We are spending 3 days / 2 nights somewhere in the Sahara.  The rage of dunes (a sea) is called Erg Chigaga, but it’s more of a region than a specific location.  The Berbers all know where they’re going.. they grew up here, work here and live here.  We certainly wouldn’t be able to find our way anywhere without a guide. 

It’s not hot, but very dry.  And sand gets everywhere.. and the older you get, the more nooks and crannies the sand finds.

Photo taken about 1:00am.. there was a sand storm yesterday afternoon which kind of ruined things for stargazing.. Things finally calmed down a bit at night.  The moon is full and it was SO BRIGHT that you could go anywhere you wanted by moonlight.  Other than this, there isn’t a light around beyond the led lights on the tree.

Just before sunrise.

Tracks from the camp’s resident cat.  I read that the Berbers keep cats to chase away snakes and scorpions from the camps.  They have more wildlife here than you might think, but most are nocturnal.

Our camp’s camels.

Entire view of our camp at sunrise.  We stayed at the tent just to the right of the main tent in center.  All of the other ones were empty last night.

Hot water heater.. of a sort.  Showers this morning were rather brisk,, but maybe if we had waited another hour or two it might have warmed up.

Breakfast.  Way too much food for just the two of us.

Campfire in the center.. this should be a locus of activity later tonight.

Going for a walk before we start our day.  They asked us what we want to do today and we said “Ride more camels”.  And so we have plans for a journey to an Oasis location about 10 miles away.  Getting there by camel.

This one is my guy for the day.

A handy place to keep some water.. and you need it.

Brenda is in heaven.

Some of our convoy’s camels.. our driver set them free to graze why the 2 of us continued on.  They bind their legs to keep them from running off too far.

Wild donkeys.

At our final destination.  We rode for 3 1/2 hours to get here.. a Berber camp that is set up to receive tourists to look around, share a tea with a local and get some food.  Here she is demonstrating how she bakes bread.

She has an open fire/charcoal pile and the loaves are cooked on top.  Later she scrapes off the charcoal and they’re ready for eating.  We had some with our tea.