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Published: October 10th 2006
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Going up?
I hold on as my camel rockets up to its standing hight of about 2.5 meters I live right next to the premier tourist destination of Mauritania, Chinguetti. As you can imagine, this is not quite like Disneyland, but it is enough to draw a few “eco” tourists from all over to the world. Until the last week, I never took full advantage of my location, and I’m very glad I finally took some time to see what’s to be seen in the Adrar, Mauritania.
A group of old friends from my training class and sector (Small Business) were coming up through Atar to tour Chinguetti to do a camel trek, and I decided to go with them. I had some appointments I had to blow off, but I decided they weren’t too important, and work would only get more intense as my service continued this year. I threw on my pack and jumped in the truck with them as they passed through. I and my friend Ann rode for a few hours in the back seat squeezed between a short, large woman missing most of her teeth and a young man who looked like he would soon be losing all of his. My other traveling companions decided to save some money and spread out
SED in an Oasis
Myself,Aaron, Mike, and Ann hang, having made it to the oasis. by riding in the flat bed.
When we arrived late at night, we had to find Sam. Sam is stationed in Chinguetti, and whenever volunteers pass through Chinguetti, we stay at his house and take advantage of his hospitality. We ate a great dinner, watched a movie on his laptop in the 3 hours he had electricity, and went to sleep.
The next day, when we were about to leave, a man in a Howlie came to the door and said that he had lost some camels, and could only find 2 of the 4 required camels. I asked Sam about this later, apparently the herders just let the Camels roam freely, assuming they’ll come back eventually, which turns out to be true, but obviously they don’t keep to schedules. We said we preferred to wait, but the next day, it was the same story, so we decided to go with 2 camels.
Once we got out on in the desert, it was a whole new experience. The dunes create a landscape more akin to sea than to land. Soon after we started, the city was over the horizon, and all we could see
Posing
I, my guide, and my camel strike a pose in all directions were the dunes and the blazing sun in a cloudless sky. There were no plants, rocks, or anything to serve as landmarks, only the shifting orange sand. I suddenly realized how some people manage to get themselves killed here, without enlisting local help, it would be easy to lose one’s way and never find it again.
We, on the other hand, were traveling with 2 guides who were Sam’s friends, who had probably made the 3-4 hour walk thousands of times in their lives. They walked through the desert with amazing speed and seemed to have no question at all about which direction into the featureless sand we ought to be heading. Because we had only 2 camels, I walked in on the first day, and keeping up with the guides and their camels was a bit of a chore, especially in the loose sand. The embarrassing thing was, the guides were fasting. That is, they were not allowed to eat or drink while the sun was up, so they did the trek the whole morning with no water, while I rationed and easily went through a liter and a half.
We walked
Hiking
On my day on foot, I swish through the dunes. to an oasis, and when we got there, I was surprised to learn that there was still a village around the Oasis. There are still people living out their lives in a community that is only accessible by a half day’s camel trek. Our guides moved the baggage under the trees which are supported by this Oasis, and immediately collapsed. We took a break too, similarly wasted even though we had been drinking water and just barely keeping up.
We dined that afternoon and evening on unleavened bread from flour we had brought, and a marinara sauce we put together from tomato paste and some tuna. In Mauritania, it is very rude to eat without inviting everyone in the immediate area to eat, so we made plenty of food for all the children who were, as usual, staring at us as though we were aliens from another world. When we invited them, however, they would not come and eat. When we were done, we offered to give them the leftovers. They agreed, and rapidly ate them all. The adults didn’t eat because they were fasting for Ramadan.
After a relaxing night where I got the opportunity to share experiences with my old friends, we started back. This was my day to ride the camel. The guide got the camel to its knees, and I climbed up on the seat, stepping on its leg, and held on. The guide raised the nose ring, and the camel quickly rose to its full height. It was a good thing I held on, because otherwise I might have fallen the considerable distance to the ground.
The whole way back I was violently rocked with each step, but I soon learned to move with the camel, and the ride was pleasant. The camel walked over any dune without a problem, even as the people were struggling in the sand, and made the rider feel on top of the world.
My whole Saharan expedition was priceless, and one of the great perks of being here in PC Mauritania.
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Brandon R
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Watch out Rick Steves
Another Great Blog, (although not one to forward to Oprah like the last one), glad you were able to take a nice trip. Sounds like you've been doing a lot of great projects and they've been really interesting to read about. Best of Continued Luck! So if this is Disneyland was the camel the only ride? Still probably better then any experience they have...