Erg Chebbi to Hasi Labied

Woke up a little damp this morning.  The tent leaked, mattress was wet, the rugs damp and the whole thing smelt of wet camel.  Oh joy.  Remind me again why I like this stuff?  Oh yeah that’s right its an adventure!

I went out into the dunes trying to find a spot that no one was using and where no one could see me from the top of the dune.  I ended up giving up since there wasn’t anywhere and settled for a dune not currently being used and that the camp could not see me.  Louise just decided to hold on.

We were dressed, ready and waiting in record time both of us on the same page wanting to get back to the Kasbah, nice hot shower and clean clothes.  The others slipped out of their tents and it was the first question everyone asked ‘did your tent leak too?’  At least ours wasn’t the only one.  We soon found out why our tent had smelt like wet camel when our guide ducked into what had been our tent and came out with the blankets and promptly saddled the camels with them.  No wonder there was the smell of wet camel!

It took about two and a half hours to wind our way through the dunes back to Hassi Labied and the Kasbah.  We were headed into the dining room for breakfast and met up with Joani and Dena who were just finishing their breakfast so came over to join us.  They told us that we were all flooded in.  We were not really all that surprised given the amount of rain we’d had but were at least grateful that we had booked the night in the Kasbah already so at least we had a room.  Dena and Joani were stuck here in Hassi Labied but did not have a room as the Kasbah was full and they had been intending to leave this morning.  We offered them beds in our room since it is large and already had three beds in it they only had to get the Kasbah staff to pull in an extra bed.

Two American girls, Esther and Lilian also joined us and they were going out on an overnight camel trek heading out in the afternoon.  We assured them that while we got wet that we had still enjoyed it.  Turned out they did not have a room either since they were heading out to the desert camp so we said they could spend the day relaxing in our room to use the shower and toilet etc.  Our room was fast turning into a half-way house for stranded back packers!  Still it was fun chatting to the girls and we didn’t have any plans except to relax, just as well since the road was flooded.

So that was our day, we read, listened to music and generally talked with the girls until it was time to wave them off as they headed for their own adventure.  Louise taught them her mantra ‘It’s an adventure, its an adventure….’ and all about the ‘Jesus bar’ so they were as prepared as we could make them.  We waved goodbye then with a little chuckle went inside and had a beer.

Dinner that night was a buffet with soup, salads, different types of tanjines and once again the kitchen out did itself.

Joani and Dena brought a bottle of red wine to share with us to thank us for the offer of the room and they ended up sharing it with us even though they had ended up with a room since some of the people who had booked had not been able to make it through the flood waters.

It was an enjoyable evening and towards the end music started up and even Hassan joined in playing the drum.