We've spent the last 3 days in the Great Western desert - it's part of the Sahara between the Nile Valley and Libya - and have been afforded some of the greatest adventure on this journey so far. We stayed last night at a simple Bedouin Desert Camp in a small village in the middle of nowhere. Our accommodation was a thatched roof Bedouin hut and we were the only Westerners for miles.

We spent the day exploring the desert oasis. Dates are grown in abundance and the palm trees are beautiful breaks from the desert formations. As if the white and black sand mountains, high ridges and rolling dunes weren't enough scenery, there were desert hot springs right next to our camp! THey were perfect for dipping your feet into on a cold desert evening. (Although anything more than your feet and you'd be melted to the bone! It was HOT!)

The highlight of our experience was sitting around a desert campfire with half a dozen local Bedouin men who were adorned with beautiful scarves and head shawls. We drank plenty of hot, sweet, (okay,... very, very, very sweet...) mint tea while they chatted away and we listened intently while they sang some local Bedouin tunes using a tin top table as a percussion instrument. Mark entertained all of them with his declaration that local Egyptian football team Zamalek were lousy but another local team, Ali, was great! Heide was also the source of much amusement particularly (for reasons beyond our understanding) while wearing her hat. It was fascinating that she was accepted so readily as an equal into the circle when the men readily admitted that a Bedouin woman would not be allowed. Overhead was a brilliant three dimensional canopy of starts. Neither of us wanted the night to end.

From here we will continue our desert travel to the Dhakla Oasis by bus. Unfortunately there is no way to reserve seats so we may have to stand for the duration of the five hour trip.

Next Entry: January 22, 2004