World’s Last Camel Caravans - I Can’t Take the Heat

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:01]Hello. Today we are traveling to one of the hottest parts of the Sahara.

[00:00:05]You will see what caravans look like, still crossing the desert just like they did hundreds of years ago. We will also look at the lives of the people where daily life still means a constant [music] battle with drought, water scarcity, and diseases, including malaria, which claims thousands of lives.

[00:00:20]>> You had malaria?

[00:00:21]>> Many times.

[00:00:22]>> So get yourself ready and grab some ice cream because things are going to get seriously hot today in the middle of the unforgiving Sahara.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> Good morning. Well, the first night has passed. The first part of the night wasn't bad, but it got quite cold during the second half. The desert really cooled down, so I had to put on a lot of clothes. Our SUV looks like this. The overheated engine cooled down overnight in the cold desert air. Today our journey into the desert continues. Once again, we'll have to drive long distance for many hours.

[00:01:03]>> I'm continuing my expedition deeper into the Chad deserts.

[00:01:07]At first light, dozens of camels start moving around my camp.

[00:01:11]The air fills with the dull sound of bells and shouts in Arabic.

[00:01:15]Local herders drive their flocks out early to find food.

[00:01:18]Every green bush here is precious.

[00:01:21]A very interesting environment. Most of the time camels only graze in the deserts.

[00:01:26]Look there. They are eating leaves off the tree branches, thorns and all. The camel doesn't care. It's one of those animals that can eat anything.

[00:01:34]The area is full of camel riders traveling for hours through the heat, guiding livestock across dry riverbeds [music] and rocky plains.

[00:01:42]A lot of those working are children.

[00:01:44]There are almost no schools in these regions, so childhood here looks entirely different than in Europe.

[00:01:50]This boy driving the camels will likely be doing the exact same thing 10 years from now and 20 years later as well.

[00:01:56]His path in life is pretty much set from birth.

[00:01:59]>> The children are very friendly, but you know the local families are very closed off and don't want to let outsiders in.

[00:02:06]The people living here are extremely conservative.

[00:02:09]>> Many children here will never see a university or a major city.

[00:02:13]Their world ends exactly where the desert ends, >> [music] >> and it's the women who drive out the sheep and goats.

[00:02:19]Their faces are shielded by head scarves weathered by the relentless sand and sun.

[00:02:23]Life here is brutal, yet incredibly authentic, as if frozen in another century.

[00:02:28]The deeper you venture into Chad, the more it feels like the modern world we know has been left somewhere far beyond the horizon.

[00:02:37]>> [music] [music] [music] >> This desert is unforgiving. During droughts, life here becomes a true struggle for survival.

[00:03:03]Local herders travel for long distances with camels, sheep, and goats in search of water.

[00:03:09]Sometimes the nearest well is dozens of kilometers away, and the daytime heat rises to an exhausting level.

[00:03:15]Many animals do not survive these journeys.

[00:03:18]Weakened, they just collapse in the sand because there is almost no food [music] here.

[00:03:23]This entire desert comes alive for just 1 month a year when the rains arrive.

[00:03:27]Then, the dry plains turn green for a moment. Grass and bushes appear, and the livestock can finally eat normally.

[00:03:35]But that short green season ends very quickly.

[00:03:38]For the rest of the year, the people and their herds are constantly on the move.

[00:03:42]They travel for kilometers [music] and kilometers just to find a little bit of water and a tiny patch of grass.

[00:03:48]>> [music] >> So from this well, the locals draw water and give it to the camels, cows, and goats.

[00:04:15]Well, the water is far from clean, but the locals drink from it. The well is quite deep. It's scary standing near the well. I'm afraid the wind might blow me right inside.

[00:04:31]Yeah, probably about 20 or 30 m or 100 ft. They are pulling up the water using makeshift rubber bags as buckets and haul it up.

[00:04:41]There really aren't many wells of this kind scattered around here, which forces the residents to herd their camels, donkeys, goats, and cows from incredibly far away just to get a drink.

[00:04:52]This livestock is the people's greatest wealth since there is no agriculture and nothing grows in the constant heat. They raise animals. Since these animals are able to forage for themselves, nibbling on twigs, shrubs, and the occasional grass that sprouts after the rainy seasons, the people can raise them and sell them for income. The sand just blew right into my eyes. They sell these animals so they can buy food, clothing, and textiles for their families.

[00:05:18]>> After a long journey, I reach one of the most [music] important places in the whole area, a desert well.

[00:05:24]All around, you can hear shouts and the sound of creaking ropes.

[00:05:28]Water in this place is more valuable than anything else.

[00:05:31]Thirsty animals drink greedily after a long journey through the desert. Here, all of life revolves around water.

[00:05:38]Without this well, many of these herds simply wouldn't survive.

[00:05:42]>> It's an interesting way to draw water from deep down. They tie a rope to a camel or a donkey and walk them away to pull it up.

[00:05:50]They don't do the labor by hand. They use the animals for that instead.

[00:06:05]The locals use those exact same rubber storage bags to carry the hauled water all the way back home to their families.

[00:06:12]This is my friend.

[00:06:16]So, they scoop the water from the wells and carry it home in containers. The women deliver the water. That's their job. The locals know exactly how to protect themselves from the sand, which I'm already breathing in and feeling in my eyes. It's a very windy area, so the locals wrap their faces in traditional scarves. Look at how incredibly deep this well is.

[00:06:37]The rope stretches all the way from the well to the camel, and it's not even out yet.

[00:06:42]>> Traveling deeper through the desert, I find a tiny village almost completely cut off from the world. It's built from mud, clay, and straw.

[00:06:50]Some houses have walls woven entirely from dry grass because there's almost no wood here.

[00:06:55]Even finding a simple stick in the desert is hard.

[00:06:58]Everything looks fragile, as if one strong wind could scatter this village across the sand.

[00:07:03]The well located further from the village is their lifeline.

[00:07:07]Water here is more important than electricity or money. And rain in these parts becomes almost a celebration.

[00:07:13]It comes very rarely, sometimes for just a few weeks a year.

[00:07:16]The locals say that during droughts people pray for rain because everything depends on it. Whether grass will grow, whether the animals will survive, and whether there will be enough water for the family.

[00:07:26]When a cloud appears in the sky, the whole village comes alive.

[00:07:29]However, the rains here bring more than just life.

[00:07:32]Along with the water comes danger.

[00:07:35]After the downpours, swarms of mosquitoes begin to breed around the puddles and standing water.

[00:07:39]And this part of Chad is one of the most dangerous malaria zones in the world.

[00:07:44]Many people, especially children, die from this disease here every year. So, rain in the desert has two sides.

[00:07:51]For some, it becomes salvation. For others, damnation.

[00:07:55]>> How many local people die from malaria every year?

[00:07:59]Around here?

[00:08:01]>> The child die more.

[00:08:03]>> More children?

[00:08:03]>> Because they can't support the malaria.

[00:08:05]>> Did you have you ever had malaria? You You?

[00:08:08]>> Yeah.

[00:08:09]>> You had malaria?

[00:08:10]>> Yeah. Many times.

[00:08:11]>> Yeah?

[00:08:11]>> One season I can two times, three times malaria.

[00:08:15]>> You have also three times malaria in one year?

[00:08:18]>> In one year, yes.

[00:08:19]Everyone can fall.

[00:08:21]Two, three times.

[00:08:23]>> Everyone?

[00:08:24]>> You have to take a medical every time.

[00:08:26]>> And what temperature? What temperature do you get with malaria?

[00:08:30]>> 41, I think.

[00:08:31]>> 41 degrees?

[00:08:32]>> 41, yes.

[00:08:33]>> How many How many days like this?

[00:08:35]>> No, just that if you have a 41, you can go to the hospital and take some medical.

[00:08:40]>> Mhm.

[00:08:41]Do some people adults die also sometimes?

[00:08:45]>> Children more.

[00:08:46]>> Children more?

[00:08:47]>> Yeah, because they can't support the malaria.

[00:08:48]>> Mhm. They cannot take medicine our children?

[00:08:51]>> medicine, but it is fast.

[00:08:53]>> All right.

[00:08:54]>> Maybe you can get died on 5 to 6 hours.

[00:08:58]>> Oh, so fast. And they don't have the immunity.

[00:09:01]>> Yes.

[00:09:02]>> Malaria is spoken of as an invisible scourge of the desert that steals away so many lives every year.

[00:09:08]In fact, many children never even receive official documents because they never make it to adulthood. Births are only registered if someone manages to travel to a city or get to a hospital.

[00:09:19]In these remote villages, families are large and the communities are deeply interconnected.

[00:09:25]Families are massive, sometimes making the whole village one big family.

[00:09:29]Often, an older man has multiple wives of whom have become grandmothers themselves. Over generations, they have so many children and grandchildren that they gradually build up an entire village.

[00:09:40]When it comes to leadership, one of the oldest sons is typically chosen to be the chief.

[00:09:45]The kind of person who knows his land and the unwritten laws of the desert.

[00:09:49]>> The very friendly people of the local village. So, here is the oldest woman of this village, the mother and patron, as they call him, the master of this village. Well, they live in straw houses and it is quite hot here. They're friendly and always smiling. We are walking through the villages. In every hut live many women and children. Hello there.

[00:10:20]There are so many of them. Everyone is friendly and smiling, even though they live in deep poverty. They fence off their homes with thorny branches just to stop the goats from getting in and eating their grain. They raise camels here. Just look at how many children there are. The huts are absolutely packed with people and you can clearly see they are built out of mud.

[00:10:43]But it actually looks quite good and sturdy. The roof is made of straw, since it rarely rains out here. That roof could practically be full of holes all summer and it wouldn't even matter. I'm going to take a quick rest in the shaded oasis before continuing my journey further on. It is actually incredibly hot and whenever the wind blows, it feels like, I don't know, the air must be around 60° C or 140° F.

[00:11:08]Standing in the wind makes it feel even hotter than staying out of it. And we can't turn on the car's AC because with four-wheel drive engaged, the Jeep simply wouldn't move.

[00:11:21]Welcome to the life in the Sahara desert.

[00:11:32]I'm drinking some tea with the locals.

[00:11:34]It looks like black tea.

[00:11:40]Black and very, very sweet. There are probably about three sugar cubes in this cup. Well, the locals love drinking it so sweet. They basically drink it like a dessert. It feels so good to catch my breath in this shaded shelter because it is incredibly hot out in the sun. You can literally feel your battery draining with every step and that wind doesn't help. It feels like a cool in this shelter. Of course, it's artificial, but it's nice to sit here with the locals.

[00:12:05]You feel at one with the surroundings.

[00:12:07]>> Even today in the deserts of Chad, you can see things that look straight out of another century. Caravans traveling across sands just like they did hundreds of years ago.

[00:12:17]Long lines of camels move as if the desert itself dictates their pace.

[00:12:21]Loaded onto the animals is all the people's belongings, water skins, bundles of food, fabrics, and tent parts.

[00:12:29]Everything for survival fits right onto the back of a single camel.

[00:12:32]>> Caravans travel through these endless wastes and honestly, this is how people really live. They aren't just hundreds of years behind here, but probably thousands.

[00:12:42]And these caravans travel across the Sahara desert for many days without water. They carry nothing but their food and baggage, yet they manage to survive.

[00:12:51]>> Caravans often travel for days. They move early in the morning and late in the evening when the sun isn't beating down so brutally.

[00:12:58]At noon, they stop, look for shade, and the people and animals wait together for the heat to die down a bit.

[00:13:05]This isn't a leisure trip. These are survival lifelines.

[00:13:08]They connect villages, wells, and markets carrying salt, water, goods, and news through places with no roads, signs, or cities.

[00:13:17]Drought, malaria, caravans. All this is daily life here.

[00:13:22]Coming from our fast, digital, and planned world, it's hard to believe that such conditions still exist.

[00:13:28]Life here is slow, fragile, and completely dependent on nature.

[00:13:33]Water, rain, a few cooler days, these are a matter of survival.

[00:13:38]Sometimes it feels like this isn't even the same planet, but a completely different world frozen in time. Being here, it's hard to believe this isn't a movie, it's reality.

[00:13:47]When the sun dips below the horizon, everything changes instantly.

[00:13:51]We stop and quickly set up camp.

[00:13:54]Here in the middle of nowhere, I don't step away from it. During the day, the desert looks lifeless, but at night, it comes alive.

[00:14:02]Scorpions, venomous spiders, and snakes all come out. All that life you don't see during the day because it's hiding from the heat is why you always have to be careful here.

[00:14:11]The tent stays tightly zipped, and you wouldn't go into the bushes at night even for an emergency.

[00:14:18]I arrived at the second camp. This time after sunset, we drove across a huge stretch of desert, and right next to a little grove like this, we set up our tents. Well, I really hope the wind stays weak tonight so that it doesn't end up blowing a bunch of desert sand all over me and my tent.

[00:14:36]So, I'm really hoping it's going to be warmer this time. Well, it was a pretty rough day. We ended up driving for probably about 9 hours again.

[00:14:44]We stopped many times at the watering holes because it's so fascinating to watch the camels gather. Of course, the women completely refused to be filmed or photographed. The men shout, too. It's really hard to film anything and show it to you because the people are so guarded, but overall, it's very interesting. Life in these villages is truly hard. You wonder where the cows even find grass because there simply isn't any dirt or grass. It's just pure sand.

[00:15:10]Camels, goats, cows, and donkeys live all around this place, and they all gather at the watering hole.

[00:15:16]It seems to be their central meeting and talking spot. The locals chat, too, gathering to discuss the day's issues, probably like where some goat got lost.

[00:15:26]I don't know. There probably really isn't much else for them to do here.

[00:15:29]Life is incredibly tough. It's brutally hot, and their entire existence just revolves around the animals. They raise the animals, sell them, buy their food, and the cycle just keeps repeating itself. Livestock is the most important thing here. Imagine if some disease gets in and wipes out an entire herd. It's a complete tragedy for the whole family.

[00:15:50]All your savings, the bank goes bankrupt, your house burns down. That's exactly how people feel when disease kills their cattle. Now that the sun is down, I've already changed into long sleeves and pants. It's not actually because it's cold, but rather to protect myself from mosquitoes and malaria, because there are truly quite a lot of mosquitoes in Chad, and malaria cases as well. They are used to it and get sick frequently, but they mentioned that child mortality is extremely high because the kids just can't fight it off. Within a few hours of catching malaria, it can already be fatal. So, the plan right now is to grab some dinner, unwind a bit, and then head straight into the tent to finally get a good night's sleep. Good morning. Well, I woke up with the sun again today. It turns out I spent the night sleeping right next to some weird little burrow.

[00:16:41]I have no idea what kind of little burrow this is, but something that bites probably lives there.

[00:16:48]It's a really interesting little place, just a light scrubby oasis, but you can hear the birds chirping. So, it's quite nice to wake up to the birds chirping in the morning. Reminds me of less exotic lands.

[00:17:00]We'll grab a bite and hit the road again, or rather, not the road, but further into the desert dunes. The expedition continues. Today we have a long 4x4 journey into the Sahara desert.

[00:17:12]Around us is only sand, rocks, and a horizon that seems endless.

[00:17:17]And that's no surprise because the Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world.

[00:17:21]Its area reaches about 9 million square kilometers. To make it easier to imagine, it's almost the size of the entire [music] United States or larger than Australia.

[00:17:31]The most interesting part is that thousands of years ago, the Sahara looked completely different.

[00:17:36]Rivers flowed here and elephants, giraffes, and other animals lived here.

[00:17:41]Deep in the desert, you can still find ancient petroglyphs on some of [music] the rocks depicting animals that would seem absolutely impossible in this landscape today.

[00:17:50]Driving through this void, it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that this was once a world teeming with life.

[00:17:56]>> Here are the kinds of containers the locals used to store food.

[00:18:00]Let's look. Oh, look, there is something. Nice. I thought it was empty.

[00:18:03]You can actually see some seeds inside.

[00:18:12]Whoa, there are some grains inside. The vessels are so cool. You can see a woman walking nearby, but while I'm here, she'll avoid me and won't come over because it's very hard to get the local women to talk. Since the country is traditional and deeply religious, men only communicate with men. It is very complicated and unacceptable to interact with the opposite sex.

[00:18:35]She'll probably watch me because she's curious. Obviously, no white people ever come or drive through here. Usually, they just watch me from a distance and I watch them because their faces and everything looks so fascinating. They are beautiful people. It's just that you can never see them. They're always covered in scarves. Only a tiny slit for their eyes is peaking out and that's it.

[00:18:56]So, you won't really get to see them.

[00:18:58]Overall, these large storage vessels are completely handmade using nothing but a mixture of mud and straw. Well, they probably wait until the rainy season comes around since that's when they can easily mold the mud. They managed to find it somewhere.

[00:19:14]Man, look at how absolutely huge these things are. Just imagine how people still live like this. And look, I can see a caravan arriving over there in the distance.

[00:19:23]The caravan is riding in over there.

[00:19:25]See, right over there. They'll be here soon, so let's wait and see. Maybe they'll talk, but I think it will be very difficult to get anything from them. Well, a very friendly woman came over. She came to scoop out some of the dry food.

[00:19:40]And right on cue, a grand but small little caravan is riding in towards us.

[00:19:48]Most of the time, women ride on donkeys and travel to bring back water from the watering hole.

[00:19:53]>> A caravan appears. A few women, accompanied by camels and donkeys, slowly ride through the desert toward large clay containers holding grain and supplies.

[00:20:02]They will load the sacks, tie them with ropes, and prepare for the journey back through the heat.

[00:20:08]Life for women in the Sahara is difficult.

[00:20:10]From early morning, they carry water, cook food, look after the children, herd livestock, and take care of the family.

[00:20:18]They often walk many kilometers across the sand every day just to bring back water and food.

[00:20:22]Some hold tiny babies in their arms.

[00:20:25]They travel together from the first months of life.

[00:20:28]Children here grow up in the dust, heat, and constant travel from birth.

[00:20:33]The desert becomes their home before they even have a chance to know any other world. Many women spend their entire lives in the same area between the desert, the livestock, and villages.

[00:20:43]However, despite the harsh conditions, they seem incredibly strong.

[00:20:47]Even in the hottest sun, they move calmly and confidently as if they were completely one with this unforgiving landscape.

[00:20:54]>> Can you tell me where this woman go for this food? For the dress?

[00:20:57]>> They stay here, yes.

[00:20:59]>> Where they live?

[00:20:59]>> They live here. This is our house.

[00:21:02]>> All right. And why they come here in this place?

[00:21:05]>> They have their food here.

[00:21:07]>> To collect the food. So, they come to collect some food.

[00:21:10]>> Do they have the food, yes?

[00:21:12]And they also Yes, of course, yes.

[00:21:18]>> Sometimes, out of nowhere in this silent desert, real sand monsters appear. Huge, completely overloaded trucks pushing their way through the Sahara, all the way from Libya to Chad.

[00:21:30]They look like ships sailing in an ocean of sand. They are like modern-day caravans.

[00:21:34]They often travel not alone, but in pairs or even several together, so they can help each other if a breakdown occurs. Everything imaginable is stacked on them. Food, water, fuel, motorcycles, building materials, tires, generators, even furniture.

[00:21:50]The cargo is piled so high it looks like the truck will tip over on the first big dune.

[00:21:55]Most of them drive during the night when the desert cools down at least a little.

[00:21:59]In the daytime, drivers pull over and sleep directly underneath their trucks, hiding from the sun in the shadow cast by their own vehicle.

[00:22:07]This entire trip across the desert takes about 10 days. There is no normal road here, only old tracks, GPS, and experience.

[00:22:14]And if a truck breaks down, a true ordeal begins.

[00:22:18]Sometimes drivers are stranded in the middle of the desert for days, waiting for help where there is only sand and hundreds of kilometers of emptiness.

[00:22:26]These large trucks are traveling across the Sahara Desert. They are heavily loaded with many goods. They have pulled over to rest for the night in the middle of the desert, heavily overloaded with cargo that looks to be double the weight they are allowed to carry.

[00:22:39]>> Can you ask from where they go?

[00:22:45]From From where?

[00:22:46]Libya. And how many days they go from there?

[00:22:51]Already 7 days?

[00:22:54]And how many days more to go?

[00:22:57]And what they carry, what product inside the truck?

[00:23:04]Food?

[00:23:07]Fridge?

[00:23:10]Everything.

[00:23:12]They haul everything from Libya. Well, as you can see, they have already been driving for a week. And they stayed stopped for a night?

[00:23:20]For sleeping?

[00:23:25]Ah.

[00:23:28]And when they sleep?

[00:23:31]In the day under the truck?

[00:23:34]In the day? They go together?

[00:23:37]To help?

[00:23:40]If it breaks down, they stop?

[00:23:44]Is difficult?

[00:23:46]Long way, very long way.

[00:23:48]Look at that young guys making the journey. Pretty interesting, right? They sleep under the truck during the day and drive through the night because it's not nearly as hot. Well, it's actually unimaginably hot here, and the truck probably even overheats if they drive during the day. Look at that. Everything is right under the truck, even the kitchen.

[00:24:10]They are making food down there. Well, there you go. Here are the beds. Right next to me, they are cooking up some food. As you can see, that's where they sleep. And of course, they keep shovels on hand in case the truck gets stuck in the sand. They usually travel in groups of two or three trucks like this because breakdowns are common, and they constantly need help digging each other out.

[00:24:38]It's incredibly hard work to spend so many days out in the desert like that, but people still manage to do it.

[00:24:47]I stopped by a very large watering hole.

[00:24:49]There probably aren't many in this region, so all the animals gather at this spot, and it's morning right now.

[00:24:55]The cows and goats drink twice a day, morning and evening. So, morning was a great time for us to come to the watering holes. It's a great chance to see everything. Both the local people and their livestock are here. The watering place can be seen from afar because the ground is covered with droppings everywhere.

[00:25:12]>> This is the only water well within a radius of tens of kilometers. So, crowds of livestock and Bedouin caravans constantly gather here. From every direction, camels, cows, goats, and donkeys are moving toward this spot.

[00:25:24]Guided by herders who sometimes walk for an entire day just to reach this water source. Life is buzzing around the well with the sounds of bleating animals, shouting people, creaking ropes, and buckets clashing against stone.

[00:25:37]Some wait their turn to water herds.

[00:25:39]Others fill containers for the long desert trip back.

[00:25:42]For the Bedouins, places like this are centers of life.

[00:25:46]Without them, survival in these territories would be impossible.

[00:25:50]Some herders come here every few days, while others travel with their herds from one well to another across the vast desert.

[00:25:57]>> Hundreds of camels gather together right here at this watering hole. And of course, beautifully dressed locals as well.

[00:26:03]>> There is always a lot of action around this well, but the teenage girls catch your eye the most. They come here with large plastic water containers loaded onto donkeys, as this is their daily chore for the family.

[00:26:15]When they arrive, they line up to get water. But at the same time, this is also their meeting place.

[00:26:20]Here, they briefly escape work, home, the heat, and the desert silence. They meet friends, talk, laugh, and just spend time together.

[00:26:28]It's also where the youth meet.

[00:26:31]Young men also come here with their families and herds, and a quiet but very important social life takes place.

[00:26:37]The glances, smiles, and brief conversations here often mean much more than meets the eye.

[00:26:43]This is where future bonds and families slowly form.

[00:26:46]Many of these girls are still very young, 13 or 15, but their future is often already predetermined by community traditions.

[00:26:54]In our next episode, I'll tell you how their marriages are arranged and how these choices are made.

[00:27:00]Well, at this point, the girls are already pumping water and loading it up.

[00:27:04]They are using these large car inner tubes to carry it all on the donkeys.

[00:27:09]After that, they all ride back home together. They essentially never travel alone. Usually, a whole caravan of girls comes down to the watering hole, making it both safer and fun. Man, that load is truly heavy. I saw that it takes about four or five girls just to lift this filled inner tube and get it placed on top of the donkey. Plus, she sits on top, too. So, that donkey carries a ton of weight.

[00:27:32]I keep traveling deeper into the desert and the first cliffs of the Ennedi Plateau finally start to appear.

[00:27:38]Until now, it was just plains and sand, but now the landscape is changing.

[00:27:44]Massive stone structures rise up like frozen waves in the desert.

[00:27:48]As evening approaches, the entire environment comes alive as herds of camels, goats, and sheep start are being herded back toward the local camps.

[00:27:57]You can hear shouts, whistles, and various animal calls as the whole desert suddenly awakens for a second life.

[00:28:03]Children and herders rush to gather their livestock because the sun is already setting behind the cliffs.

[00:28:09]This is one of the busiest moments of the day, where everything moves fast in a race against dusk.

[00:28:17]>> [music] >> Well, I finally reached the Ennedi Plateau. The area is really interesting and very beautiful. Right now, the golden hour is starting. As the sun goes down, you can see completely different types of houses compared to the ones we passed while driving out to the desert.

[00:28:45]So, this is how people live. So far, I haven't seen a single water source or well. So, I have no idea where they get their water from, but they live out here anyway.

[00:28:55]>> Once the livestock are driven back into the village, a calmer, yet vital, phase of the day begins.

[00:29:01]First, the herds are counted and driven into small pens near the houses or directly beside the mud walls. Camels are often left further away, tied to trees, while goats and sheep are crowded closer [music] for safety from predators.

[00:29:15]Meanwhile, the women begin their second shift, preparing dinner. Usually, it is simple food, grains, bread, sometimes milk or tea.

[00:29:23]Fires are lit using dry branches, sending smoke straight up into the sky.

[00:29:27]Men often repair tools, [music] check the livestock, and plan the next day's route for essential grass and water.

[00:29:34]Children finally have a well-earned moment of free time after a day of herding. They play together in the sand while there is still light.

[00:29:45]>> I finally arrived at the Ennedi Plateau.

[00:29:48]I can't wait to go to the most interesting place in the Sahara Desert tomorrow. There will be beautiful formations. You can already see one arch, and there will be many more. It's very beautiful. Today was truly difficult and exhausting. Inside the car, temperatures reached 50° C or 120° F, while a blistering desert wind blasted us at 60° C or 140° F. It is pure hell. When I left Chad's capital, it was 36° C or nearly 100° F, and the temperature rises every single day.

[00:30:22]The road is very bumpy. During the month-long rainy season, traveling this distance would take 15 hours because torrential downpours turn these tracks completely impassable. Drivers have to wait days for the mud to dry out completely. Even a Toyota struggles to get through here. Because it hasn't rained for 10 months, it is dry, and we don't get stuck, but the uneven ground makes driving brutal. Sometimes those 10 hours don't drag on because we stop in various places. Today, I even got to talk with women, which I totally did not expect to happen at all. At the watering holes, they refuse gifts. Even if I offer candy, they say no. Their parents probably forbid them from taking things from tourists. From now on, the real desert begins. Intensely hot, featuring incredibly beautiful rock formations.

[00:31:10]Setting up camp with the view of a massive stone arch, we'll eat and rest.

[00:31:14]I'm hoping the desert heat relents and it looks promising. The air is already sitting at a 30° or 86° still drenched in sweat, but as the night brings relief, the chocolate I brought along will finally solidify. It means I can actually enjoy it come morning, whereas during the blazing day, it just turns into hot melted liquid.

[00:31:35]That is all for today. I'll rest now.

[00:31:37]See you.

[00:31:38]>> Thank you for riding along through this desert journey.

[00:31:41]It was scorching hot and grueling, but these raw moments are exactly what reveal the true world waiting far beyond the beaten path. If you enjoyed this adventure, make sure to subscribe to the channel.

[00:31:52]In the next chapters, we are pushing even deeper, exploring the stunning Ennedi Plateau, its hidden canyons, and spectacular views. Smash that like button and I'll see you in the next episode straight from the deep desert.

[00:32:05]Bye.