Two hours before this picture was taken, well south of the dunes in the middle of Lac Iriki called Chegega the horizon looked ominous: A bank of what looked like low cloud, the sort that rolls off the sea on an autumn’s day in Norfolk, stretched from horizon to horizon.

Here in the desert there would be, even if the rain fell, much sand accompanying the water. How much we would not know. Maybe it would just be a sand storm, as at this time of year (November) the west winds blow in from the Atlantic Ocean, whipping the sand into a frenzy, filling the air with a yellow/orange glow.

We stopped near an ancient village, how ancient I did not know, but the signs of people having lived here once were everywhere to be seen: Walls gently turning back into the soil from which they were once fashioned, broken pottery and a nearby cemetery. As we pulled to a stop to explore, just soak up the enormity of the desert (something that is a very important part of my life) the clouds engulfed us. The light was fantastic, with the sun bouncing off each suspended grain, the wind rushing around us, pulling at us and filling the air with sand. It was very atmospheric as you could feel the spirit of the people who once lived here, very surreal.

After a while we moved on into the low sand dunes ahead of us to find a nights camp under some acacia trees near the table top mountain, feeling as though we had just left a long lost place full of the spirit of Lac Iriki.