Day 10 - Dakhla Oasis

Trip Start Nov 04, 2008
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Trip End Nov 23, 2008


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Friday, November 14, 2008

Our last full day in the desert began like the others. Early and cold! Unfortunately my sleep was disturbed with the shits again. I had to trek across the 'lunar' landscape to the nearest rock out of view to piss out of my arse! Anyway, today was the last day with Tash Tash and his crew so after breakfast we handed over our tips for them and said our goodbyes. It felt like a luxury to get back into an air conditioned bus. It was back to Farafra to the local market to pick up some fresh fruit and veg for our lunch on the road. We also picked up some treats like chocolate and fizzy drinks before we got under way.
 
There is not much to tell about the journey other than we stopped for lunch after 100km then again for me to get out and take a dump because I still have the shits, The toilets at our lunch stop were just too bad to use no matter how desperate I was! After the 300km trip, we stopped in Al Qasr to visit the old city, which is more or less in ruins but is in the process of being repaired, ad walked around for a while. No one lives in the old city any more but it was interesting non the less. We got there more or less at the same time as a large tour group so we were trying to avoid them throughout the tour. From the main town we drove 15 mins or so until we reached our meeting point with our hosts for the night.
 
First of all we had to unpack all our stuff from the roof of the coach and pack it onto the back of a pickup truck. All of us then jumped on as well and drove a short distance to our camels-in-waiting. We then proceeded to mount the beasts and before long, we were off. Our rides seemed comfy at first but after a while we began to get saddle sore and had to resort to side saddle. Most of the camels were older but mixed in were the small and young in our caravan. All were females and the pace was slow, especially when they kept stopping to eat. We needed the herders to keep us going. The worst part was when a camel had a piss, others would drink it! Eventually we got to camp where we had the option to sleep in a tent or outdoors. Best of all, there was full alcoholic beer! It was so good to taste it again after a hard few days. Although it wasn't cold, it hit the spot. Since then we have had tea, which for me was the best I have had in the desert, and watched William get drunk. The locals have been great fun and even laid on some entertainment for us. We have been singing and dancing and clapping (my hands are red raw) and generally having a good time. We have seen a scarab beetle ant it is our latest night in the desert out of the four. Back to civilization tomorrow.
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