4x4 desert magic at the turn of the year — Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the Sahara

After a hear­ty break­fast, we con­ti­nue the next mor­ning towards Tataoui­ne, which gave its name to the desert pla­net from Star Wars. Here we fill our fuel tanks one last time befo­re we spend the night on Christ­mas Eve in the dream­li­ke set­ting of a desert camp, in tents of the abso­lu­te luxu­ry class. Each tent has its own bath­room.

Our ride in the dunes beg­ins the next day. We face a chal­len­ging pas­sa­ge right at the start. A bar­ri­er of impo­sing dunes, which we have to con­quer, blocks the ent­rance to our desert adven­ture. Tog­e­ther and with the help of our expe­ri­en­ced gui­des, we mas­ter this chall­enge.

Over the next few days, our rou­te is deter­mi­ned by the cour­se of the dunes. Only a rough direc­tion is given to us… we are drawn fur­ther and fur­ther in a south-wes­ter­ly direc­tion. Our days are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by fin­ding the best way through end­less sand hills. Our jour­ney is like sur­fing on waves of sand. Pure dri­ving fun! On the way, with a bit of luck, we will meet Alge­ri­an desert nomads with their camels and learn about their way of life in this end­less sea of sand and rub­ble, which is so unknown to us.

A high­light (31.12. / New Year’s Eve) of our unfor­gettable desert expe­ri­ence — we cele­bra­te New Year’s Eve in the sand… Our team is sure to have a sur­pri­se or two in store to make this evening some­thing unfor­gettable befo­re we reach Lac Richet, or the lost lake, tog­e­ther on 01.01. — Inschal­lah — whe­re you can take a refres­hing dip in the sulp­hu­rous water at a plea­sant water tem­pe­ra­tu­re of 35 degrees to wash away the tired­ness of the long New Year’s Eve par­ty from the pre­vious evening.

We set up camp for the night slight­ly off the bea­ten track in a breath­ta­king desert set­ting. If you haven’t had enough thrills yet, you can let off steam on the high rid­ges of the sur­roun­ding dunes and try one or two very steep des­cents.

The next few days are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by varied desert pas­sa­ges, a colourful mix of dunes and dirt tracks and camp spots in the abso­lu­te silence of the end­less Sahara…we just let our­sel­ves drift along.

Our local team con­sists of expe­ri­en­ced desert gui­des, cooks and a mecha­nic. Every evening we set up a lar­ge tent and are pro­vi­ded with fresh­ly coo­ked din­ner and break­fast. This allows us to keep the sup­pli­es in our vehic­les small and save weight. An unbeata­ble advan­ta­ge on this chal­len­ging tour through the foot­hills of the Grand Erg Ori­en­tal.

*sub­ject to fer­ry con­nec­tions not yet available