Saturday, November 19, 2005
Fruit
In the remaining 5 days in Libya we cover about 2000 km, first to Houn. Unfortunately we choose the worst road in the country, between Sebha and Houn we can drive on the right side of the road on bumps or on the left side with the occasional hole. Those holes are usually as wide as the road and car wrecking. Hans manages to get us and the car safely through and we enjoy the shady side next to a youth hostel. As the only guests we are treated kindly. The manager drives me to a shop where I see nice vegetables and fruit like bananas from Ecuador, pears and apples. I buy large quantities. When the Ramadan period is over we receive a plate full of homemade cookies. Everyone is dressed in his or her most beautiful clothes and visits family or friends like we do on New Year’s day.
The internet cafe is one of the few places open and I manage to upload the stories and read the mail. Funny to see that all commands are in Arabic…
From Houn to Ayabidya is a very long stretch between 8 and 5, but there are not many places in between to stop. We sleep next to a police station in the middle of the town, not very quiet but Rik and Bart play with their toys before dinner like at home! Our guide has to sleep next to our car, no place for him in the station this time. Luckily it is only for one night and we continue to the youth hostel of Cyrene (Shahat) right next to the old Greek ruins. Along the way we stop to see the beautiful mosaics of Qasr Libya with lots of detailed animals and humans found in two Byzantine churches. One of the mosaics displays the old lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, our next country to visit.
From the mosaics the road crosses the beautiful canyon of Wadi El Kuf where fierce battles were fought between Italian and Libyan forces in 1927. Cyrene is cold when the sun goes down so we eat in the bus. It is interesting to see all the people having pick-nicks in the forest around the ruins of Cyrene in their winter coats! I was invited by Syrian ladies to drink a coffee and Rik gets Pepsi cola. They all married husbands who work in Libya, but they go home about every year. Thanks to Rik I am invited, everyone adores him with his blond hair and lovely smile and he often gets sweets, kisses and pictures are being taken of him.
We stroll along the old sport field of the Greek, the temple of Apollo, the statues of Demeter and walk down to the well and more temples. After seeing another set of ruins we are ready to continue to Tobruk, another battlefield of WO II and decide to stop in a small village to sleep at a police station. This means a good place and food for our guide, but under the loudspeakers of the mosque for us. We get used to it but 5 o’clock in the morning is still pretty early to wake up. But there is new border crossing ahead and it’s time to go. Our last Libyan money was spent in Tobruk buying diesel, water, more fruit and bread. As our guide does his first trip he does not know that we have to hand in our license plates in the village before the border, so we have to go back, ask a few times and he takes our 40 dinars for the plates. Ok, that means he does not get any extra money as we had in mind.
Leaving Libya is still a lot faster than getting in and after 1 hour we are welcomed by the Egyptians. This feels good. Hans gets forms to fill in and the whole family needs to go to the officials and the passports are stamped within 15 minutes while Bart hands out sweets. The import of the car takes a lot longer. First they disagree with the engine number so we have to wait for an expert to confirm, then Hans needs to go from one office to another, change money, get copies in another office and in the meantime we wait, play soccer, have lunch and hope everything works out well. When he shows up with two Egyptian license plates we are happy, put them behind our windows, pick up an Egyptian license card and can continue!!! Egypt here we are, the road is pretty good and the scenery is nice. We try to spend a night in Marsa Matruh on the parking of a luxury hotel, the receptionist agrees but the manager does not. Too bad. In the end we just get off the road, park next to a small school and are allowed to spend a night in some small village. Rik enjoys chasing the donkeys and chickens and we are immediately invited by a local family. It is time to learn some Arabic now although we always seem to find someone who speaks some English.
On Monday we travel all the way to Cairo by desert road. In El Alamein we visit the Italian WO II memorial, a nicely kept garden around it, a small chapel and an old tank. Further down the road we pass the German memorial and a small Greek one. So many lives ended too early…
We try to follow the directions to the campsite and drive straight past the pyramids, but the 2nd canal to turn right never shows up. We see McDonalds and dream about French Fries and ice creams. Unfortunately it is impossible to park the car somewhere and enjoy some. Besides we expect the camping offers something too. Wrong, when we get there it only offers a dusty field, shabby showers and toilets. No cold drinks, no ice creams, but we can see the pyramids. There are also other travelers and we find time to get into contact with them, exchange information and have a good time with Susie and Daniel. They left Germany in April 2002 and are on the way back now… I go shopping with Susie in a Carrefour and I am amazed by everything they sell. I forgot about it in the past 2 months and go wild about broccoli and buy a car load full of stuff including a usb card reader to upload pictures from the digital camera.
I also go in the tuk tuk with Rik to visit an Internet café with them and it’s a nice experience. We have even more attention this time. Rik thinks it’s great and wants to go again in the tuk tuk. Susie drives him and Bart around the campground on our last evening, the boys love it.
On Tuesday it is time to pick up Grandma from the airport. As the traffic is quite crazy and busy, Hans and Bart go by taxi. This is a luxury tour from now. Grandma is happy to see everyone in healthy conditions and unloads enormous quantities of nice cookies, Dutch cheese, peanut butter, Santa Claus gifts and together with the goodies of Carrefour we have a lot of stuff to stow in the car. Somehow it all finds a place, including the nearly empty bags of grandma. She will sleep in a room and Bart sleeps with her. We have dinner, breakfast and lunch together and head for the pyramids the next morning with our own car. It is still quiet and we can park right under the Cheops pyramid. What a great moment. We walk around, do not climb a camel, see the other pyramids of Chefren and Mykerinos and climb down to see the famous Sphinx guarding the pyramids. Impressive to see even though we all know the pictures. The funny thing is that the pyramids look much bigger from a distance though. Maybe because they tower above the whole environment and you can not compare them when you are too close. The road goes in between the pyramids and even we can drive there with our own car. What an experience.
The next day we go by taxi to the Egyptian museum and are nearly returning when we see the large crowd waiting to get in. Inside it is ok and we see the treasures of Tutanchamon very well. The 2 tombs and the famous mask are beautiful, such detailed work. There are also chairs, guards, jewellery and pottery on display. Bart likes the puppet houses and the small boats. Rik enjoys riding around with his new toy cars. We are impressed and use grandma’s book to walk around the first floor and ground floor. The museum is not as big as we expected it to be and certainly not as dusty. Hugh statues from all over Egypt were brought to the museum and as we have not yet visited any sites it is difficult to imagine where they were found. We learn about various kings and queens and decide to visit the internet café to update the Dutch site using the usb stick for the first time. It works well although there are only 2 computers of the 10 with an usb port.
The next morning we leave the busy city full of smog behind us and follow the Western Desert road to Bahariya. Nice and quiet and clean air to breath again. There are regular checkpoints where we have to say khamsa hollandi (5 Dutch persons) and the place we go to. No problem to continue. Around 3 we arrive at Ahmed’s Safari Camp to find many flies, a better room for grandma and a garden full of goats, turkeys, chicken, rabbits and doves for the children to enjoy. As grandma becomes ill we take it easy, Hans cycles into the village of Bawati to buy cola and more fruit with an old lady and the children feed the animals. A nice day to relax but we have no idea where the hot springs are. When we leave we find out they were behind the camp!!! From Ahmed’s many people visit the Black Desert, Crystal Mountain and White Desert, spend a night under the stars and return. Grandma offers us the trip and as she feels better we decide to go. Around 11 we leave after packing all kinds of necessary items. We follow the main road and leave it a few times to see sand dunes (small ones), climb a black mountain to enjoy the moonlike surroundings, see crystal mountain and black desert flowers made of stone. Finally we leave the road and continue through the sand among beautiful white rock formations to set up camp. Two cars are parked in an angle, large pools with cotton are attached to the cars to create a windshield, some sheets on the floor, mattresses on top, small tables for the food, the campfire is lit and a nice meal prepared by the drivers. We have some time to walk around, see the moon rising and the stars shining. A bit later than usual we enjoy chicken, rice and vegetables in this beautiful area. And after the chocolate dessert it is time to put the boys in bed. Rik sleeps in his own bed, wearing extra fleece socks and a shirt and Bart sleeps in his clothes, fleece shirt with his head covered in a sleeping bag. No complaints about this unusual situation, no, we are proud of our 2 small globetrotters adjusting themselves so easily!
In the evening I walk to the other Ahmed camp to enjoy the drumming, small cups of tea and the campfire. Our French fellow travelers already go to bed by 8.
The next day we decide to return with our own bus and sleep next to the White stone mushrooms before the sand gets too soft. It is another nice experience because we see a desert fox roaming around us in the evening. But waking up under the stars or in your own car is completely different. And to watch the sunrise in your sleeping bag is also a great experience that cannot be rivaled by waking up in your car.
From the White Desert we continue to the oasis of Farafra where we buy new fruit, small oasis bananas and bread before we continue to the oasis of Dakhla. More desert stretches, but somehow livelier than in Libya. The oasis are also much bigger and we see a lot of green patches, palm trees and white egrets feeding. We are surprised by the old town of El Qasr in Dakhla. Houses made of clay, a pond in front and green grass surrounding it. The hotel towering above also has a towering price so we continue to the town of Mout. The Sol y Mar hotel has a hot spring but is full, so we stay next to hotel Mebarez but enjoy Grandma’s shower inside. We walk into town to buy local yoghurt for 0,25 £E, white bread, soft cheese and expensive but tasty apples that have traveled a long way to be sold here. They grow a lot in the oasis but we do not see apples, the dates they eat here are still unripe in our point of view, but the local people seem to enjoy them.
The next day we continue to the oasis of Kharga and I get a feeling that we are being followed by a Peugeot 405. Since Farafra Hans has to sign papers that we do not want a police escort and when we stop at a gas station we are surrounded by police cars. We have to move to a diesel pump and a guy (obviously important but he did not introduce himself to us) orders us to put the license plate in a better position, another officer says: Where do you go? So I already get a bit angry by the whole affair. Filling up the diesel I ask him what the problem is but he ignores me, that irritates even more…Now I am sure we were being followed. A blue car waits for us and wants to follow us to the Kharga Oasis Hotel. I tell the officer he can drive in the front and show us the way! They are Tourist police but do not know this hotel and stop in front of a filthy place saying this is it. Don’t think so, our guide books tell us about a palm garden and there is no sigh of a garden here. Another hotel dares to charge us 50 pounds for camping in their garden while we pay only 14 at Kharga Oasis Hotel. No thank you, we move on and park the van between the palm trees and enjoy the view from Grandma’s balcony. She invites us for dinner and we have soup, chicken, rice, mashed potatoes and a salad and fruit as dessert. The funny thing is they never ask us what we like to drink!
From Kharga we drive straight through the dessert to Luxor, the first kilometers with the blue car again, further on we have no problems passing the check points. Before Luxor we already enjoy the green fields, small clay houses and find the campsite Rezeiky without problems. An oasis in the city with overland travelers to talk to and within walking distance of the Luxor temple and the Karnak temple. In the afternoon we stroll along the river Nile and see the cruise boats Grandma took 3 years ago. In the morning we visit the Luxor temple and enjoy the various statues, the obelisk (other is in Paris, France), the carvings of gods, animals and Egyptian letters. Bart loves the animals and Rik recognizes the owl. This time we do not resist the McDonalds and order a McArabia meal and ice cream. A real treat with a view on the temple complex.
Karnak temple is even bigger the next morning and the 134 columns standing so close to each other are very impressive. The columns are papyrus rolls and some are decorated with Amon-Re the god of this enormous temple complex. The Luxor temple was a branch of Karnak and in between the road (2km) was lined up with sphinxes. There are more obelisks and statues, but also some ceilings and walls still covered with paint. Busloads of tourists are guided around but we happily stroll without a guide, just reading the explanation in the guide book to avoid an overload of information. The afternoons are spent on the balcony, reading books, drawing with the kids, typing stories and drinking tea.
Pictures
Our night in the White Desert meeting the fox, Egypt
The first temple in Egypt this trip, Luxor
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
English little
On a Friday we drive to the border, a little excited and knowing that other travelers have spent hours waiting before all was arranged. We had no idea that Libya is one hour ahead of Tunisia so we arrive 1,5 later than agreed. That does not mean our guide is waiting for us. No there is simply no one there. We easily leave Tunisia, because foreigners are allowed to go first. Thank you, we will not take a place in the enormous and chaotic queues but enjoy our special treatment.
Other guides wait under the huge portrait of Khadaffi and help us to park behind some other tourist cars. They even make telephone calls but no one answers…. Fortunately the highest official here speaks some English and calls the manager of SariLibya travel his friend so we keep some faith. All of a sudden a men shows up hardly speaking any English but carrying our names in his papers and starts arranging things. But Dutch turns out to be translated as German and that is certainly not in our passports…. Big problems, hours go by, Friday is here like a Sunday in Europe, and 5 hours later they tell us to return to Tunisia and come back the next day. Hans does not accept this, speaks to people on the telephone, the highest official, walks around with Rik to speed up the process and it helps!!! Finally we get one stamp in his passport and 2 license plates to cover our Dutch plates, change 200 Euro for 32 notes of 10 Libyan dinars each and have a guide with limited luggage and limited knowledge of English in our car for the next 17 days.
The first kilometers to Sabrata are not easily forgotten as the road has large holes, Libyans make a 3 lane out of a 2 lane road and think that other drivers know where they go. No lights are used to show they are turning right or left, even if you approach they will still enter the main road from the side. All signs if any are in Arabic and therefore it is a complete madhouse. But when we get to Sabratha our guide asks for the hostel and the receptionist is Moroccan and speaks French. What a relief not to depend on a guide you can hardly communicate with. Once the camper is parked in the garden and we enjoy a cup of tea, soup and the view on the old Roman theatre we relax a bit. Okay, the first day in Libya was long and tough, but the team did a great job and the children behaved very well.
The next morning we walk to the old ruins and enjoy the huge theatre the most. Sabratha is situated on the coast and that is also nice to see. The new town of Sabratha is not our cup of tea so we only focuse on buying bread at the baker. Just try to find a building with a high and dark chimney on the top. A whole bag of freshly baked bread for ¼ dinar is not bad and highly subsidized.
We try to follow our schedule this time and continue along the coast around the capital Tripoli to the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna. At lunchtime we already park our car in parking area no 1 and can sleep there for the night. No other travelers around, but a lot of other tourists around to see the Roman remains. We wait for the next day, but it is hot and humid and the road in front is like a highway. Traffic continues all night so we are the first to visit the site the next morning and wander through the Arch of Septimus Severus on the old roads to the enormous bath house of Hadrian, large churches, market squares with marble fishes that Bart enjoys and are very impressed. Especially by the size of everything. We find a toilet area where the Romans obviously sat together to do 2 businesses at the same time, as there were no doors but everyone sat in a circle!
After such a bad night it was time to change the schedule and leave for the mountains. Our guide lives in Yefren so we decided to drive there. He could sleep at home and we park in front of his house under some olive trees. Only 24 degrees in the afternoon was so nice after all the heat. It was a long and exhausting day but the idea of sleeping in the sleeping bag because it would be really cold was quite attractive! The next day we started at 9 to drive towards Ghadames. We never thought to cover 600 kms that day but we did. There was no place to see and while Hans keeps the boys happy with fruit, stories and drawings I drive. As everything went so fast we just kept on going and after Derj we see dark clouds and expect rain. What a mistake to make: it was a sandstorm heading our direction… I could hardly see the road in front of me but because the locals continued I turn the lights on and continue as well. It seems we drive for hours covered in the sand but shortly after another police check the wind dies and by the time we reach Ghadames all is visible again. Around 4 pm Hans parks the car in the sand on the campsite of the Al-Waha hotel. Stuck for the first time…With some help from French campers we soon get out and find a better spot with electricity and even a tree with some shade. The desert is a lot more empty here then it was in Tunisia. Even the oasis town of Ghadames is pretty barren compared to Tozeur or Douz. There is no place to sleep for our guide, we offer him a bed in our camper, but he prefers to sleep under our sun/rain cover beside the car.
It is nice to meet other travelers even if they travel in a group. We even get to see their program and copy some of their sleeping spots into our guidebook. Until now I only met one South African who was lucky enough to travel without a guide on a 21 day transit visa issued in Bern, Switzerland. Everyone else travels with a guide. Other French we meet even pay 50 euro a day plus food and accommodation so we call ourselves lucky paying half of their price.
We explore the new city to by fruit and vegetables and are pleasantly surprised at the various items for sale. It seems that it is even easier to shop here than it was in Tunisia. Nowadays Ghadames has 2 internet cafes but the connections are slow and only half of the Dutch update is copied from a disk, the other half is lost and later I try 3 other computers they all fail. Too bad, because we have pictures we want to upload to the site. Anyway being so far from the world where the radio lost contact, the mobile phone is useless it is already a miracle there is an internet connection at all.
The old city of Ghadames is a treasure. Abandoned in the late 80’s for modern houses it is still maintained and people start to return in the hot summer months. The houses are built very close to each other and there are many covered streets. It is surprisingly cool when you wander around. Also the skylights every few metres create a special atmosphere. There used to be 7 families each with their own living areas, mosques, squares for parties and gatherings surrounded by walls protecting them from strangers. The water source was equally divided and this system was so precise they even used it to measure their time in the past.
Bart and Rik have the time of their lives exploring the narrow and sometimes very dark streets. Nicely decorated doors show that the owner made his trip to Mecca and small holes contain lamps to lighten the streets even during the day. Sometimes the route brings us along some walled gardens, with small streams of water and the boys get all excited about that. We easily spend 3 hours and see one house from the inside. It is decorated with a lot of copperware, various false windows, cupboards in a wild mix of colours and carpets and cushions on the floor. Quite comfortable for a house in the desert.
The decision is taken, we head for more desert and go to the south. Already at home we discussed whether to go or not go. As we have seen enough ruins by now we like a sand dune experience. Not with our own campervan of course. But we can follow a normal road all the way to Tekerkiba and hire a 4 WD over there. To get there we drive 2 days in a row, not much to see, some wild dromedaries and some sand dunes trying to cover the road. With an average speed of 120 km hour you can get a long way and we spend the night behind the police station of Al Shwareef. Rik and I get invited to see the dromedaries that are kept by some locals and receive a bag full of peppers, mint leaves, onions and other fresh vegetables from their garden. One of them speaks some English, his sister and brother not at all. Still we have a nice time although Rik is somewhat afraid from their baby dog of 7 weeks old.
At Tekerkiba camp site the sand dunes nearly hit the campervan. When we lay in bed we can see the sand dunes, what a view. The next day we hike up through the sand and enjoy the daily fruit in this magnificent place. Bart runs up and down the hill and Rik tries to follow. We are happy we are here to enjoy this experience.
The next day we visit the 4 Ubari lakes in a Toyota 4 WD with the manager of the campsite who speaks a little English as our driver. He knows his way around and the car is quite new compared to some of the cars we see over here. Sometimes I feel like being in a roller coaster when we go up and down the sand dunes. Hans sits in front and I am quite happy in the back with Rik and Bart next to me. Bart is all excited and Rik says: sand, everywhere sand. As far as the eye can see there are only sand dunes in a red colour. We are certainly not the only visitors here, cars are visible regularly and all head for the same lakes. Mavo lake is our first lake, a miracle to see a real lake in the sand, surrounded by palm trees and reed, birds and high sand dunes right next to the lake. The next lake Gebrouin even had a village until 1991 and people still go there for a swim. They float in the greenish water but we prefer to play with the sand and enjoy this beautiful place. Have lunch, enjoy the music some people play on a flute and a drum and have a great time. The third lake, Um-al-Maa is supposed to be the nicest, but the light is not very favorable and therefore we spend more time playing in the sand building a real fortress than taking pictures. The last lake is completely dry, trees are still there but only mud in the middle. Hopefully not all the lakes will end like this one.
A little shaken and certainly tired but very pleased with the whole experience we get back to our own car only to leave this special place with a certain sadness. Our Libyan trip is finished, but we still have five days to go and a lot of kilometers to cover.
Other guides wait under the huge portrait of Khadaffi and help us to park behind some other tourist cars. They even make telephone calls but no one answers…. Fortunately the highest official here speaks some English and calls the manager of SariLibya travel his friend so we keep some faith. All of a sudden a men shows up hardly speaking any English but carrying our names in his papers and starts arranging things. But Dutch turns out to be translated as German and that is certainly not in our passports…. Big problems, hours go by, Friday is here like a Sunday in Europe, and 5 hours later they tell us to return to Tunisia and come back the next day. Hans does not accept this, speaks to people on the telephone, the highest official, walks around with Rik to speed up the process and it helps!!! Finally we get one stamp in his passport and 2 license plates to cover our Dutch plates, change 200 Euro for 32 notes of 10 Libyan dinars each and have a guide with limited luggage and limited knowledge of English in our car for the next 17 days.
The first kilometers to Sabrata are not easily forgotten as the road has large holes, Libyans make a 3 lane out of a 2 lane road and think that other drivers know where they go. No lights are used to show they are turning right or left, even if you approach they will still enter the main road from the side. All signs if any are in Arabic and therefore it is a complete madhouse. But when we get to Sabratha our guide asks for the hostel and the receptionist is Moroccan and speaks French. What a relief not to depend on a guide you can hardly communicate with. Once the camper is parked in the garden and we enjoy a cup of tea, soup and the view on the old Roman theatre we relax a bit. Okay, the first day in Libya was long and tough, but the team did a great job and the children behaved very well.
The next morning we walk to the old ruins and enjoy the huge theatre the most. Sabratha is situated on the coast and that is also nice to see. The new town of Sabratha is not our cup of tea so we only focuse on buying bread at the baker. Just try to find a building with a high and dark chimney on the top. A whole bag of freshly baked bread for ¼ dinar is not bad and highly subsidized.
We try to follow our schedule this time and continue along the coast around the capital Tripoli to the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna. At lunchtime we already park our car in parking area no 1 and can sleep there for the night. No other travelers around, but a lot of other tourists around to see the Roman remains. We wait for the next day, but it is hot and humid and the road in front is like a highway. Traffic continues all night so we are the first to visit the site the next morning and wander through the Arch of Septimus Severus on the old roads to the enormous bath house of Hadrian, large churches, market squares with marble fishes that Bart enjoys and are very impressed. Especially by the size of everything. We find a toilet area where the Romans obviously sat together to do 2 businesses at the same time, as there were no doors but everyone sat in a circle!
After such a bad night it was time to change the schedule and leave for the mountains. Our guide lives in Yefren so we decided to drive there. He could sleep at home and we park in front of his house under some olive trees. Only 24 degrees in the afternoon was so nice after all the heat. It was a long and exhausting day but the idea of sleeping in the sleeping bag because it would be really cold was quite attractive! The next day we started at 9 to drive towards Ghadames. We never thought to cover 600 kms that day but we did. There was no place to see and while Hans keeps the boys happy with fruit, stories and drawings I drive. As everything went so fast we just kept on going and after Derj we see dark clouds and expect rain. What a mistake to make: it was a sandstorm heading our direction… I could hardly see the road in front of me but because the locals continued I turn the lights on and continue as well. It seems we drive for hours covered in the sand but shortly after another police check the wind dies and by the time we reach Ghadames all is visible again. Around 4 pm Hans parks the car in the sand on the campsite of the Al-Waha hotel. Stuck for the first time…With some help from French campers we soon get out and find a better spot with electricity and even a tree with some shade. The desert is a lot more empty here then it was in Tunisia. Even the oasis town of Ghadames is pretty barren compared to Tozeur or Douz. There is no place to sleep for our guide, we offer him a bed in our camper, but he prefers to sleep under our sun/rain cover beside the car.
It is nice to meet other travelers even if they travel in a group. We even get to see their program and copy some of their sleeping spots into our guidebook. Until now I only met one South African who was lucky enough to travel without a guide on a 21 day transit visa issued in Bern, Switzerland. Everyone else travels with a guide. Other French we meet even pay 50 euro a day plus food and accommodation so we call ourselves lucky paying half of their price.
We explore the new city to by fruit and vegetables and are pleasantly surprised at the various items for sale. It seems that it is even easier to shop here than it was in Tunisia. Nowadays Ghadames has 2 internet cafes but the connections are slow and only half of the Dutch update is copied from a disk, the other half is lost and later I try 3 other computers they all fail. Too bad, because we have pictures we want to upload to the site. Anyway being so far from the world where the radio lost contact, the mobile phone is useless it is already a miracle there is an internet connection at all.
The old city of Ghadames is a treasure. Abandoned in the late 80’s for modern houses it is still maintained and people start to return in the hot summer months. The houses are built very close to each other and there are many covered streets. It is surprisingly cool when you wander around. Also the skylights every few metres create a special atmosphere. There used to be 7 families each with their own living areas, mosques, squares for parties and gatherings surrounded by walls protecting them from strangers. The water source was equally divided and this system was so precise they even used it to measure their time in the past.
Bart and Rik have the time of their lives exploring the narrow and sometimes very dark streets. Nicely decorated doors show that the owner made his trip to Mecca and small holes contain lamps to lighten the streets even during the day. Sometimes the route brings us along some walled gardens, with small streams of water and the boys get all excited about that. We easily spend 3 hours and see one house from the inside. It is decorated with a lot of copperware, various false windows, cupboards in a wild mix of colours and carpets and cushions on the floor. Quite comfortable for a house in the desert.
The decision is taken, we head for more desert and go to the south. Already at home we discussed whether to go or not go. As we have seen enough ruins by now we like a sand dune experience. Not with our own campervan of course. But we can follow a normal road all the way to Tekerkiba and hire a 4 WD over there. To get there we drive 2 days in a row, not much to see, some wild dromedaries and some sand dunes trying to cover the road. With an average speed of 120 km hour you can get a long way and we spend the night behind the police station of Al Shwareef. Rik and I get invited to see the dromedaries that are kept by some locals and receive a bag full of peppers, mint leaves, onions and other fresh vegetables from their garden. One of them speaks some English, his sister and brother not at all. Still we have a nice time although Rik is somewhat afraid from their baby dog of 7 weeks old.
At Tekerkiba camp site the sand dunes nearly hit the campervan. When we lay in bed we can see the sand dunes, what a view. The next day we hike up through the sand and enjoy the daily fruit in this magnificent place. Bart runs up and down the hill and Rik tries to follow. We are happy we are here to enjoy this experience.
The next day we visit the 4 Ubari lakes in a Toyota 4 WD with the manager of the campsite who speaks a little English as our driver. He knows his way around and the car is quite new compared to some of the cars we see over here. Sometimes I feel like being in a roller coaster when we go up and down the sand dunes. Hans sits in front and I am quite happy in the back with Rik and Bart next to me. Bart is all excited and Rik says: sand, everywhere sand. As far as the eye can see there are only sand dunes in a red colour. We are certainly not the only visitors here, cars are visible regularly and all head for the same lakes. Mavo lake is our first lake, a miracle to see a real lake in the sand, surrounded by palm trees and reed, birds and high sand dunes right next to the lake. The next lake Gebrouin even had a village until 1991 and people still go there for a swim. They float in the greenish water but we prefer to play with the sand and enjoy this beautiful place. Have lunch, enjoy the music some people play on a flute and a drum and have a great time. The third lake, Um-al-Maa is supposed to be the nicest, but the light is not very favorable and therefore we spend more time playing in the sand building a real fortress than taking pictures. The last lake is completely dry, trees are still there but only mud in the middle. Hopefully not all the lakes will end like this one.
A little shaken and certainly tired but very pleased with the whole experience we get back to our own car only to leave this special place with a certain sadness. Our Libyan trip is finished, but we still have five days to go and a lot of kilometers to cover.
