johnsunter.com - The adventures of an ordinary person...

Me standing in the black desert.

Only about 20% of all desert is made of sand, most of it is made of rocks like this one.

You can get an idea of the size of the desert and feeling off isolation from this picture.

A picture of the sand dunes at Erg Chebby.

During the afternoon heat, the only place to be, was in the shade, but in the morning, wandering around the dunes gave an immense sense of calm and peace.

I like to think of the dunes like a great white shark.

Its beautiful to look at, but deadly. A few hours here with no equipment and water, and you would be dead as surely as if you fell into the water, next to the shark.

A few of the team walk around the sand dunes in the early evening.

Walking along the ridges was the only practical way to cross sand dunes.

Walking up and down them, no matter what your fitness, was exhausting.

Some of the interesting people I saw in Morocco.

Here a person earns a living, simply by fixing bicycles and repairing punctures.

Some children play football, barefoot, in the black desert.

Me standing at the top of the Dunes.

One of the strange things about desert, is that when you are wandering in the dunes, there is a sense of isolation, but back at camp, There was none.

There was only one tree, in our camp, and as a city dweller, it was strange to feel "on display" and have no "corner of your own" I got over it after a few days, but its one of the extra experiences you get from being in the desert.

The Sky before last light.

Me standing in the street in a small Moroccan town as we head back.

I loved walking around towns like that, it reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark (except for Coca Cola and television !).

As we were travelling out of the desert, I saw some nomadic Berbers, who live in the desert, miles from anywhere.

Having lived isolated in the Dunes for just 5 days, and seeing how hard it was, I had nothing but respect for these people.

Me standing in the mountains at the top of the Todra Gorge (around 6000 feet).

There are a lot of pictures of me in this section.

On the way back, we are treated to a delicious hotel meal, and a camel ride to the high Dunes.

Here, the Berbers help Pat, mount the camel for our trek. The white camel in the picture, is the one I would ride.

Once at the top of the high dunes, we bivvied out.

In the morning, we watched the sunrise, and then travelled down to the hotel to have breakfast.

I had dried bread for breakfast each morning, and when I went to the toilet after 8 days, I thought I was going to damage myself.

Casting shadows in the Dunes.

We relaxed for the last 2 days. Since our background is UK bushcraft, a forest provided the ideal place to do this, and we were able to light fires/carve spoons and just get our own space.

One of the more Charismatic characters on the trip, "psycho" Lee insisted that we load the fire up with wood, so that it would dance.

Here is a picture of it Dancing.

After 2 days of relaxing, we had a night in a hotel just near the border (the Moroccan border we crossed, was like the bar in Star Wars !) and made our way back to Gibraltar for our flight home.

We briefly stop at the side of the road for a team photograph.

Although the desert craft of the Berbers is unquestionable, there photography isn't, and they manage to cut my out of the picture (maybe it was something I said !).

Exploring North Africa with Survival School (2/2).