We're Goin' on a Camel Hunt

Sunday night we set out on a camel hunt.

No, not to shoot camels.

Who do you think I am?



We heard that men regularly drive 100 camels at a time from the Western part of the country up north to the next country (forgive my vagueness)...



...and that that they stop at this place around dusk for a rest.



Only when we arrived there was no big herd of camels. Just these guys and some overturned water troughs.

They said the camels left five minutes ago.

Hmm.

In Africa that could mean they left five minutes ago. Or it could mean that they left yesterday.

You just never know.



So we continued the trek.

We're goin' on a camel hunt!



Over the dunes...



There they are!! It really was ACTUALLY five minutes ago.

*shocked*



We drove onto the main road to get a bit ahead of the camels.



I think we got a bit too far ahead.



Where'd they go?



Shouldn't they be over that-a way?



Spotted!



Back on the road to re-position.



Once again we veered off the main road and randomly started driving through the desert.

Still fun!



And there they were! Wow they are fast!



The leader came over to say hello. Only he didn't really say hello. Duh. He doesn't speak English.



There were only these two other guys with him to drive all 100 camels. It takes them a couple months. Crazy, huh?



This lucky little fella was gonna get a ride!




He's taking him away to drive the herd for a bit. So adventurous for a ten year old boy, huh?

Very cool.



We did a bit more driving ahead and walking to meet them one more time.



This was my 'pinching myself' moment. A hundred camels walking right in front of my face as the sun was setting...



Can this be real?



Yup. Really real.

The boy was dropped off and cold sodas were gifted to the men as a thank-you.



We were pretty up-close and personal...



Check out those teeth! H took one look and busted out in tears... "It's gonna eat me!"



Camels are herbivores, right?



When the donkeys were off continuing their trek into the Sahara... the light was PERFECT for portraits! These are our dear friends who experienced every bit of this adventurous trip with us (and got us smoothly through all those checkpoints).



And these are the three sons of our generous hosts. Three boys: 10, 11, and 12!

What a fun camel hunt!