The rain was pouring out of the sky from the west as our group headed across the sand and stones of Lac Iriki near the dunes of Ergg Chegega. There was little enthusiasm for a wild camp amongst the the now sodden beauty of The Sahara Desert, so I had made a decision to spend the night at Le Oasis Sacre that sits just off the stone track, halfway into the desert between Mhamid El Gezlane and Foum Zguid.

We arrived an hour or so before dusk during a heavy burst of rain only to discover that the rooms and tents of the Oasis were sitting in an inch or two of water. This flood was being added to all the time from dripping roofs and leaking walls. As rain is a rare occurrence here waterproofing is somewhat low on “the important things to do list”.

Tents it was going to be then – mind you we were able to position ourselves in the lee of the mud walls of the Oasis which offered some protection from the wind. Everyone set about putting up awnings and tents, trying with reasonable success to keep the driving rain out. I at this time was not in the possession of a magnificent awning so made do with a blue plastic sheet that was tucked away in my Range Rover for such contingencies.

I was very pleased with the result: the rain stayed out and I put my chair up to settle down snug beneath my awning to watch the rain hopefully abate. As you can see from the picture the local goats were also impressed with my shelter and came to join me for quite a while, which resulted in my person and awning taking on an interesting fragrance!! They stayed until well after dark and did not leave until the rain had stopped.