Continuing photos from the 27th..

At the Nomad camp.  This is a pen for baby goats.  The mothers are herded off to the mountains to eat during the day and then return to give milk to kids and humans alike.

Brenda remains in heaven.

The garden.

The kitchen.

The guest area for meet and greet.

Nomad woman making us “welcome” tea – a mixture of black tea and frankincense.  Most of the other teas we have had this trip are from mint.

Lunch for us..vegetarian with even a few things Brenda couldn’t identify.

More of the Nomad working areas.

Solar power is a wonderful thing out here.  Our camp is run from it.. and even the most modest Nomad camps have managed to put this technology to use. 

After the 3.5 hour camel trip in + lunch + time to rest, we decided not to opt to take the camels back.  Our bottoms and other nether bits couldn’t take more of the punishment.. and the rate at which we travel it would be dinner time before we made it back to camp.
They generously offered to drive us back.. only 20 minutes return trip by 4×4.  We were sore, but so happy to have insisted on the rides.  What we asked and got for is “not on the menu” from the tourist company, but I told them this was our principal goal of the trip and they accommodated us. 

Along the way back we stopped at an honest to goodness Oasis.. Water year round that is percolating up from somewhere deep underground.  A very popular spot for animals and humans alike.

A well created to capture some of the Oasis water.

Back at the camp.. and the rest of the guests arrived.  12 ‘Ya-Ya’ women from the US and Canada, all in their 50s and 60s arrived to great whooping and dancing and carousing.  The camp got quite animated and our hosts immediately started apologizing to us for the noise and general behavior.  We were just fine with the group, but the hosts sheepishly kept asking us if we were ok, if we wanted to go stay somewhere else tonight, when we wanted to eat & etc. 

Brenda and I went for a long walk (long for sand, that is) to find a nice spot to have a sit and watch the sun set.  It was the “magic hour” for light, so lots of photos were taken of the dunes.
With no wind and nothing for miles, it is often dead quiet.  One can sit and listen only to one’s tinnitus.  The opposite of snow, the sand amplifies sounds; if there is activity around, each dune acts like a sound dish and reflects and reverberates any little noise from very far away.

Our last sunset in the Sahara.

After dinner, the hosts lit up the bonfire and treated us all to an ad-hoc concert, using Berber instruments and songs.

View of the bonfire.  Brenda’s back is to the camera. It gets cold quickly here.  The Ya’Ya’s are running around, singing and dancing and chugging from the individual bottles of wine each brought with them. 

The camp just before bedtime.

As they promised, the Sahara offers an unparalleled view of the stars.  Not a great photo, but you get the idea.  Bed time….