Woke up this morning at 7.30 with a beam of sunlight streaming through the flaps of the tent directly on to my face . It was a much nicer way to wake up then to the sound of an alarm . I grabbed the washbag and headed off for a shower before all the hot water disappeared . It was really peaceful walking through the camp and great to have a minute on my own.
The kids were still asleep when I got back so the silence in the tent was a novelty.
On the way back from my shower I had noticed a jeep with a roof tent which looked like it could sleep four people . I wouldn’t be the most seasoned camper so had never seem one before . Eric went off to fetch some coffees and on his way back got chatting with the jeep owners . It was uncanny , they were Nick and Sara Loxton from Bath on a six month break from their business in the furniture industry for the same reasons as ourselves . They took their ten year old son , Fred out of school and took off for a trip driving from England with their final destination being South Africa and are loving it . It was great to meet another family doing something similar to ourselves. We had covered similar ground from Turkey onwards but they are heading for Egypt and working their way through Sudan while we are heading east . We could have chatted to them all day but time was short and we had to go and fit some desert sightseeing before our 2.00 pm pick up .
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Outside the gates of the camp we met Abdullah , a local bedouin . He had a four wheel drive and took us out for an hour and a half . I was hoping for a camel trek and he said he would find one much to my delight .
We drove to the sand dunes first which are orange in colour and all of us had a roll down the dunes . We passed the Nabataen graffiti etched into rocks which are over 2000 years old . After he brought us to a little cave which was where T.E Lawrence of Arabia hid out during the Arab revolt . Finally , on our return to the camp we came across a lone camel. He had no saddle so I couldn’t get on him but we were able to perch Elka up for a photo . If you ever want to really get away from it all this is the place .
Our night in the camp including beautiful food ,beers , wine and any number of soft drinks came to €140.00 for the four of us .
The jeep ride was €35.00 for 90 mins so no wonder Abdullah can afford 2 wives and 9 kids and god knows how many sheep and camel !