Day 4: November 8

After breakfast, which the Bedouins prepared for us, we head to the Abu Khashaba canyon. There is not a soul around. It is so pleasant to walk in the coolness before the sun becomes too bright. The canyon is very beautiful - amazing pink rocks and pink sand. We walk through the canyon and come out into a very beautiful valley.

Today the desert is especially beautiful. There is a sense of infinity, emptiness, mercilessness, and meaninglessness, and all of it has its own special charm. Just walking and walking across the sand, among enormous rocks, in absolute silence. Distances feel completely different here. There’s a rock on the horizon, and it seems so close, but it takes us a couple of hours to get to it.

Along the way, Volchiy tries to climb the smooth, slippery boulders.

Volchiy finds an unnamed deserted bridge and climbs onto it. Then we lie together under the bridge, in its shade. Today we are moving slowly. We often stop in the shade under the rocks.

Climbing onto the bridge

We thought we would climb Burdah Rock. But it turned out to be completely inaccessible. Then I read that only experienced guides take people up there. We had a snack under the rock. We have very little water left, and there is still a whole day ahead of us. We need to decide whether to go back to camp by the short route or continue on as we had planned. But setting off on a long journey without water is not very appealing.

Under the rock, not far from where we were resting, several jeeps with tourists stopped for lunch. I went up to one of the groups and asked the guide whether he had any water. He gave us a 1.5-liter bottle of water and refused to take any money. With our new water supplies, we are ready to head to the next point, probably the most popular with tourists — Um Frouth Rock Bridge.

Near Um Frouth Rock Bridge there are lots of tourists, and everyone wants to take a photo on the bridge. To get to the bridge itself, you have to climb up the rock, which has hollows carved into it for your hands and feet. Volchiy didn’t want to climb up, so he stayed below to take my photo :)

It is getting dark rapidly. The sun is setting behind the rocks before our eyes. In the last rays of the sun, we sit on the sand, resting before the final push - the road to camp.

The light changes every minute, from crimson to light orange and then fades. A crescent moon and Venus appear in the sky. In the distance, the tents of our camp are visible - this gives us strength.

For dinner we have zarb again, and we’re looking forward to it :)

We’ve almost become a local attraction here; it seems people very rarely walk through the desert. The Bedouins just couldn’t believe that we had walked so much on our own for two days in a row. Today we covered 17.5 km.