It is not often that you see the sun rise over the desert. I wasn’t going to miss it for the world!
The night had been very windy. You quickly learn that a lot of sand and an over-zealous breeze do not make for a comfortable night. Things are not helped by the fact that you are sleeping at sand level.
Our tents of sturdy stiff canvas were being blown and battered about noisily. Despite the conditions and probably thanks to the celebratory wine we had brought with us, I quickly fell asleep.
I awoke not long after to the disturbing experience of grit being blasted up my nostrils. A tingling sensation at my feet, which had slipped out of the sleeping bag, turned out to be the sand eroding away the top layer of my skin. The heavy canvas doorway flap had been blown in, leaving nothing between us and the elements.
Turning over and trying to ignore what the Sahara was throwing at me didn’t work. Head-torch in place I headed out of the camp for a little midnight relief. I wasn’t alone; at least a couple of other shapes were meandering around the edges of the encampment like an alien species of glowflies with illuminated heads. Above the clouds had cleared revealing a vast star-studded sky.
Back in the tent I piled a stack of heavy blankets against the door flap to impeed that sand’s path as much as possible. For the next few hours I drifted in and out of what felt like sleeping between sheets of glasspaper, with the occasional mouthfull of Sahara thrown down my throat.
Dawn could not have come sooner. We crawled out of our respective tents and climbed the nearest dune for a better view. I found a spot about halfway up while the fitter ones amongs us continued higher. Slowly the sky brightened and the dunes all around us blushed a warming orange agaisnt a bluing sky. The wind continued to throw wisps of sand over the ridges like clouds blowing over high peaks. Above the highest mountain of sand in front of me the glided into view. It seemed in no hurry, allowing us the time to savour the moment. At that point for just a few precious minutes even the wind stood still.
Turning to look for my friends I noticed a line of people all along the ridge. And along each of the larger dunes around the camp. Everyone had turned out lining up like sentinels to welcome in the new day.
Soon after we mounted our camels and marched slowly out of the desert. Some more fun racing the cars back to the road was followed by a drive through more spectacular landscapes and the impressive TziTzi pass descending down into Ouarzazate as dusk fell.
Thanks Joy and Hakim for a great couple of days.
