Midnight at the Oasis.....

.....Send your camel to bed.

Thursday was the 6 hr drive to get to the Erg Cheggaga desert camp in the Sahara.  It's tucked in amongst the dunes approximately 50 km from the last piece piece of available road and approx 60 km from the Algerian border.  Three hours by 4x4 or 5 days on a camel.  This is also where the  highest dunes in the region are found.  The sand was so fine and soft, similar feeling to the beaches in Cuba.  

There are many camps set up on a permanent basis although you can't see each other when you get there.  Some companies haul everything in and sleep under the stars.  In ours, we had a choice to stay in luxury tents or move mattresses outside to sleep.

Some of the highlights included a 45 minute camel ride into camp, pictures on the dunes at sunset and sunrise, listening to music on the iPods we brought while night descended, supper in a beautifully appointed tent and full moon over us as we slept.  

The constant heat took its toll early in the day for me and I slept most of the way to the camp and turned in much earlier than the others.  However, it was a great day overall.