Iferouane, known as the gateway to the dunes has been a very important community to the Nomad Foundation–we have worked remotely with them for years, but never done a training there. They asked us and we responded–the bright side of driving two exhausting days over rubble and craggy, tire eating rocks is that the return to civilization (Agadez) is through the most beautiful dunes–Chiriet, Ilakan, Kogo.
So after two weeks of non-stop work–mostly in 100+ degrees without air conditioning– we were ready for a vacation. Only a few hours out of Iferouane we stopped for lunch at Tizerzeit to see the 5,000 year old petroglyphs.
We head out–not easily– to the grand erg of the Tenere.
Our miliary escort never far away.
At Sunset we camped at Chiriet–one of my favorite places in the world.
In the morning we decided to tackle climbing the highest dune–the sun was rising behind it.
Becky and I decided to take a more gradual route.
After crawling on my hands and knees–sliding back 2 steps for every 3 forward I stopped to rest–it IS steep.
But cresting the top was WORTH IT!
And then we slid back down on our butts–making tracks like giant sand worms.
To return to the distant camp
Celebrating our feat!
As we move on through the desert–I almost hope to get stuck, a flat tire or SMALL mechanical problem. These are all regular parts of a trip and give us the opportunity to search for the amazing things to be found there–neolithic pottery shards (almost everywhere), stone axes, arrowheads, bowls, grinding stones or fulgurite (glass tubes made by lightning striking the sand) or just pretty rocks. Fatima and I were the most avid searchers.
Knowing it was right up their alley I asked Becky and Pat to bring something to help celebrate halloween. We snuck out from behind our tents dressed as dinosaurs, hedgehogs and mummies, to the music of Michael Jackson’s thriller –attacked–the fearless Tuareg fled–then we did a choreographed dance and removed our masks to reveal mustaches.
Everyone joined in the dancing.
Bahari our cook is the best and most willing dancer–here he dances with Linda to Alhassane’s Tuareg guitar music.
The next day we camped among the blue marble mountains of Ilakan.
The whole (almost) crew says goodbye to the dunes.
But the trip isn’t over without a plunge in the cascade at Timia and a sampling of this oasis’ delicious mandarines, oranges, pamplemousse and pomegranates.
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