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By www.KomailNoori.com

 While the article “Nature Calling - Cosmos Falling… in?” took us deep into the desert, or maybe rather far out in cosmos (what’s the difference anyway in being a tiny grain here or there?) - this will “just” take us Fishing in Sahara.

First - just sit back in front of your computer - put the fishing rod and net down beside you on the floor for a while, and I will tell you about how I meet my “Desert Teacher”.

Media View

When I was head of charter operations to Egypt, part of the work was to prepare for and take media around. My philosophy is always to show something “extra”, something competing media did not get (- along with the “must see” places of course).

For the right media, a sudden tour on the Nile - banking on an island where one of the best chiefs are preparing a grilled lamb, give a far better story than a more standard Nile Cruise. After the journalists have been eating accompanied with a good wine to the music of reed flutes, white sails appears out of the dark night and dock by the island. Onboard on the traditional Nile sailboat, accompanied only by the amazing starry night and magical sounds from the Nile bank - the tour goes back to the hotel.

Not an easy adventure to forget even for the most blase journalist - and good turnout for any tour operators marketing department…

Into the Desert

This time it was a television team who should come to make a 45 minutes travel program from Egypt. The “must be’s” was prepared, they should meet Director of the Pyramids area, Zahi Hawass in Cairo and visit the major monuments in Luxor. The producer had brought along his friend Morten Harket for the tour - so the team consisted of the program host, sound as cameraman, in total four persons. I refused to tell them what we should do the first days.

My arrival team was inside the airport in Luxor, and I awaited them outside with a big 4WD desert machine. Had used two days only to negotiate that we could rent the car, which could have space for the film team and my team. Well my team was less, as I only had two drivers with me - we should drive through the night.

All luggages were on the top of the desert machine, only the camera joined us inside (have yet to meet a cameraman or woman leaving the betacam too far away). We crossed the Nile, and after a dinner - our journey into the desert started. Not too comfortable for a long journey, but some bottles of the good Egyptian Stella beer helped. The morning came and we were in the first oasis Kharga. But we did not stop, we should to the next oasis - Dakhla.

After filming in the medieval old city of Dakhla, crafts and people in the oasis and a dive in the ancient Roman hot spring - we should meet the Chairman of the Oasis.

The Chairman

The film team had enough material, and nobody was too keen on meeting an official person - that’s not the reason we where here. If you been around the globe as media representative, you soon find out that official persons are those you film to get your permissions - and cut it all away on the clip board after. Well, we had to meet this Chairman - after all it was me who had asked for it.

In the end he came to the hotel, entered and said: “Hello, I’m Mohammed Rafaat Abdelmomen, Chairman of Dakhla”. He did not have to say it, we all knew the second he entered the room.

When one thinks “Desert” one normally think “Sand”. When one thinks “People in the Desert”, one normally thinks “travelling Bedouins”. The “concept images” we have stored is not always the whole truth, so here are some facts:

Dakhla is not an Disney oasis with a water source and some few palms around - the around 400 square kilometres large oasis has an agricultural area of 22000 feddan (an feddan is 1.038 acres) and export olives, dates, onions and fruits to the Nile Valley. For most people of the Western Desert, farming are the main activity.

Mohamed Rafaat Abdelmomen is not a farmer, but he has his PhD in “Bio fertilization under conditions of the New Valley, and its effect on clean yield”. So he is together with the Governor of the New Valley, making sure the farming in the desert Oasis is staying clean.

He is neither a desert Bedouin, still one of the most famous desert travellers of today - Lama - says he must have been born on the hood of a four-wheel jeep in a sand dune.

The film team did not need the presentation, they knew they had a “scoop”.

We took the desert machine over to a new hotel under construction - the last project of it’s kind by the late renowned architect Hassan Fathy. On top of the hotel under construction he stood and told about the importance of ecology for this planets future. Far into the desert, a film team and a pop star was the audience - listening with growing respect to the future of what up to then just had been a large desert hole on a long forgotten map.

They where prepared to meet history in the Oasis of Dakhla, not a maker of history.

When the sun had set in the west, we all sat under date palms and ate fresh grilled fish from the large lake of the oasis. I still wonder who was the fish and who were the bait when we went Fishing in Sahara.

Author: Komail A. Noori - Get Website Designing and SEO Consultancy from Komail Noori, a Web Site Design and SEO Expert

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Five Ways To Pass The Time
By Maxine Clarke

 Ever been placed in the situation where there is an incredible amount of time to kill and very little to keep you entertained? Perhaps on a flight or long car journey, waiting in hospital or even during a lunch break at work?

If so, you will be more than aware that trying to pass the time can be somewhat cumbersome and difficult. These periods may well be too long to simply sit them out, or too short to begin a task that may prove to be substantial. As such, in an effort to beat the boredom, this article provides just five suggestions for ways in which you can keep occupied, in this instance during a prolonged car journey.

Music

Undoubtedly one of the most popular inventions of the last decade, the iPod has gone on to spawn a host of imitators that enable music fans to transport virtually their entire music collection wherever they go. Little bigger than a mobile phone, time will surely fly as you scroll through thousands upon thousands of songs. In addition, with these portable entertainment systems also able to show video and connect to the internet, there should be no reason for boredom!

Games console

Remember the original Gameboy? Or perhaps the Sega Gamegear? In their prime, these games systems were among the cutting edge of technology, allowing parents to keep their young’uns occupied during journeys. Now, with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP taking the standard of mobile gaming to another level, adults are themselves finding that these systems can break up the boredom of their own drawn-out journeys. What’s more, the PSP also allows films to be watched in high quality formats - something the Gameboy could never do!

Read

Not enough people are reading these days, or that’s how it seems. What better way is there for escapism than to bury your head into literature, either classic or modern, and while away a couple of hours of your time. Books are not easy to write, so give authors a break and pick up a copy of the latest read! Unless, of course, you are like me who finds it nigh-on impossible to read in a moving vehicle!

Su Doku

Who would’ve thought that the crossword would be usurped as the perfect mental challenge on journeys? And by an activity that involves - albeit somewhat tenuously - maths! The phenomenon that is Su Doku has become world-renowned as the ideal activity to stimulate your mind, and what better time to take part than during a boring car journey. Remember, however, to try and sit away from other travellers else they will try and ‘help’.

Conversation

Should none of the technology or materials detailed above be available, there is always the old favourite pastime of conversation. The old adage says that ‘conversation is a dying art’, so why not revive it and interact with those around you. Quite frankly, it’s the easiest way to pass the time, and one that needs the least effort. Well, that and sleeping, I suppose.

Max Clarke is a copywriter for holiday services company, Holiday Extras, currently writing about Gatwick airport parking, Manchester airport hotels and Heathrow airport parking.

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