The view out my window in the swank hotel in Tozeur, Tunisia.
Typical view of someof the driving. Jani on right in back, Vicenzo in the front passenger seat, and our driver (rental cars come with drivers there ).
Folding in the Atlas mountains to the north of the Chott el Jerid.
So a Chott is what the Tunisians call this dried up lakebed -- we call them "playas" in North America. The arab word is "sebka" -- Chott is actually French.
This shot is looking back at the city of Tozeur, a true desert oasis.
A description of the area from co-trip-leader Gian Gabriele Ori from Pescara, Italy (on right with hand up), Geographer Nabil Gasmi from Tunis (striped shirt), and Sedimentologist Vicenzo from Alghero, Italy.(black shirt in the desert).
We arrived just a day or two after the whole area was soaked by heavy rains, so the Chott was full of water! The trip leaders had planned to be out on the dry lakebed looking at sedimentary features, so this bit of luck drove some last-minute changes of plans.
These drainage ditches were dub next to the road. HEre is an interesting erosion pattern draining into the ditch (sapping?).
This partial blockage across the ditch stopped the propogation of ripples. But the wind, blowing from left to right here, started new ones within just a couple of meters.
Here the ripples are damped out near the shore.
Closeup of the materials making up the bottom of the Chott.
These unwise tourists had to abandon their bus about 10-15 years ago when it got stuck in mud in the Chott.
The red color comes from algae.
Some dessication polygons are under the water, here!
The locals made this knight on a camel entirely out of salt from the Chott.
These ripples formed when this area was covered in water that was moving downhill.
You can tell by the shape of the ripples (specifically the location of the slipface) that the water must have been moving from upper-left to lower-right in this view.
These plants are all nucleating small lee-dunes of sand in their wakes!
Nabil describes the formation of these plant-wake sand dunes.
Sand over salt makes for some wicked weathering.
A far-off view of some yardangs, formed by wind erosion of loosely cohesive sand.
Discussing the biology of these sand mounds.
Here we start exploring this AMAZING area of yardangs.
This one's got some loose sand forming ripples next to it.
You can see the bedding of the sand grains well in this yardang.
Such crazy shapes!
We were here long enough that we eventually stopped at this cafe that the sign is for.
Some cavernous weathering.
Ralph takes some measurements.
Falconry is popular in the Sahara.
This guy let us get quite close to him.
Stopping for a drink at the cafe.
Brief video of the falcon.
Climbing up the sand pile in an old-style oasis.
Nabil explains that they used to use this well to drag up buckets of water that they would use to water each tree individually.
Now at a true dunefield on the north edge of the Grand Erg that stretches all the way across the Sahara from here to Mali.
Gian Gabriele on a dune.
Ralph breaks out the Kite-cam.
Check it out -- a person, the kitecam, AND the moon in one shot.
Kitecam and Moon.
Jani Radebaugh, queen of the desert.
Sahara sunset over the Chott. Check out the rainstorm over the road at right.
Sunset from the car as we drive by.