“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs and gleams…” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince.

The name “Sahara” conjures up visions of Lawrence of Arabia, veiled horsemen, caravans to Timbuktu. Long a passageway for those journeying in search of conquests and riches, the Sahara today justifies a destination unto itself for those seeking adventure, tranquility, an otherworld experience. The largest desert in the world, draped across the width of the African continent and dividing it in two, the Sahara remains intensely a part of and apart from nature, at least any you have known. Shapes shift with airstreams, color shifts with light, life flourishes in unexpected forms, constellations are obliterated in the night sky by innumerable points of light. One cannot fathom the stars, the peace, the serenity.

To arrive is integral to the experience. The Sahara is not easily reached, but richly rewarding for those who make the journey. The roads on which you travel are ancient caravan routes punctuated with a thousand kasbahs, mudbrick fortresses and towns that rise mysteriously out of the very earth, only to return, in time, like melting sandcastles. You venture, as did the legendary tradesmen of centuries before, from one oasis to the next - islands of comfort in the midst of nothingness with green valleys, rocky riverbeds, and golden sand. The pavement ends a few dozen miles before Merzouga, a small, baked hamlet squatting on the edge of the Sahara. Ride still farther into the sands on camelback, led by a Bedouin camel guide robed in the flowing blue garb of the Tuareg people. All around you soars undulating hills of sugar-fine sand as you are enveloped by a sense of timelessness, reflection, and clarity.