My Kyrgyzstan crossing on horseback was far above all I expected.
Our Taklamakan desert crossing with camels was a different story…
For obvious raisons I will not tell you all our misadventures, but I’ll try to resume it for you.
Our plan was to enter this biggest sand desert on earth with 9 camels, and, for 7 days, cross it partly, in full autonomy.
At the end of the first day we had travelled 0 km and were still missing 2 camels.
During the second day we crossed villages and fields, hearing lies after lies and making unexpected and unwelcomed encounters.
When, at the end of the 3rd day we still did not see any desert, we stopped everything and returned to Kashgar.
The next day we made a new attempt with another team. This time we drove directly to the desert. With 5 camels and 5 camel drivers we finally entered Taklamakan. Our camels were much better than before, and so were the drivers. But there was our “guide” This guy had just no clue! He was even unable to find the camping place from the day before. After 1 day in the desert we were running short of water. Luckily we discovered it in time and could avoid another disaster.
Overall we might have done about 100km about 1/3 of what we expected
For more incredible details you’ll have to wait till we are back, sorry.
Back from the desert
