To shorten our driving time, my British friends and I flew from
Tripoli to Sebha – a one hour flight – before heading out in 3 Land
Cruisers into the Sahara the next morning.

Driving for 5 hours on the highway was very uneventful, except for
frequent checkpoints where we gave the military personnel a formal
paper with a list of all the people in our party including the cook
and his driver.

Driving off-road into the desert sand was spectacular! The first two
days we drove through the Acacus Mountains, black rock structures
draped in pale orange Sahara sand. Our campsites were dramatically
beautiful with untouched dunes to climb and photograph.

While here we delighted in ancient rock art images dating from 10,000
years ago. I especially loved the giraffes and horses, although
everything was interesting. Fascinating to know these and other
animals used to call the Sahara home.

The last two days and nights in the desert we were surrounded the
gracefully undulating dunes, stretching as far as the eye can see,
with nothing else in sight. It was unendingly beautiful!

Highlights of the trip —

Our drivers, each with their own beautiful heart and playful
personality. Have you ever raced up sand dunes at 60 mph and then slid
down the steep side, 200 to 300 feet below? Two of the drivers were
like cubs, trying to out-do the other in speed and driving ability,
never passing the skilled lead driver. It often took my breath away
and was such phenomenal fun!

One of the other women and I went running down one of these steep
dunes, picked us so much momentum we were moving our legs as fast as
we could just to keep upright and then did a full-on face plant in the
next dune. Talk about momentum and propulsion. We never saw it
coming. Good thing about sand – it’s painless!

Another highlight was climbing a 400 foot dune of very soft sand in
the last light of day with our fantastic guide Dave so we could get
high enough to get cell coverage and send text messages to my family.
Then standing in the dark with the sand blowing at our feet and
pulling up a gps map of our location in the dunes. Totally cool! Then
retracing our steps going down, using our headlamps for light in the
now totally dark night!

Also, the last night we had a pretty strong wind so my tent was
blowing a lot during the night and then tried to take off with me in
it the next morning. Our guide posted a video of this on YouTube,
which I haven’t seen yet. I’ll post it when I return. The internet is
slow here so I can’t.

Not to be forgotten, our sweet, tender-hearted cook indulged us with
delightful, tasty meals of couscous, veggies, and camel meat for the
carnivores.

I will always treasure this fun adventure with my British friends!!