Stretching away under the furnace sun, the barchan take on the form of a mighty ocean.
Barely visible in the middle distance. the mountain chain that marks the Algerian border rises above the sweeping dunes.
Yes, this vastness that surrounds me is only a small corner of the great desert itself.
Over three million square miles of unforgiving stone and sand reach out to the cardinal points.
Trackless, pathless and waterless desperation for the unwary and unprepared await within this sensual yet magnificent desolation.
I stand here upon the threshold of the fearsome interior, a place of dread even to the inured nomad of Bedouin and Tuareg.
This is the beginning of the legendary ‘Place Of Despair’ where nothing stirs, other than the restless and shifting sand.
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Photo courtesy of the author.