Norman's Blog

Sahara from Djanet, Day 5

It was another walk after breakfast from our wadi camping site towards civilisation.

It was an hour's walk to reach the road, tarmac and civilisation and driving on tarmac made a difference after days of bouncing along bumpy dusty trucks. There was also a new road sign telling drivers to beware of cross winds causing sand to drift across the roads which can build up to be the equivalent of an arrestor bed if the driver hits a deep patch at speed.

We passed a road that was signed posted Niger, a reminder that we were just 60 kilometres from the border. Shortly afterwards we turned off the tarmac into the desert. There was no sign but there was a well used track but I was thankful for our guides and drivers as if I was driving myself, I might have missed the turn. We stopped to see the Elephant Rock.

A view looking up the wadi from the Elephant Rock.

A short drive around the corner was a Neolithic tomb, dated approximately to 5,000 BC. It is the tomb of someone important although it has not been excavated. There are several of these tombs in the mountains which have been left uncovered as the sand has been blown off into the wadis and desert floor. There are other tombs but this is the only one with two rings of stones.

A view of the tomb from further up the hillside. It faces east and the rising sun.

A lone acacia tree dwarfed by the expanse of sand and a rocky outcrop. We had lunch in the shade of another acacia tree before heading back to our guesthouse in Djanet.

Sahara from Djanet Day 4

The first rock art of the day, a rhino.

An oddly shaped rock.

A pair of Twin Towers.

Desolate landscape.

Our guide talking us through more rock art.

An arch...

...and another view through a second arch.

A solitary tree.

Another pair of Twin Towers.

Another group of visitors and overlanders in the distance.

The start of a dual carriageway, desert style.

More rock art in red...

...and cows in white.

Giraffes.

At the head of the wadi was a slot canyon and beyond our guide is not sand but dirty water which will clear eventually.

A fossil of a plant, and there were plenty of other fossils in this particular cliff.

A giraffe giving birth...one of the few times a giraffe will be seen sitting down.

We left the national park through a control point and closed a rocky plateau to reach...

...the Black Dunes...

...an area where magnetite which is black and much denser than sand works its way to the surface as the lighter sand is blown away.

And at last, some camels...

...quickly followed by some donkeys, showing that the feed and water situation just here is ideal for them. Then it was on to a bush camp in a wadi.

Sahara from Djanet, Day 3

Sahar from Djanet, Day 3

The routine was to get up, have breakfast and g for a walk whilst the crew packed up camp. A goulakatis plant, growing well and green and left alone by wildlife as the plant is poisonous and the sap can cause blindness. Only goats will nibble the fruit.