In March 2006 an eclipse sliced right across the Sahara, from Ghana to the Libyan-Egyptian border on the Med. On its way it passed close to the extinct volcano of Waw Namus in central Libya and it was clear that everyone and his camel would be heading there. Sure enough the place turned into an Eclipse Babylon where tours ops from around the world sought to capitalise on a rare event.
‘Clear skies or your money back’, I crowed confidentially when I pitched my tour. In my mind far better to take it to Niger, where the track of totality passed right between Dirkou and Bilma on the far side of the Tenere desert. On the way we could take in the classic Tenere circuit (right), one of the best fortnight’s you can spend travelling in the Sahara. It includes the Aïr mountains, Arakao ‘crab’s claw’, inscrutable engravings of aliens with handbags and Temet dunes. Then east across the sands to the mysterious ruined citadels of Djado and Orida and the nearby salines of Seguedine and Bilma before heading back through the Bilma Erg and past the Tenere Tree to Agadez.
I secured ‘saharaneclipse.com’ in plenty of time and set up an enigmatic front page (left). Only those who moused over the eclipsed sun found their way to the back pages and booking details. And so about eleven of us from seven countries shuffled across the tarmac of Agadez airport, paid the special ‘eclipse tax’, piled into the loaded jeeps and lit out into the Tenere to see what we could see.
Came the day I was nearly forced to eat my ‘Clear skies…’ boast but a great local crew, the international group and not least the fabulous deserts of the Aïr, Tenere and Djado made for one of my most enjoyable and trouble-free Saharan tours.
Fulgarite (sand fused by lightening)
The passage out of Temet
Camel rustlers heading for Libya
Air drying a cheche
Near Chiriet
Berliet #16, northern Tenere
Temet dunes
Dirkou high street.
Close up of salt pond, Bilma
Mohamed the cook was brilliant
The lone hill of Grein
View from Djado top
Anakom spaceman with handbag
You don’t get this in Algeria!
Camp south of Seguedine
Eclipse day morning – oh shit…
The gang shot from the Tenere tree ‘lighthouse’
The sleeping lambs
Worm fossils near Chirfa
Lining them up
Sun opening up
Pushing out of Temet
Fresh rolls – tagela nein danke!
Djado close up
Passing alongside the Aïr
Engraving near Chirfa
Roll call for the big event
Snake tracks
Nice springs on a Dakar Rally wreck
Blue mountains (marble)
Blue mountain summit
Grein, or Erg Capot Rey
Near Orida arch
11am
We loved the lunch salads
Refuelling mid-Tenere
Agadez mosque
Amazing Djado
Chinese water tanker in Bilma
Campfire
Arakao dunes
Djaba ruins, near Djado
Traders at Arakao
Remains of a Saviem balise lining a well near Chirfa
Filming
Seguedine: the bus to Libya
Filling up at an Aîr well
Our route
Round the back of Bilma oasis
‘Diamond ring’
Showing the locals how to eclipse
Edge of the Djado plateau
Tea time with Mohamed II
A goat for the pre-eclipse feast
Orida arch
The era before kindles and tablets
Mold for salt pillar
Crescent shadows through branches (eclipsian bi-product)
Into Temet dunes
Engraving at Anakom
Petrified rock
Salt pillars and cakes in Bilma
Chiriet Voyages – a great crew
Bilma saline
Hot lunch on the way back to Agadez
Roast goat
Kids in Bilma
Eclipse
11am again
Al fresco dining, near Chiriet
Gros porter heading back to Agadez
The boozer in Dirkou
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