Oudane to Chinguitti
To originally get to Oudane I had to wait a day in Atar till someone was going that way and paid for a ride in a crowded double cab bakkie. Since both Oudane and Chinguitii are small places, getting a ride between them was always going to be hard.
First I paid for a ride on the back of a bakkie going to Atar in amongst some goods. It wasn’t too bad except when they went over ditches in the gravel road and I got the wind knocked out of me. Mostly it was exhilirating. I even managed to catch some shut eye. Then they dropped me at the turn to Chinguitti.
Actually they dropped me just passed the turn and then made doubly sure I knew which to take back. To the right was 17 Kilometers over the mountain desert to Chinguitti and to the left was the way back to Oudane and death.
Anyway there was a couple of loose camels watching me and I was too proud to grab at the driver’s knees and plead: “Please don’t leave me here to die”, so I waved goodbye, grabbed my backpack and started walking down the road to Chinguitti.
To tell you the truth, walking through desert with a giant backpack on and 1,5 litres of water under a burning hot sun isn’t that much fun. It’s not that bad either. It’s only the part where you wonder if you’re going to die that gets to you.
Twenty minutes, two hours or two days later (I don’t know which), I was halfway through my water and nowhere near halfway there. I had passed 6 camels, 5 cars and one guy. I suppose I could have tried to jump on a camel but it’s not that easy to jump on a camel with your backpack on. The cars weren’t going in my direction and neither was the guy. He wasn’t that easy to jump onto either.
Then a car came in my direction. He stopped too. A French couple and their guide in a 4X4 truck. There was no place inside. That’s why I arrived in Chinguitti standing on rider board of a 4X4 holding onto a handle through the window wearing my backpack. I would have taken a picture too if losing my grip didn’t mean a harsh taste of gravel.
Ghalied
November 7th, 2006 at 11:25 am
And what happened next? Reading this article makes it clear how insignifcant we are and if you don;t know your surroundings you could very well end up dead from taking a wrong turn etc. You should in my opinion get a book published on your journey’s “on the otherside of the equator”. Can just imagine how precious water must be.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
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