Other than the graceful palms nothing moves, no understory is visible, no food available.
Yet the searing desert sands tell another story.
As the sun sets so the desert comes to life, for this is the place of the night walkers.
Away from the fearsome heat, the dunes reanimate and within a short distance one sees the spoor of scarab, jerboa, gerbil, the magnificent Fennec fox and the sight of the final act of an animals life as that fox catches its prey.
This is a carnal calligraphy written by the most ancient of hands, it is the original tale of the Arabian Nights played out under the incomparable beauty of the Saharan night sky.
As one sits in the sable gloaming one senses the abundance of invisible life participating in the great Barchan ecology.
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Photos courtesy of the author.