Desert Caravan

I had arrived in Cairo, Egypt a week ago. Being a retired school teacher and mostly a loner I was starting my further life by working on my bucket list. I discovered that Cairo was a city in a lovely location on the Nile River. Being a fan of author Agatha Christie and her novels I already knew something about this river. I was excited about the possibility of taking a tour boat on the river but first, the most important thing to me was to sign up with a caravan heading to Giza and its iconic pyramids and especially the Great Sphinx.

At the hotel, they put me in touch with guides who arranged these kinds of desert tours. The only thing worrying me was that I wanted to experience all this without having to make any kind of friendly communication with the other caravan members. As luck would have it the caravan I signed up with had four guides for setting up the campsites, cooking, and leading us through the desert, and five more gentlemen who were Japanese businessmen just interested in the wonders of the desert. We met at an assigned place near the Nile, were introduced and each of us was assigned a camel. Now being a person estranged from family with few friends, the way I preferred it for some reason there was an instant rappaport between me and the camel. I chose to name him Boyd and when I called him by name it appeared the camel actually laughed.

As we set off our first stop was to be the Pyramids of Giza. The largest of them the Pyramid of Cheops or the Great Pyramid was fascinating as we were led into the interior. After emerging we visited the Solar Boat Museum which was located right behind this pyramid. The other pyramids explored were the Pyramid of Chephren and the smaller on the Pyramid of Mycerinus.

I was leading Boyd by the reigns when suddenly almost unexpectedly we were confronted by the majestic lion-bodied, pharaoh-faced Sphinx. Never had I seen anything as wonderful as this as I gazed straight up at it. I almost felt giddy as Boyd and I stood side by side. Then the guides said we must proceed along the Nile to the first place where we would set camp. They assisted everyone up on their camels and formed a line. I asked if we were venturing far and one of the guides pointed to a distant but still visible spot. I told him I wanted to stay a bit longer by the Sphinx and that I would lead Boyd by the reigns to the camp. The guide shrugged and set off with everyone and by the time Boyd and I arrived the camp had been set up and dinner was cooking.

That night I had an unusual dream. Tossing and turning, in the hot night, with no soothing breeze to cool I had the strangest dream. The sun was blazing, the sands shifting, grains shimmering beneath the sun, throwing sparkles, eyes needed to shift. Upon camels in the desert, we rode bumping along, tired and needing some rest. The six camels stood by, while we drank cool water from canteens and it seemed my camel was grinning. I stumbled about, looking at the beauty of the desert, spying a cooling, shady place, I stepped forward. Suddenly my camel's teeth clamped on the fabric at my shirt and held me steadfast, as I nearly fell forward. It was but a mirage, I had stumbled toward, the camel knew and he grinned once more. When I awoke, sweaty and unsure, I saw I was in a tent, on the cot I had fallen upon. It was early morn, my grinning camel looked in, so I rushed to get dressed and the caravan moved on.

We were informed that we would be exploring the White Desert. Our caravan entered the White Desert National Park. There were amazing ghostly white chalk rock spires seemingly just sprouting from the ground. As the sands shimmered all around us and the dry desert winds blew I felt as if I was in some desert fantasy. Boyd obediently plodded on and stopped when I pulled on the reins. There would be much more to see and explore but that day the Japanese businessmen requested we set camp early to begin again the next day.

Our caravan found an oasis near the borders of the park where there was a cluster of palms offering shade and a small lake with all kinds of shorebirds. It was a magical setting but I wanted to see more of the desert all around. While the guides were setting up camp I asked one of them if I leading Boyd could step out among the sands for just a bit. He told me that the setting sun formed shadows upon the shimmering sands and this could play tricks with my eyes and what I was seeing. He saw I was eager to be along with Boyd out there for just a bit and told me I would be alright as long as I could turn around and still see the oasis where we were camped. It was all so overwhelming and so beautiful that having ventured forward Boyd and I stood side by side. He gently nudged my shoulder and I patted him on the side. Suddenly an interesting thought entered my mind “Engulfed in the desert's parched silence, I was nothing but another grain of sand in the wind."