Sahara diary Part II

[dinahsmum]

The ritual on arriving in camp was to find tent space, shed rucksack and go to the kitchen area where a table was set up with tea (mint or ordinary) and arrowroot biscuits, which were extremely welcome. It was also a requirement that all walkers ticked their names off as having arrived safely. Luckily the list was fully ticked each afternoon.
There was one large tent, the ‘social’ tent where the whole group got together for the evening meal and communal activity, the kitchen tent, three sleeping tents which could take 10 at a pinch but were better accommodating 6 or 7 sleepers. There were small tents to suit one or two but those walkers who wished to use them had to erect them themselves. The first to arrive at camp each night had their enthusiasm and endeavour rewarded by digging the latrines – literally holes in the ground, over which the toilet tents were erected.
This was the first time the whole party was together, so as well as the additional guides and camels we met as we first left the road, we were joined by 6 more camels and their cameleers, the camp and kitchen staff and a large truck which was necessary to transport our provisions etc as we were such a large group.
Day time temperatures were very pleasant, like a hot summer day in England, making it just on the hot side of comfortable to walk in T-shirt and shorts (walking boots and two pairs of socks helped keep us cosy). As the light went the temperature dropped rapidly and this meant that our first action on reaching camp was to remove day clothes, shower (we should be so lucky! – washing comprised removing sand and dirt with wet-wipes or baby-wipes) and then putting on our night time layers of clothes, culminating in fleece jackets and woolly hats.
The evening meal, which was always substantial and of remarkable quality considering the conditions under which it was prepared, was ready at 7pm. The group leaders had made a bulk purchase of wine so we were able to buy bottles and we’d also been forewarned that it might be a good idea to take a bottle of duty free to help pass the evenings. However, it wasn’t possible to carry vast amounts of heavy liquids, such as beer or lemonade, so we had to think carefully about what alcohol and what mixer to take! I plumped for a half litre of gin in a plastic bottle and used Gatorade powder made up with locally available water. Who knows, Gin and Gatorade may become the next taste sensation!
Physical needs having been met, there was time to just stop and think about what was happening. WOW, we really were in the desert. Listen, absolutely no sounds and look, a huge bright yellow moon and a sky full of stars. It was possible to take a relatively short walk away from the camp and look at the horizon through 360 degrees. Felt very small and insignificant but decided that it was so beautiful I would sleep out in the open, at least once. However, tempered the urge to get away from it all with the wish not to be too far from human company and compromised by spreading my sleeping bag between two of the large sleeping tents. It had been a long and pretty tiring day, so getting off to sleep was no problem whatsoever. However, the temperature dropped as the night went on and I awoke several times, feeling more and more frozen. Unfortunately discovered that I must be blessed with a percentage of lizard blood, because despite feeling really cold and knowing that there was space inside a tent about 10 feet away, found myself unable or unwilling to squirm out of the sleeping bag and walk the dozen steps to relative comfort. Spent a fitful night, mostly asleep but with periods of wakefulness when I gazed in awe at the beautiful sky above, or listened in horror to the assorted humanoid noises emanating from the tents and surrounding area.

Distance covered 10km.