The White Desert: Experiencing the Unexpected

In 2013 I travelled to the White Desert and it was my first desert camping trip ever. It was a whole new and challenging experience for me since it was no ordinary camping trip for it was fore mostly an astronomy camp. From the moment that we got on the Land cruisers, our eyes were greeted with seas of endless snow-white and pale yellow sands.
By sunset, we reached the camping site in the heart of Desert and we were surrounded by massive chalk rock formations which differ in color, size, and shape and we took photos of the very well known ‘Mushroom rock’ which looks like a giant standing mushroom. Nonetheless, I couldn’t stop imagining and comparing rock shapes to animals and people, and I even named some!
In the evening, we started setting up our tents and the camp leader lit fire to keep us warm. The weather there at that time of the year is known to be the best in terms of temperature and wind speed that’s why it was the perfect timing for observing stars. However, suddenly a sandstorm erupted! I was away from the camp helping in cleaning up the portable toilet which had been set up before the storm. On our way back, the wind pushed us with the might of a hundred titans. Against all odds, we reached the camp and when the storm became calmer, we started observing the stars. It was like stepping into a dream! I could see the Milky Way! I also observed Jupiter, Polaris, and Orion Nebula. On finishing the star observation, we had dinner and then started to prepare our tents to sleep.
After sleeping bags were distributed, we were advised to keep our bags and shoes inside the tent because fennec foxes like to collect souvenirs, i.e. our shoes. We hid them and closed the tents, and then I tried to sleep. Nonetheless, I was alerted by a massive shower of sands hitting against the tent. The tent was suddenly full of sand as if it was a portable mini beach! On opening it to move the sand out, I saw a giant whirl of sand at a distance that looked like an old man gathering his grandchildren for a bedtime story!
When I woke up next morning, I had a funny feeling: the corners of my eyes were full of sand as if they turned into sand saving pockets; and my throat felt like a freshly paved road while I could feel sand crunching in my mouth! My dear Sandman refused to leave me without some generous tokens to remind me of his mightiness. Surely, it was a night to remember and Sandman was an unexpected mighty friend, yet he had been a generous one!