Across the Sahara
In 2004 I accompanied the first World Food Programme (WFP) convoy to pass through Libya. It left from Benghazi on the north coast and journeyed down through the country to Al Kufra on the edge of the Sahara desert. From there the convoy crossed the desert bringing food for Sudanese refugees from the war in Dafur living in camps in neighbouring Chad.
We travelled in old Mercedes lorries, nursed along by their skilful Libyan drivers and Sudanese mechanics. The whole trip took just over a month, which included a ten day break for Ramadan in Al Kufra. Goats were carried on the top of the lorries and slaughtered periodically to be served up in big communal bowls.
The Sahara was, contrary to my expectations, very varied. In spite of the picture below I saw few sand dunes like those of the movies and the sand seemed to be a different colour nearly every day. It was also cold at night and often took a long time to warm up in the mornings.
Our final destination Chad was, and is, one of the poorest countries in the world, leading to the strange and unusual situation of the Sudanese refugees entering the country often being richer than the local inhabitants.
