About
Welcome to Tasting the sand! This site is about desert adventures.
The idea
Graduating, June 2001
In 2002, two university friends and I travelled to Mauritania with the idea of buying some camels, “training” (whatever that meant) and spending the next three months walking with our camels through the Sahara desert.
We weren’t sure how far we’d get, the plan was just to keep walking until the summer heat became unbearable or our visas ran out.
Preparation
Following an information gathering trip to Jordan, six months of planning and plenty of talking it up in the college bar, we arrived in Mauritania and found we didn’t have much knowledge or experience that was actually useful.
Mishaps
There were mishaps from day one as we searched for camels to buy and someone who could teach us how to handle them.
So in summary…
Tasting the sand is an account of some of the more memorable and entertaining parts of our trip, from the planning stages to the three months we spent in Mauritania.
Mauritania, 8 months later
Although we began as rookies, by the end we had learned to live in the desert with camels, independent and unsupported. We therefore hope that this site can also become a useful source of practical information for any other people who are planning a Saharan camel trek.
Finally, this site is a tribute to Lenny who is no longer with us.
Where to go next: