Riding a camel is not really an overly enjoyable experience. Yesterday afternoon we headed out, but only went like 10 km before we stopped for the night. Today is the big day of the trek. We’re travelling around 65 km out and then taking a vehicle back. Much better than retracing your steps in my opinion. The march though is already starting to get to me after only 4 hours this morning. For one thing, my ass is killing me. These saddles that the Tourag use really aren’t overly comfortable. Tim wisely used his brand new heavy blanket from China to sit on. He unfortunately left his nice Dogon blanket on the truck from Tonka and I doubt we’ll manage to get it back. This afternoon I’m going to try that too though. Who really cares if my Dogon blanket reeks of camel, it already smells like millet. It really isn’t very pleasant riding though, and I think anything I can do to protect myself will be a good idea. Maybe I’m just being a wuss about the situation; I know I’m bitching... that’s lame. And the camels are pretty cool animals. They’re just beasts, that’s really the right word for them, beasts. And they roar (or whatever you call a camel sound) just like the Tauntans from Empire Strikes Back. Very cool.
Our guides are fairly unused to dealing with tourists, but at least they do both speak passable French. Well, about as much as me anyways. Last night we slept out under the stars on our straw mats that we picked up on the boat. And we used our blankets to keep us fairly warm. We stayed beside a Tourag tent that housed some friends/family of Mohammad, our second guide. We could still see the lights of Timbuktoo which was a little depressing, but thankfully at least we weren’t too cold. Hopefully the desert won’t be as cold as the river was. We might actually have issues with trying to get 3 people into the tent after all.
Right now, we’re breaking for a bit, out here on the Sa’hel, about to eat some lunch. By tonight we should be out to the dunes apparently. I’m tired though, riding really is hard. I’m sure in retrospect I’ll really appriciate this trek, but for the moment at least I need a rest.