Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Grand Erg Oriental (Friday, May 14)

Mohammed, our 4WD driver in the desert, drove us from Ksar Ghilane back to Douz straight through the shifting dunes of the Grand Erg. This was the heart of our Sahara trip - to swim through the dunes and hope that our Toyota truck would survive. Every so often, Mohammed would stop the truck, get out to climb the nearest high dune, and survey the sand. We have absolutely no idea what he saw, and as he spoke "only" French, Arabic and Berber, we couldn't ask. All we know is that he is brilliant, warm, and certainly we would have died without him driving us.


Nothing but windy, undulating waves of orange and gold. But words don't do the Grand Erg justice, so I leave it to the images. Video to follow soon ... damn the ban on YouTube!