I was lucky enough to meet up with a Dutch couple while travelling in southern Tunisia. Together we arranged a desert safari to the edge of the Sahara known as the Grand Erg Oriental. I can't pretend that we were thousands of miles from the closest watering hole, building, cafe or cous cous shop, but it certainly was a magical part of the world. The sand here is so fine is coats absolutely everything - your skin, clothes, tent, sheets, camera, eyes. Everything. Walking along the dunes is such a blast: you have the ultimate control: to climb the slopes, ascend ridges, conquer each peak or simply follow the dips through the valleys and bowls. The wind here is something fierce and constantly shifts the sands, blowing off the crests and landing on the leeward side of each dune. Walking is difficult and covering any decent distance is nearly impossible. Getting lost is another real possibility as the wind covers your tracks quite quickly. And of course, each dune starts to look just like all the rest pretty quickly.We tried to maximize our time in the desert: two afternoon treks, a sunset trek, and another one after dark to stare up at the endless galaxy and hope for shooting stars. It was wonderful. Another small German group was in camp at the same time and we shared some great meals with conversation switching between French, German, and English. One treat is desert bread: a fire is started, the coals then spread around and bread dough is poured onto the sand. This is then covered with more coals and sand. At some point, the bread is flipped and the baking complete. Kinda like desert bannock except the end result does not have a single grain of sand anywhere on it. Impressive.
