Waking up this morning at the chipper hour of 4 AM took a significant amount of mental effort to convince myself that this was a "good idea". After making sure that Mike and Adam were also among the living we headed downstairs, cameras in hand unsure as to what this morning's camel ride would bring. Getting into the jeeps that had been hired to drive us out to the desert I had to deal with the conflicting urge to get my few extra minutes of shut eye, or watch the stars over the moonscape in front of me. To watch the first signs of dusk creep over the Eastern mountains was a serene transition, to contrast the bumpy ride we took to get to the camels. After about half an hour of driving we found ourselves pulling into a group of camels awaiting our arrival. One slightly disconcerting aspect of getting on the camel was the way it went from a seated position to standing, rocking back and forth, providing a rather disconcerting moment where I wasn't sure how to move my body weight to remain stable.
After mounting our rides for the short trip across the sand dunes, the experience became, as I am betting was intended, that of being on a small caravan wandering the Saharan sands. At the base of a large dune, our guides stopped the herd, helped us dismount and led us to the top of the dune. Walking, or in my brief attempt, running, up the dune took considerable effort. One trick my guide showed my was to walk up the edge of the dune, which did seem to reduce the effort required.
Waiting for the dawn to rise over the mountains and dunes was an impressive sight that I won't soon forget.
With the day broken, my guide showed me how it was possible to slide down the dunes. By rapping my saddle blanket around myself, he was able to pull me down the hill side in what felt like a tenth the time it took to walk up the dune. As the sun truly broke into dawn, we got back into our jeeps to go back to our hotel and sleep, but not before capturing this one last view of the desert morning.
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