The Sahara Desert

Sahara: the greatest desert in the world, rending Africa in two, with its endless mountains of sand, dunes that stretch beyond the imagination. Evenings of such clarity one can see the literal dome of the earth, and fall asleep counting the innumerable stars - one forgets how many there are. This is the land of camels, and nomads, of ancient songs and the great winds. The Sahara is a challenge, not easily reached, but richly rewarding those who make the journey. To get there, one travels along ancient river routes, lined with oases, blooming, green lifelines that extend like veins into the heart of the desert. Along these ancient paths are constructed the ksar and kasbahs, mudbrick fortresses and towns that rise mysteriously out of the very earth, only to return, in time, like melting sandcastles. Most famous of these is the Draa Valley, the land of a thousand kasbahs, starting point for trans-Saharan camel routes of old, when tens of thousands of camels would make the perilous, many-months journey across the sands to bring back treasures from the East.