Welcome to my blog: dreaming of the desert. I wanted to share with whoever is interested some of these beautiful photos from the desert in southern Tunisia. There are many beautiful places to see, but above all you can get to take a few steps into the fascinating Sahara Desert, feel the sand, which is as fine as icing sugar, and observe its changing colours as the sun rises or sets.To venture into the desert ideally you need a 4WD car to tackle the dunes and sometimes rocky "pistes". Otherwise a camel is a peaceful and exciting means of transport across the sand - slow,calm and silent, except for the weird camel sounds. But we also saw people travelling on bicycles, motorbikes or on foot. The desert seems to challenge people to travel across it, an inhospitable element, an awe-inspiring, never-ending space, but one which is full of beauty and peace.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Our final sunset in Tunisia, Christmas week 2006...

Deep in the desert, the abandoned "Star Wars" set: absolutely amazing, you feel as if you are stepping into the film.

This looks like a beach but in fact it's a dried salt lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Southern Tunisia.

Beuatiful palm tree reflected in the pool...

The sun has just gone down and the camels have finished their day's work...

Sunset in the desert.

Desert scenes

Camel shadows

"Is this my best side?"

Camel ride

This is what we all loved - being at the top of a dune...

Ali Baba phones home...better signal up there Ali?

On the "piste" between Khsar Ghilane, everything you need...

Cats under the Bedouin tent...

Eating bread with the Bedouins...

Sitting on a dune...

Night life at the oasis Ksar Ghilane.

Our bivouac at Ksar Ghilane - a solid base with a tented roof and blankets for a door. Electric light provided by a very noisy generator and natural hot water from desert hotsprings.

At last some real Sahara sand and what's the first thing we do? Get our 4WD stuck in it. Fortunately another car spotted our plight and came to help us to push it back down the dune...

Chenini - camels and goats below the troglodyte ruins.

One of the many Star Wars film locations, with the mosque in the background and Ali Baba surveying the scene...

Troglodyte homes , Tatouine: the rooms tunnelled out of the sides of the holes keep cool when the Sahara sun bakes the desert sands.

On the edge of the Sahara, a place called Tataouine where the sand is red and the people live in holes in the ground. But only the hotel had a swimming pool...

All the ingredients for a delicious couscous...

This is where the desert people would store their grain and oil while they were away.

Camels!

Once "on board" we didn't want to get off again!

Riding the camels at sunset in the Sahara.