By my count I've ridden a camel 3 times in my life. The first two times were in Egypt. Once around the pyramids (and the KFC adjacent to the pyramids), and then for a "night in the desert", which actually turned into a ride in the rain and a night in a nearby village due to said rain. The third was yesterday.
I was excited for #3. This was the real deal. We were headed into the Sahara. In the middle of no where. To sleep in the desert. Scorpions, desert pirates and all.
First thing you notice when you head out of town is that the desert is quiet. I mean really really quiet. The kind of silence that actually hurts your ears. You can hear your heart beating, the blood moving through your veins. Your ears ring a bit. It's quiet.
The second thing you notice is that it's really still. The clouds sweep over head, but the sand below and all around you doesn't move. The landscape is frozen, like your moving through a painting.
The third thing you notice is that camels puke up their stomaches to attract other camels. It's pretty gross and mine did it a lot. The inflated sack hangs out of their mouth while they make a gurgling sound that supposedly drives the ladies crazy. Yeah girl.
The ride took about 2 hours. Eventually we made our way to a collection of Berber tents set up in a tiny row at the base of a large sand dune. Our camp was the furthest to the right. We drank mint tea, ate a pretty good chicken tajine, climbed up the nearby sand dune to watch the sunset and then spent the night under a full moon so bright it seemed as if the sun still remained in the sky. We played the drums with our guide, spent the night experimenting with night photography, and listened to some podcasts by candle light.
In the morning we hurried back up the sand dune and were treated to an amazing sun rise. After that we hopped back on our stomach puking camels and set off for home.
All in all a pretty perfect night out in the desert.
I was excited for #3. This was the real deal. We were headed into the Sahara. In the middle of no where. To sleep in the desert. Scorpions, desert pirates and all.
First thing you notice when you head out of town is that the desert is quiet. I mean really really quiet. The kind of silence that actually hurts your ears. You can hear your heart beating, the blood moving through your veins. Your ears ring a bit. It's quiet.
The second thing you notice is that it's really still. The clouds sweep over head, but the sand below and all around you doesn't move. The landscape is frozen, like your moving through a painting.
The third thing you notice is that camels puke up their stomaches to attract other camels. It's pretty gross and mine did it a lot. The inflated sack hangs out of their mouth while they make a gurgling sound that supposedly drives the ladies crazy. Yeah girl.
The ride took about 2 hours. Eventually we made our way to a collection of Berber tents set up in a tiny row at the base of a large sand dune. Our camp was the furthest to the right. We drank mint tea, ate a pretty good chicken tajine, climbed up the nearby sand dune to watch the sunset and then spent the night under a full moon so bright it seemed as if the sun still remained in the sky. We played the drums with our guide, spent the night experimenting with night photography, and listened to some podcasts by candle light.
In the morning we hurried back up the sand dune and were treated to an amazing sun rise. After that we hopped back on our stomach puking camels and set off for home.
All in all a pretty perfect night out in the desert.
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