Sahara Sailors, the treasure comes at night

by LEONARDO SOUZA (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Egypt

Sitting at the window of an old 4x4 vehicle, I realized how unique some experiences can be. I was part of a video making crew for an NGO in Egypt, we were there to capture the stunning landscapes and compelling local stories beyond the tourist trail of pyramids and temples. This was my first journey outside of South America. The first new moon of 2018 would be perfect for astrophotography. When I heard about a Sahara expedition group, I volunteered to join. We traveled for four hours until finding our guides on the shoulder of the road, unexpectedly in off-road vehicles instead of camels... without seatbelt, the unfixed seats brought even more fearful thoughts... “What if?”. I sat at the window and held on as best I could and just enjoyed the ride. The warm breeze with tiny sand grains caressed my face and the dunes passed like waves as we sailed across the desert. As we began to lose daylight, our driver abruptly stopped to soak in the sunset. From the top where we parked, we were able to go sand boarding down the dunes with handmade wooden boards. While marvelling at the sun disappearing into the horizon, the unbearable heat transitioned into a refreshing breeze before the cold night consumed us. We returned to find our Bedouin friends had prepared shisha, mint tea and fresh dates. These flavors magnified the sensory overload of that unforgettable moment. The extreme cold arrived in full by the time we made camp. Around us, big tents with thick carpets on the floor, a bonfire in the middle and a full dinner table welcomed our crew to camp. Over dinner we talked shop regarding the schedule and what kind of footage the NGO directors required. Without an electricity source or spare camera parts, we had to be wise and diligent. Preserving the equipment battery was crucial and there was no room for mistakes. While some people choose to stay warm close to the fire, I wandered away from the camp camera in hand. I walked under the most incredible sky of my life. Isolated from the camp’s light pollution, I began the photography session. My tripod was rendered useless on the soft sand which shifted with the slightest touch of the shutter button and blurred the images. Undeterred I took off my gloves to achieve some proper long-exposure photos for ten minutes or so, until my frozen fingers could not press the shutter anymore. I put back my gloves, laid back onto the cold sand and just enjoyed the spectacle. The sky looked like a surreal painting. In complete silence beneath distant constellations and shooting stars, I was transported to another planet. I had never witnessed such a scene. My brain could not comprehend it’s magnitude and so I wept. My tears of joy froze in place on my face. Shaken back to reality, I started to fear the cold again and so retreated to camp with the roaring fire at the center where everyone still was relaxing. With simple hand gestures and just one colleague that spoke Arabic, we tried our best to communicate with our Bedouin hosts and share our life experiences until late into the night. Fully drained of energy, we crawled into our tents to recharge for the next day. The freezing night and the dry environment made that night perhaps the toughest sleep of my life. Sleeping was only possible on account of pure exhaustion. With the first sign of daylight, we were already awake. After all the temples, pyramids and rides on the Nile, people ask me which one was the most memorable in Egypt. By all means each was unbelievable and unique. However nothing in this world compares to those moments spent alone in the dark under the desert night sky.