sheepskins, blankets, duvets and pillows inside and it looked really comfortable.
After that we collected firewood with Walid while Ahmad prepared the stew for dinner. When the pot was on the fire they went to feed the dromedaries and we sat down and just relaxed by the fire at the cozy camp.
We have learned a lot today, the ”phrew” sound that Mike’s dromedar has made a few times means that he’s telling Mike that he is stronger than him, he also grinds his teeth sometimes for the same reason, Lahjal is a real alpha male. We have seen how to make the sand bread without any sand inside it, we know what branches that are not good to make the fire to bake the bread in because it gives it a bad taste and we know the best place to set up camp is between dunes. We now know a few words in Arabic, for example ”Jiatiksaha” that you say after you have had something good that someone has made for you and it means: I wish you good health, ”Saha” means: health, ”Sahalekum” means: enjoy your food, ”Aishak” or ”Chukran” that means: thank you, ”Laham” means: meat, ”Hatchi” means: nothing, ”Asma” means: listen. We have also learned how to get a dromedar to lay down by pulling the rope a bit downwards and make a sound far back in the throat, how to make them move and I have seen what Bourak’s favourite bushes and grass are and I’m quite sure he likes it when I speak Swedish to him:-)
After having a fantastic tomato/goat stew with sand bread we sat up for a while around the fire and talked and looked at the beautiful sky that was full of stars. It was really nice to go to bed after a great first day.
2/3
Since we are not used to sleep on sand we woke up a bit stiff in the morning. That was all forgotten when we saw the sunrise over the dunes and we could smell the newly baked sand bread that we were having for breakfast with some coffee and tea.
Today we had our first ride on the dromedaries, yesterday we only walked because they were carrying so much, but now they had eaten some of their food and it was ok for them to carry us instead. It was great to sit in the saddle on Bourak and I had the best view over the desert.
We rode for about 1,5 hours and then we stopped for lunch, our bums were starting to feel a bit sore so it was nice to get off for a while.
Now we know the routines and we started to collect branches for the fire while Ahmad prepared the food and Walid the bread. We rested a bit and then continued on foot.
Today we found some spearheads and egg shells from ostriches from the stone age. Ahmad told us that if we see the old egg shells we should look around for spear heads and arrowheads. Because the sand in Sahara moves all the time it’s possible to find things in the sand that has been hidden for a long long time. We will keep looking to see if we can find more.
I wanted to ride some more and got up in the saddle again and rode to the place where we made camp for the night.
We helped to unload the dromedaries and then found a nice spot to put up our tent. When we stop for the night we unload everything, then they tie their front legs together so that they won’t be able to run away, it’s also for stopping them to hurt their legs, after that they walk around on their own and eat. Before sunset we went with Ahmad to get them back to the camp again, some of them were far away and we had to walk for a bit to reach them. On the way I found some small and perfect desert roses on the ground, it’s a rose like formation of sand, salt and gypsum that forms over many years from the evaporated water and the wind and sun.
For those of you that don’t know, there is a song called Desert Rose that we heard many years ago in Egypt and that later became the name of our place in Ghana, Desertrose lodge
When we had caught them Ahmad asked if we wanted to try to ride without the saddle, of course we did! It was a lot of fun but not very comfortable:-)
We had a really tasty macaroni and goat stew with sand bread for dinner and then we just relaxed by the fire before going to bed in the tent.
3/3
In the morning after breakfast and packing everything together we walked for a short time and reached the “Bir”, well. It was time for the dromedaries to drink and also to fill two of the containers we had with us.
We tied them to the bushes and started to take up water and put it in a big trough. When it was full we un-tied the eager dromedaries and they were very happy to drink the fresh water.
Bourak got a lot of energy after drinking and I had to hold him back so that he wouldn’t walk ahead of Lahjal who was before him in the caravan. After a while I got tired of that and got up in the saddle to steer him instead. It’s a really good feeling sitting high up on a dromedary and watching over the desert.
When we stopped for the lunch break Walid taught Mike how to make the sand bread. He did very well and we had a lovely lunch of bread and salad in the shade.
Walid has a lot of knowledge about the desert. He knows how to navigate, cook food in the hot sand, where to make the best camp for the night and much more. He is also good at finding animal tracks. When we started to walk again he saw some tracks in the sand and followed it. He quickly put his hand in the sand and pulled out a lizard. It was the type you can eat but since we had food we let it back into the sand.
It’s very difficult to explain how wonderful it is to just walk in the desert. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. I hope everyone gets the chance once in their lifetime to experience it.
We kept on walking to the place where we were staying for the night. After unloading everything we collected firewood and then put up our tent.
We had, as always, a tasty dinner and sat around the fire talking and trying to solve the riddles we gave to each other. Another perfect day in the Sahara and we went to bed with a big smile on our faces.
