Desert Camping - Sahara Style
by Kristine Bonner
Our dining tent
The Sahara is a huge expanse, almost a continent’s worth of desert. It is over 3,500,000 square miles, and has existed, it is estimated, for about 3 million years. Though its most famous features are the ergs, or sand dune seas, most of it is really hamada, or rocky plateau. In May of 2009, I visited the Sahara, spending a couple of nights in a tented camp near Daya el Maider.
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Off-roading at about 60 miles per hour across the rocky desert, with the radio playing our driver’s favorite Moroccan cassette tape, we were astonished to see rain clouds. It was quite beautiful - we watched the storm as we drove in our Toyota 4x4s, rain clouds dark blue against the sky, reaching fingers to the ground, lightning flashing, thunder following.
Our vehicles surged over a rise of sand, and our camp, home for the next 2 days, came into view. Serenely isolated, the desert camp contained ten green sleeping tents, several shower tents, outhouse facilities, and a dining tent. We paused in the dining tent to wait for the rain to finish before we settled into our assigned quarters. The camp was blissfully cool. A walk up the nearest sand dune revealed a forest of glistening rocks, sparkling like gems set into a sandy showcase. The silence was profound. It was as if my ears could finally relax, the air like a quiet pillow all around, providing a delightful aural vacation. That night, the stars were brilliant in the sky, and all the constellations looked foreign. Though my eyes kept trying to see a familiar patterns, none were distinguishable. We settled into our cots, comfortably falling asleep, after ascertaining the best route to the facilities in case we should awake in the night.
Our desert encampment, truly out in the middle of nowhere it seemed. The drivers, though, always knew which way to go. We thought they were part nomad.
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