Walking across the sweeping dunes one feels the thrill of aliveness. This vivacity made even keener with the knowledge that the desert can take life away at any moment.
These are not places for an idle stroll or an unprepared voyage.
The constantly shifting sands remove fixed viewpoints and the very vastness creates an illusion of movement.
Scattered around this desolation of bewilderment are the remains of those that showed frivolous contempt for the siren sands.
To be here fully is to become the desert itself; to move as the nomad and the dromedary as they lightly glide over the furnace like sand.
It seems that no detail escapes their fearsome gaze. Everything in this landscape is a story, a clue to survival.
The flowing sands become the cardinal points along which the caravans make their unerring way.
A subtle change in shade suggests a place to uncover life giving water.
The Sahara demands our full attention and complete participation, to say nothing of respect.
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Photo courtesy of the author.