Liwa was always looming.

One day Gui provided the impetus. “I have a friend coming over and I think we should go to Liwa” said he. “But Gui we only have two cars?” said I, “Doesn’t mater” said he. “But we do not have any real experience of driving on dunes?” said I, “Doesn’t matter” said he. And so on and so on.

So we set off with some excitement to conquer Liwa. The last fill up. The letting down of the tyres and we were off! What followed were some extremely exhilarating and frustrating incidents. I managed to get the car on its side at what felt like such an improbable angle that I was sure the it would tip. Gui managed to get his car so perfectly bottomed out that on a ridge, it was more a work of art than anything else. The thrills and spills going over the dunes and the intricate nature of routes required were liberating and terrifying in equal measure.

After some time, which included some significant “getting stuck incidents”, we set up camp in  perfectly formed sheltered gap high in one of the dunes. Sand boarding, bbq and some merriment followed under the most luminous star filled sky I have ever seen.