The weather was warm but very windy and the air was thick with sand dust. Brushwood fences along the roadside helped prevent the sand from blowing across the road; bulldozers were used to clear the worst affected areas.
The surface of the blown sand often “corrugated” in the strong wind, giving the road an extremely bumpy surface; sometimes the sand would compact and harden to a concrete-like texture that would damage to your vehicle if you hit it at speed. However, if the sand was soft and deep you had to do the opposite – keep your foot on the accelerator – if you stopped you’d get stuck! We know. We did!
We drove west towards the coast, passing through Matmata, a hilly area where ancient caves were still occupied by Berber families. The caves were cool in summer and relatively warm in winter. Many of the dwellings were spacious – a narrow entrance opening on to passages leading to multiple rooms and often to a central open air courtyard.
