The magic of the Algerian Sahara

I am Algerian and I’m writing this to share with you an experience which completely changed my vision on life and also to pay homage to the people there who taught me the principles of existence... blue men (aka the sailors of the desert!)

The first time I discovered the Sahara was in 2014 as part of my master’s research on Desert Hedgehogs and Fennec Foxes , small mammals found in the Saharan regions.

My first investigations were at the Grand Erg Oriental (broad, flat sand dune) in Algeria in a region called Timimoun. It has been the capital of the Gourara for as long as history goes back. The result is that this is the best place to go to meet a multicultural society due to the diverse background of its inhabitants (Harratins, Ethiopians and Zenata Berbers). Nicknamed the Red City where the buildings are made from clay mixed with straw and where the palm tree trunks act as pillars. The Timimoun region is located in south west Algeria in central Sahara about 1540 km from the capital Alger.

My trip didn’t end here at Timimoun. In the search for my little creatures I had to get in touch with the tour guides and do multiple studies. Up to now it had been fine, I was always in the town, a few days spent at the Gourara hotel right in the centre of Timimoun. It was now necessary to head out of the towns! For this, according to the local guides’ recommendations, I had to travel across the Grand Erg’s dunes, and from this moment my life completely turned upside down! The Sahara enchanted me!

I went to the closest village to where my study was taking place, a lost village in the middle of nowhere. It had barely a dozen inhabitants and an old abandoned Ksar (Arab castle), no shops, no supermarkets. I was the girl of the town who spent her time doing shopping! The houses were made of mud. And since there was no hotels nor hostels, I was forced to make contact with the locals and I got to stay in the home of one of them. The host family whose home I stayed in lived in an ancient house made from soil with very very primitive living conditions! No gas, no tap water, no bathroom, no WiFi and the worst out of all of that, there was no network and so no internet. I am very loyal to my email! All they had to provide for their needs was a palm grove where you’d find dates and seeds that they grew. In my head it was out of the question that I would stay here, they had absolutely nothing that resembled normal life, alas I was wrong!

I stayed in this village for more than a month, from my first night at these people’s home I realised how little my life meant. Despite the fact that life had been hard for them, they lived it simply. They taught me patience, bravery, simplicity, and what real happiness looked like. My soul was cleansed. All the words in the world aren’t enough to describe the happiness that I experienced during these days there.

We ate bio. The moments that I looked forward to was when they went to bring me water from the palm grove to take a shower or the evenings when I didn’t have the space they organised for me in my honour. Or even just the nights spent under the stars…so simple but very happy, I was the Queen of the village during my stay, I will never forget them, their expressions will forever be engraved in my memory and my heart, I hold on to my strength from them, ordinarily we’d say that these people are the poorest but in reality they are the richest, their kindness and their simplicity makes them extraordinary people!

Traveling feeds the spirit. My desire is that one day you can also live such an experience! A return to the origins that purify the soul! Relearn how to live!

Those who don’t know the silence of the Sahara know nothing about silence!

See you soon with a new adventure!