Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Make Way for Prince Ali!



Admittedly, riding a camel through the Sahara reeks of cliche tourism, but I felt like it was something I might as well do. Despite having camel crotch (use your imagination) for the next few days, the trip was well worth the 12-hour, no bathroom, no air conditioned, overnight bus ride to get there. Camels are not as moody as people make them out to be, but they sure do have gas.

Amanda, Rasheed, Mohammed and I set up a tent to hang out in, playing cards, exchanging stories and laughing late into the night. It was eerily silent as we took our sleeping bags out to bed down under the stars. I'm used to falling asleep to crickets and frogs, but I guess there's just no life to make sound out there.

I woke up with sand in every imaginable orifice and everything I ate for the next day had a distinguishable grit to it. Interesting side note...we were following the ancient trade (mostly slaves) route to Timbuktu, which would've only taken us 52 days by camel. For my own comfort and my posterity's sake, I called it quits after 1 night.


3 comments:

  1. I am officially jealous! I have always wanted to ride a camel! That last picture is priceless.....I absolutely love it!

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  2. Hey man... let's not criticize the fools who do the "tourist" things. They are known as touristy things for a reason... They're freaking great!
    Sounds cool. Sounds a little uncomfortable having sand in every orifice. Every orifice??!!! yum.

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  3. owen bytheway... I agree with Bonzai. That picture is superb!

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