My destination is the Sahara desert, and I’ve signed up to take a camel trek into the desert to camp. At this point I’ve been 2 long days on the road and am rather tired and worn out. I walk over to the camel that I’m assigned which is lying down in the sand. I bend down to look it in the eyes and let it know that I’m already irritable so I don’t want any problems. The look I get back is from an animal that is without a doubt in a more cantankerous mood than I am. I slowly get onto the saddle, which I notice has been strapped to the camel with reused seatbelts, and immediately the camel rolls to the side throwing me off. I attempt it again and the camel lurches to its feet with the most displeased, guttural noise, the likes of which I’ve only heard from the alien characters in Star Wars. Perched on top of this odd animal and surrounded by a sea of sand dunes, I feel like I’ve entered one of the scenes from Star Wars. And yes, I’m fully prepared for the hard time the Star Wars references are going to get me..

All Images © Ryan Peruniak


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