On the bus, I meet Richard and Veronika, a couple from the Czech Republic who are also going on the desert tour with Houssan. The bus ride is freezing cold, no heating, and there is also no toilet... After asking for the 2nd time after a 3.5-hour ride, the driver takes an unscheduled bathroom break.
Nevertheless, I manage to get a few hours of sleep before we arrive in Hassilabied at 6 a.m., where Houssan picks us up and takes us to the accommodation. The sky is clear and we can see many stars :)
In the morning, Richard, Veronika, and I explore the village and the desert landscape a bit. It's absolutely incredible to be in the middle of the desert. I have never seen such a landscape before. But despite the sun, I wear long clothes, I'm curious how cold it will get at night...
In the late morning, we start our tour to our camp in the desert. Besides the Czech couple and me, there is only one person from South Korea. We ride on our camels towards the dunes... it was an incredible and unique experience :)
Houssan grew up as a nomad until he was 8 years old. He tells us a lot about his Berber culture. In the evening, by the campfire, we make music together with drums, tell jokes and stories.
As it becomes more cloudy at night, we unfortunately don't see as many stars as the night before when we arrived. At night, it gets really cold. We are a small group, so each of us has our own tent, and although I also take the blankets from the other empty beds in my tent, I still wake up at night because of the cold.
After sunrise the next morning, we ride back to the house. Instead of booking any touristy desert tour, I am very glad that I had this experience with Houssan and was able to support a small family business.
