Sunday 5 September 2010
Allocated room share at the hotel was organised by Tom, our Charity Challenge manager. Unfortunately, odd female numbers caused Linden to share me. Linden was participating on the trek with her partner Oliver. Linden seemed ok about this, although I was concerned I had prevented them from commencing their Sahara trek experience together from the start off point. Tired, still not knowing each other too well at this stage, we go to our room to get some rest before another early start. The first day of trekking and sleeping in the desert waiting for us.
We have breakfast, meet our desert guide Ibraham, receive a quick brief and begin to hand over rucksacks or bags before boarding vehicles at 08:30 hours, taking us to the Gateway of the Sahara Desert. Ibraham had scheduled a quick supermarket stop to purchase drinks and other refreshments one required. I headed straight to the postcards, collecting a selection of topical pictures to add further daily journal updates to post home. Whenever I travel abroad I write postcards to myself. This helps me monitor and create further moments of reflection after my travel adventures.
The start of the journey is a smooth, comfortable tarmac road. We all begin to feel the heat change. Wind blowing into the vehicle reminds me of the heater I try to hide under my desk at work. I forever feel the cold. I turn my office into a sauna for the gents at work, while I still complain I'm cold. My excuse at work for using the heater, even at times during the summer was "its part of my training for the trek!" I already make a vow to myself with the heat I am experiencing blowing into the jeep, never will I complain about being cold again. I am craving for cold at this point. I am trying to visualise ice on my neck and a large freezer door open releasing cold into the atmosphere.
Our Sahara support team prepared and handed out food parcels and 1.5 liters each of bottled water. Taking a lunch break, sitting under a tree to try to cool down, we sit to savour the contents of our food parcels. Basic food, but kindly put together, we fill the hunger gap with local homemade bread, cheese, boiled eggs, a tomato and very sweet orange. Simple food but actually tasty and very satisfying. As we sit together starting to gel as a team, we notice children appear from nowhere. It was actually very uncomfortable for most of us being watched from all directions of "never eat Shredded Wheat!"
We return to the trekker jeeps for a rough and bumpy journey to the Sahara Gateway. At 14:30hrs we suddenly grind to a holt, tyres stir up sand into very hot dry air. Most of are thinking, some verbally ask "Is this the start?"...Sure is! A second instruction to mask ourselves in sun factor, get further water rations and grab our daypack. The mini adjustment to our new environment has commenced. Only a two hour walk to Fezzou camp base number one is scheduled. This provides an opportunity to start the feet and mind working for the rest of the trek scheduled. We were greeted with a sand storm, all trying to mask face and or eyes to enable us to see as we walk to first base.
I am starting to feel excited, although sight is challenged. On occasion I visually capture the sand dancing and witness ripples form on dunes, while there's an amplified sound of silence (so hard to describe) broken with the song from the storm. The heat is fairly strong, although clouds form a dull cast affect. The odd plops of rain are welcomed, warm but somewhat help to cool. At times the wind starts to challenge at this early stage, pushing against me as if trying to prevent me from moving forward.
I have mixed thoughts and feelings as we approach our first base and what will be our first night sleep in the desert. Although the mini trekking taster was somewhat amusing, will I be equally amused when distance, and of course time, increases from tomorrow? One can only wait and see, I remind myself. Three tents for trekkers to find a spot to sleep, three slim canvas tents, two set up as squat toilets and one for washing, are provided and erected by our wonderful Moroccan support crew. Tom suggests that due to being out numbered by female trekkers the ladies have two of the sleeping tents and the gents share the third. Two couples are part of the team and they go along with this to assist and build the group "pull together" relationship. We choose our selected spot for rest take off boots, rest for a while before our evening meal is served.
Naturally there is a variety of age and personality, but I think my co-trekkers will agree, that we all felt excited and acted like big kids settling into our new environment. The Sahara big kids where joined by some of the local Berber children, on looking from a sand dune above camp with immense curiosity. Given time, the big kids and little kids join hands to play jumping down the sand dune. The fear of high jumps or tumbling seemed none existence in the Berber children, jumping as high in the air as possible. There were a few tears from two little ones, but any discomfort experienced from their sand bombing was short lived when comforted by their friends and encouraged to play more.
Eventually the sand dune "high" and "long jump" game had to cease. Dinner is called by our Moroccan crew family. A further explosion of excitement erupts when we are served the most amazing chicken and chips dinner. This was not what any of us expected. I could see that the crew, from the smiles on faces, appreciated our appreciation. We eat our meal outside, night starts to fall fast and the camp seems to settle and become peaceful due to a combination of tiredness and the Sahara stars finding their place in the night sky. I cannot describe how amazing and magical the sight is, but what has stuck fast are the sweet words of Ellie "The stars make me want to cry, they remind me of my loved ones." Sentimentally, I do not think I could have thought of such an emotional description that I too could relate to. A further glamorous and girly description was Justine's who thought the sky reminded her of glittering sequins stitched to a heavy blackout blanket used in theatre backdrops.
Allocated room share at the hotel was organised by Tom, our Charity Challenge manager. Unfortunately, odd female numbers caused Linden to share me. Linden was participating on the trek with her partner Oliver. Linden seemed ok about this, although I was concerned I had prevented them from commencing their Sahara trek experience together from the start off point. Tired, still not knowing each other too well at this stage, we go to our room to get some rest before another early start. The first day of trekking and sleeping in the desert waiting for us.
We have breakfast, meet our desert guide Ibraham, receive a quick brief and begin to hand over rucksacks or bags before boarding vehicles at 08:30 hours, taking us to the Gateway of the Sahara Desert. Ibraham had scheduled a quick supermarket stop to purchase drinks and other refreshments one required. I headed straight to the postcards, collecting a selection of topical pictures to add further daily journal updates to post home. Whenever I travel abroad I write postcards to myself. This helps me monitor and create further moments of reflection after my travel adventures.
The start of the journey is a smooth, comfortable tarmac road. We all begin to feel the heat change. Wind blowing into the vehicle reminds me of the heater I try to hide under my desk at work. I forever feel the cold. I turn my office into a sauna for the gents at work, while I still complain I'm cold. My excuse at work for using the heater, even at times during the summer was "its part of my training for the trek!" I already make a vow to myself with the heat I am experiencing blowing into the jeep, never will I complain about being cold again. I am craving for cold at this point. I am trying to visualise ice on my neck and a large freezer door open releasing cold into the atmosphere.
Our Sahara support team prepared and handed out food parcels and 1.5 liters each of bottled water. Taking a lunch break, sitting under a tree to try to cool down, we sit to savour the contents of our food parcels. Basic food, but kindly put together, we fill the hunger gap with local homemade bread, cheese, boiled eggs, a tomato and very sweet orange. Simple food but actually tasty and very satisfying. As we sit together starting to gel as a team, we notice children appear from nowhere. It was actually very uncomfortable for most of us being watched from all directions of "never eat Shredded Wheat!"
We return to the trekker jeeps for a rough and bumpy journey to the Sahara Gateway. At 14:30hrs we suddenly grind to a holt, tyres stir up sand into very hot dry air. Most of are thinking, some verbally ask "Is this the start?"...Sure is! A second instruction to mask ourselves in sun factor, get further water rations and grab our daypack. The mini adjustment to our new environment has commenced. Only a two hour walk to Fezzou camp base number one is scheduled. This provides an opportunity to start the feet and mind working for the rest of the trek scheduled. We were greeted with a sand storm, all trying to mask face and or eyes to enable us to see as we walk to first base.
I am starting to feel excited, although sight is challenged. On occasion I visually capture the sand dancing and witness ripples form on dunes, while there's an amplified sound of silence (so hard to describe) broken with the song from the storm. The heat is fairly strong, although clouds form a dull cast affect. The odd plops of rain are welcomed, warm but somewhat help to cool. At times the wind starts to challenge at this early stage, pushing against me as if trying to prevent me from moving forward.
I have mixed thoughts and feelings as we approach our first base and what will be our first night sleep in the desert. Although the mini trekking taster was somewhat amusing, will I be equally amused when distance, and of course time, increases from tomorrow? One can only wait and see, I remind myself. Three tents for trekkers to find a spot to sleep, three slim canvas tents, two set up as squat toilets and one for washing, are provided and erected by our wonderful Moroccan support crew. Tom suggests that due to being out numbered by female trekkers the ladies have two of the sleeping tents and the gents share the third. Two couples are part of the team and they go along with this to assist and build the group "pull together" relationship. We choose our selected spot for rest take off boots, rest for a while before our evening meal is served.
Naturally there is a variety of age and personality, but I think my co-trekkers will agree, that we all felt excited and acted like big kids settling into our new environment. The Sahara big kids where joined by some of the local Berber children, on looking from a sand dune above camp with immense curiosity. Given time, the big kids and little kids join hands to play jumping down the sand dune. The fear of high jumps or tumbling seemed none existence in the Berber children, jumping as high in the air as possible. There were a few tears from two little ones, but any discomfort experienced from their sand bombing was short lived when comforted by their friends and encouraged to play more.
Eventually the sand dune "high" and "long jump" game had to cease. Dinner is called by our Moroccan crew family. A further explosion of excitement erupts when we are served the most amazing chicken and chips dinner. This was not what any of us expected. I could see that the crew, from the smiles on faces, appreciated our appreciation. We eat our meal outside, night starts to fall fast and the camp seems to settle and become peaceful due to a combination of tiredness and the Sahara stars finding their place in the night sky. I cannot describe how amazing and magical the sight is, but what has stuck fast are the sweet words of Ellie "The stars make me want to cry, they remind me of my loved ones." Sentimentally, I do not think I could have thought of such an emotional description that I too could relate to. A further glamorous and girly description was Justine's who thought the sky reminded her of glittering sequins stitched to a heavy blackout blanket used in theatre backdrops.
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