Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Chott el-Jerid

From Tozeur, we drove to Douz at the northern edge of the Sahara Desert, through Chott el-Cherid.  


On the map, Chott el-Cherid is represented as a lake, and even coloured in blue.  I was wondering what it is going to be like driving through a lake.  I was imaging a road slightly elevated above the water. I was both right and wrong.  


I was right because there was a road.  I was wrong because there was almost no water.  This is not the rainy season and the lake is practically a desert, with small pools of coloured water here and there.  


The water, apparently do fill and lake and come up to the level of the road, in rainy season.  Then it becomes the third largest salt lake in the world.  

Now all the water had vapourized, leaving behind a lot of salt.  Salt appears in may different forms.  Such as small pebbles.  


To blocks like hardened, melted cheese. 


To chunks of beautiful crystals.  


At places the sand piles up.  But not in the scale seen in iconic pictures of deserts.  


Even though I did not see vast, hill-like sand dunes, I wasn’t disappointed.  It was quite an experience. nevertheless. 










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