Monday, May 14, 2012

Trekking through the Al Liwa Desert - a scene from Camel-ot

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson


I decided to do a sunset camel trek today. I went out with my guide at about 6:00pm to get the camels and it was still about 108 degrees at this time. But I decided I may never have this chance again so off we went. We trekked for about an hour through the Al Liwa Desert and stopped near some relatively flat ground near a large sand dune which I insisted on climbing to get a picture of the sun setting, which was spectacular!  I counted about seven different colors of sand in the desert. My guides offered us some water and camel milk yogurt and snacks and then back we went on our camels until we reached our starting point. All in all a great experience but a couple of things. Camels are very big when standing up and you must really hold on to the saddle and lean back so as not to fall off when they stand up. Also, it is to easy on the legs riding on a camel for a long time because they are wider than your legs and their gait is sort of bouncy. But they are the life line of the desert and the Bedouin people (nomads) still depend on them greatly for survival for their milk (from which they also get cheese) for their hide from which they make clothes and other materials for their homes and as pack animals for transporting them and their possessions as they move from place to place. They also eat their meat and it is considered a delicacy to these people.


  After my ride, it was still about 105 degrees at 8:00pm, so I took a swim in a desert pool under the starry black sky- PRICELESS!









Our local guide helping us mount
A spectacular desert sunset!













Ashley is ready to challenge anyone to a camel race!















Aracelis in her take on modern Bedouin women's fashion while Ashley tells her she is moving too slow!



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