Dithering in the Desert

 

Well after a fairly action-packed first few days here we hit Friday, and with it a full stop. Friday is the equivalent of Sunday and nothing is allowed to be done on a Sunday. Indeed the praying frequency is increased throughout the day and no-one is allowed to work – not even foreigners who are already pushed for time with rising temperatures…

Camels casually wandering along next to the road	This guy was at camp about 30m from my room. Very unfazed by us

But “rules is rules”, so we had a bit of a lie-in and then took a drive to inspect a potential fuel cache that we could operate one of the helicopters from to reduce the wasted ferry time to the survey area.

Very box-like homes – presumably to defend against the heat	The ubiquitous mosque

The trip seemed about an hour’s drive along a very decent dirt road (with so little rain the dirt roads are as good as they are in the Karoo) but the driver was so terrified of getting a puncture (and obviously having to change a tyre, as that would be strenuous work) that he drove at 30kph the whole way!! It was painful. We took almost the whole day to drive to the fuel cache, check it out and then drive all the way back.

A section of a small desert village	Many homes like this, walled in and on top of hills – can’t just be rich people

Along the way we drove through a number of small, isolated towns – very small and basic. I took a few pics of the kind of architecture, and the types of homes typical in this area. Naturally no town is complete without it’s mosque. All petrol stations around here seem to be decorated with mosaics or larger tiles and look much more interesting than the plain, branded garages we’re used to. Above each pump is a fire extinguisher bottle containing dry powder. I haven’t noticed fire extinguishers in garages back home but assume they must be around.

Basic desert fuel station	A slightly larger town on the way to Bisha

At the cache there was a small “Bedouin” farm/camp which we drove to to ask permission to operate the helicopter from there. The driver got out, only saw a woman, so got back in the car to leave. He insisted he couldn’t speak with a woman and would only speak to a man. We had to convince him to ask the woman if there was a man with whom he could speak. Sheesh! The woman sent her son out (couldn’t have been older than 17) for the “man chat” which lasted all of 2 minutes.

Small farm or camp near fuel cache	The main “house”. Persian rugs under the tent on the right

This was taken at speed – a dead dog hung from a tree – a warning to other dogs to leave the goats alone?

One perk of the trip and being crammed in the back seat of a double-cab was that we drove back to camp via Bisha – the nearest town that I flew into on arrival. The streets were completely deserted, but we drove to a Pizza Hut and waited until 1pm when it was due to open. At 1:05 the streets were busy with cars again, like any normal working town. It was crazy to see a change from ghost town to bustling commercial zone in 5 minutes!

Ghost-like at 12:50pm	Store fronts all shut
A Centrepoint shopping mall with chains around all the doors	Strange working hours…

Filled with massive pizzas we headed back to camp. I walked into my room, opened the door to the shared bathroom and was presented with water all over the walls and floor. The guy I’m sharing with had clearly used the water spray head to, er, do his thing and must have decided to take a shower with it while he was there. I only said that in a previous message as a joke – I didn’t think it would be a likely event! I’ve been showering in flip-flops since I arrived, now I won’t even pee without shoes on!