Feeling the Sahara Desert
It was after a journey of almost ten hours when in the distance I noticed that the flat, rocky land was now replaced by the soft, sandy dunes I have always dreamt of. I was finally in the Sahara Desert. It wasn’t an optical illusion, like those in the movies, where a water spring can be seen after walking for hours under the hot sun. It was the real desert, but it was different from the one I have always pictured. Strange but true, as it was rare it to rain at this time in the year, yet two days before my arrival it had rained. Apparently, the entire summer has been unusual for the nomads and the Berbers who live in the region due to copious rainfalls. I spotted the many green dots of bushes on the flat, rocky land during my endless time on the road, were telling me about this unusual weather. And the huge muddy ponds and puddles, minutes away from the Erg Chebbi dunes confirmed the heavy rainfall my mind has imagined.
The Sahara Desert
As I reached my tent hidden among the dunes, I was like a thrilled child on Christmas day. I took my shoes off impatiently so I could feel the texture of the sand. Finally, I made it to the Sahara Desert. I made it solo. Like running water under a shower, all the stress I built up during hours of loneliness on dusty roads glided. I was still alone, but instead of my thoughts, it was the beauty of this unfamiliar landscape to absorb my mind. Windy shaped soft dunes were covering all the landscape. Climbing them was my only chance to see the horizon. I reached barefoot the crest of a dune, before sunset. I was laying myself down, with my hand and my body sweetly going under the reddish powder. A dark cloud absorbed the sun before I could see it disappearing under the horizon. I meditated and slowly went back to my camp.
“The Sahara was a spectacle as alive as the sea. The tints of the dunes changed according to the time of day and the angle of the light: golden as apricots from far off, when we drove close to them they turned to freshly made butter; behind us they grew pink; from sand to rock, the materials of which the desert was made varied as much as its tints.”
Simone de Beauvoir, Force of Circumstances (1965).
Natural wonders
During dinner time nature all around amazed me, more than I ever expected. I was sitting at my table feasting among morocco salads and tagines when I saw a full moon rising from the dunes. In a few minutes this big, pale, round ball, suddenly lit up the darkness. Before my own adventure into the desert, I’ve seen tons of stunning pictures of the Milky Way which were taken in the Sahara. Great photographers continuously post them on Instagram, and I imagined assisting to a similar natural phenomenon. I didn’t, but my experience of the full moon rising up above the sky from the desert on a pure, black sky drew me into the Sahara. I was there, a small dot in the infinite universe, surrounded by a mesmerizing landscape. Consumed by an insatiable voracity, the next morning I climbed the dunes to admire the spectacle of the sunrise.
