This week you will have an opportunity to show us some memorable events – new ones or delightful memories! I had to reflect upon it for some days before I knew what to choose…because life gives us quite some of these very special events, doesn’t it? Happy Birthdays, surprising hikes, meetings with faraway friends, interesting exhibitions, travels to special places…
Finally, I chose our two days in the Sahara desert in Morocko, an event that is often on my mind, and will stay with me forever. The silence, the beauty of the dunes, and the many surprises along the way….I am sure you too will find a favourite or two to post, and hopefully also enjoy this challenge.
I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams…
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, from one of my favourite stories: The Little Prince
After some jeep driving, we reached our dinner camp – and I was happy to find rag carpets on the sand – they made me feel very much at home in a place so far from home!
Our tour guides and transportation – camels – were patiently waiting for us. No stress in sight. We were only about ten people, nobody said anything, and the silence was tangible.
The glorious day promised we would have an unforgettable desert sunset. And yes, we had. But, even more beautiful was the blue hour light, slowly filling the endless desert sky.
That night we slept incredibly well in the camp bed, under thick layers to protect against the cold.
In the early morning I went out walking on the dunes again, hoping to see some interesting animals. The day before, a fox had been following us, and I saw quite some scarabs (the first picture below) and their significant paths in the sand. But now something else caught my attention – a hole in the ground… and someone digging and sending up splashes of sand. I kept still and quiet, and was rewarded with a glimpse of this little creature – a Tarabul’s gerbil! Length about 10cm and tail about 15cm. He really kept an eye on me..
I greatly enjoyed both the evening light and the morning light – and the atmosphere of stillness and lack of sounds.
Late evening dunes in warm chocolate waves, and morning dunes almost serenely cold.
I hope the camel – the “ship of the desert,” will continue to cruise the sand sea of the Sahara – and I am very grateful to once have been aboard. It is good to know, that there is still something of Arabian Nights in the world…and shimmering tales from olden days.
Have fun finding Memorable Events – or making new ones! Please include a link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.
Last week, we enjoyed learning about and exploring Interesting Objects. Thank you Patti for hosting this interesting challenge! Next week, it’s Amy’s turn to lead the challenge, so be sure to stop by her beautiful site and join in the fun! Until then, stay healthy and have an inspiring week!
Leya 
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Ann-Christine, I love seeing your fabulous pictures of the Sahara desert! I had no idea it could be that beautiful. What a great experience! Here is the link to my post: https://mycolorfulexpressions.com/lens-artist-photo-challenge-183-memorial-events/
Thank you, Sylvia – memorable it was!
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Ever so wonderful ictures: thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you so much, Pit, my pleasure!
🙂
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You are one lucky lady, Ann Christine. Absolutely breathtaking. You might have been all alone. Also, the gerbil. Lucky, lucky lucky. Your photos captured all the beauty and emotion.
Tracy, one of my absolute most memorable events in my travel history – and life, thank you, I was lucky!
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Your photos remind us of our one and only Sahara adventure — such a lovely spot in the world and one I’ll never forget! You’ve captured it well!
Thank you so much – and where in Sahara was your adventure?
We went from Ourzazate, I believe. Not sure if I can give you any more specifics. But I believe this is correct. We went to Ait Ben Haddou, then to Ourzazate, then for a night in the Sahara.
This sounds like us and our trip!
Some very memorable events, beautifully captured, Ann- Christine. How fortunate you are to have experienced such an interesting trip.
Thank you, Sue – I am very grateful for the event, and it is one of those I treasure the most as it gave me much new insight into the life of nomads and the beauty of this type of landscape.
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Here is mine for the week
https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2022/01/22/lens-artists-challenge-183-memorable-events/
(Nora, I think you linked A-C’s post, not your own. I won’t tell.)
😉
Whoops!!
Thank you, Nora!
this experience seems amazing – and I love to se how cultures adapt to the environment and the rugs and tents are works of art that also function with the elements.
🙂
here is my post this week
Thank you, I agree – different cultures are so enriching.
🙂
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Your post is amazing. Mine is about my Jello who died last week, peacefully at home. We are missing her very much. This post is part of my healing for her loss.
Oh Lindy, Jello is gone? How sad, so sorry for your loss. It is a terrible time every time we lose our long time friends. ♥
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Leya, your photos just remind me that I can’t wait for our trip to the Middle East this year! We are staying in a desert oasis in Dubai ,UAE for 5 days before traveling on to other countries! I too, can’t wait for the warm chocolate waves and the serenely cold! How beautiful is that thought! Lovely, lovely post! Here is my contribution for this week………https://thecadyluckleedy.com/2022/01/27/lens-artists-photography-challenge-183-memorable-events/ Cady
These are lovely photos, I think. There’s a sense of narrative between them and what you reveal about the trip.
My favourite is the last one. It’s an interesting combination of enclosed and expansive.
Here’s my inclusion for this challenge:
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A fabulous post: so evocative and inviting. You’ll have been here too …https://margaret21.com/2022/01/27/i-remember-i-remember-the-river-thames/. Far less exciting!
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Such memories and amazing captures. A visit to a desert is on my bucket list now.
♥
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WOW, what a trip! What amazing pictures! I adored the contrasting shots of the dunes — morning and dusk. And you were able to get such clear pictures of the scarab and the gerbil! Bravo!
Here’s my share: https://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2022/01/27/lens-artists-challenge-183-memorable-events/
So happy you liked them – I often think about that trip. It was unforgettable.
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What a wonderful experience it must have been. I loved this post and your images are truly beautiful.
Thank you, Jocelyne!
I’m loving the camel photo. Actually I really all your memorable moments. 😀 😀
Here is my entry for the week.
Thank you, Cee! So glad you enjoyed them! I just admired your clouds!
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What a wonderful trip and gorgeous photos, Ann-Christine! What a great memory and wonderful experience to ride the camel to travel in the desert! I love all the photos.
Thank you, Miriam – I often come back to this trip in my mind. And, I think you often do as well, reading your post and your experiences of the wedding!
You’re right, Ann-Christine. Certain trips are memorable and they’re still vivid to us!
♥
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Your shots of the dunes look so peaceful, Ann-Christine! The gerbil looks a lot like our kangaroo rats. Desert dwellers have adapted so well to their environments. Looks like you had a good trip!
I had a wonderful trip, yes, thank you! I had to look up kangaroo rat – and it surely looks a lot like a gerbil! It is a bit smaller though and the jumping is not for the gerbil. Rats are very widespread over the world and I guess one of the most common species.
What a special trip that was! I always wondered what it would be like atop a camel!
Much better than I thought!
I’m glad you could double-dip, Leya! When I saw the post I thought about it for you! Camels, bugs and mice–definitely an eclectic set of wildlife 🙂
They are!
Wow… Glorious, indeed! What a special, memorable trip, AC! So glad you share these fabulous photos with us.
Thank you, Amy – I am so happy readers seem to like them!
Oh, Leya, your memories made me reconsider my fear of the desert. 😀 (It’s connected with my fear of lack of water.) They are gorgeous! My uncle had a similar Morocco camel experience but he was not too pleased to be on its back.
I focused on only one event today. Thank you for this chance to bring it up in my memory for all of you to witness it.
A wonderful memory, Manja! And I was trying to write more of an answer but got so frustrated, because after every second word, the pictures came up instead of where I was writing? Cannot understand what happened…
Ohh, sorry about that! I hate missing your thoughts due to technical matters. 😀 People have told me about this issue before. The trick is that you refresh the page just before starting your comment. No more problems! Thank you kindly!
Ah, thank you for the guiding!
As a curiosity, look: I wrote almost an identical post to your challenge on the theme ”Unexpected” three years ago!! And I forgot all about it! It’s a sign that I’ve been blogging too long. :p I turned into one of those old people who keep repeating the same stories. 😀 I don’t care if you don’t… This is a great story. I found this post right now only because it came up in my blogging memories for Saturday:
♥ Wonderful! Don’t stop blogging even if you don’t remember things…Then I should have stopped long ago…
♥♥♥
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Simply amazing photos and a fascinating memory, AC. The light in these photos is marvelous! What a unique experience. I can imagine that memories of this trip keep circling through your mind during those cold winter months! Thanks so much for such an inspiring post and theme this week!
Thank You for a most interesting story too!
Incredible photos of your trip Ann-Christine!
Thank you, Aletta – it was a real treat for me. And, it’s easy to take lovely photos on a spot where you cannot go wrong!
Fantastic!
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hi a. c., wonderful pictures and theme what you found for us you and i like it a lot, here is my contribution for this week, https://wp.me/p2AvI7-41d.
many greetings robert
Thank you, Robert! Happy to share and that you liked it!
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Sand dunes and the magic of the desert beautifully captured. Someday I hope to see the desert for myself and discover its enchantment.
I hope you will go, Sheetal – it is something out of the ordinary.
Really beautiful photos. It must have been a magnificent sight, and a wonderful holiday. I love the late evening light in your two photos of the sky. The white clothes of the people in the second photo are especially striking. Makes me realize that wearing white in the desert could be like wearing an orange life jacket at sea: easily visible.
WordPress gremlins are at it again. I’m not seeing the pingback links from your post. Mine did not appear, and then I saw in my reader that Tina, Patti and Amy have all posted resonses but their links also don’t show up. Maybe there are other links which aren’t showing up either.
I guess there’s nothing you can do about it though
Thank you for noticing and telling me – no, I guess I cannot do anything. I hope people will react if I don’t answer.
Thank you – also for a nice comparison on the white and the orange clothing. This was one of the most memorable events I have participated in.
Thank you for sharing and taking me on your travels.
Thank you for coming along!
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Well, I didn’t make it quite so far from home, but I’ve had some wonderful trips and I found my photos, so I’m thrilled. Here’s my post for this week, Leya. https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/01/23/late-night-sunday-stills-wild-eyed-coffee-share-of-one-of-my-memorable-vacations-for-lapc/
Thank you for joining in, Marsha!
Thank you for hosting, my friend. 🙂
😀
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What a beautiful post, Ann-Christine. Love it!
Thank you kindly – I guess my love of those days shines through!
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breathtaking 🙂
https://lessywannagohome.blogspot.com/2022/01/born-to-be-free.html
♥
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Well Ann-Christine, not surprisingly the reaction to your images and story this week has been terrific. Your post is stunning and the landscapes you captured, along with the stories, are truly wonderful. I love them all, especially the dunes and most especially the dunes with the camel. Marvelous
Thank you, Tina, yes, I am happy to see that most readers like them. I guess the astonishing experience shines through – my feelings were only positive to the whole trip. And – it’s easy photographing in such a beautiful landscape!
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This would be a perfect memorable experience for me to add to my list, it’s exactly the sort of thing I love when I travel. It’s very like our own visit to Wahiba Sands in Oman but to do it in the Sahara would be even more magnificent I feel! I love ALL your desert photos 😀
This was a tough challenge for me however as so much of my blog is already about memorable events and experiences. I couldn’t think what I had left to share that would trump some of the other travel highlights I’ve already shared, but then I realised I could double dip with the Sunday Stills wildlife theme and share a whole week of memorable experiences: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/spotting-wildlife-in-the-galapagos-islands/
Ah, glad you liked it, Sarah! Good idea – I tried double dipping as well, now you mentioned it.Thank you!
What a timeless yet ever shifting panorama, Ann-Christine. It’s almost hypnotic! You won’t be surprised that I’m going for the warm chocolate tones, and I was quite delighted by the tiny gerbil. What a Sunday treat this post is!
I am chocolate too, Jo! The gerbil was a huge treat for me.
🤣💟
Love your pictures! It brought back memories. My pictures are all from my photo albums. I tried to make them digital with the smart phone.
Memories! Thank you!
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The desert is truly a magnificent place, Leya. Your gorgeous images really show how memorable it can be! Thanks for hosting this week and here is my Sunday Stills post looking at memorable moments with wildlife: https://secondwindleisure.com/2022/01/23/sunday-stills-its-a-wildlife-world/
I loved it, Terri! How great living so close to them – and photo ops available every day. The opener is just beautiful!
Thank you, Leya. We feel lucky but we also keep a respectful distance, after all they are wild!
😀
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Wonderful desert images!
Thank you!
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Oh wow, wow, wow! This post may be the first I’ve ever encountered about a trip into the Sahara. Besides, I’ve never met anyone who has ever done this. Thanks for capturing the beauty and sharing it here. More stuffing that I ever imagined.
Frank, I’d love to go there again. The silence and the beauty and serenity. But I have been in a sandstorm once, in another country, and that- was nothing I would want again!
And that’s the two sides of the coin. Well stated.
🙂
You captured some stunning photographs Leya, beautiful✨
Glad you liked them, Cherryl.
This is like a dream, A-C. Marvellous!
Tish, I almost think it was only a dream…but it was 2016, and that seems long ago and faraway right now. I am glad I have been there.
Thanks for giving us some insights into your Sahara trip. I like especially your image of the camel shadows and the camels between the dunes.
Also, thanks for giving me the opportunity to remember my once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Seychelles Islands back in October 2010. https://solaner.wordpress.com/2022/01/23/lens-artists-photo-challenge-183-memorable-events/
I am glad to give you the chance, Andre! And I have just seen your memorable event – glorious!
thanks, Ann-Christine. It’s my pleasure 😊
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I loved your trip through the desert, although I don’t know if I would be very comfortable in so much sand. Beautiful images.
Thank you, Ana! Luckily it is not like walking on a beach, this is much easier!
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Memories…its what photography was invented for. After the last two years of Covid travel memories seem to come to the fore. Maybe one day we will be so bold as to travel so widely once again. 🙂
Hope we can…Morocco 2016 is really a fond memory.
Wonderful photos 🙂
Happy you liked them, Pam!
Beautiful photos capturing the heart and colours of the desert. Brought back memories of my 3 day camel safari across the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India
Wow – Rajasthan! It must have been an adventure!
It certainly was. India is a fascinating place.
These photos of your amazing visit to this land are magical. Thank you for sharing them with this challenge.
So glad to share, Anne – this was an amazing trip for me – who had dreamt of the desert since I was a child. 2016 we made it happen!
Those are indeed wonderful photographs. Do you have any of these enlarged and on your wall at home? Such special sites.
Well, Marlene – I am glad you liked them! But, I don’t have any of my photographs on my wall. I only have paintings!
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Here is my entry: https://cxianliu.wordpress.com/2019/11/06/korea-trip-8-changing-of-the-guards/
Thank you, Yan
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Isn’t it glorious in the Atlas mountains ! Have yet to get there but cannot wait . . . am sending this around naturally, especially since a dear US girlfriend has guided such tours for a decade or more now being on the point of settling permanently in Marrakesh ! These are truly beautiful photos !!!
Thank you, Eha! I wish you could go there – having a friend settling in Marrakesh is a superb opportunity! If you go to the desert, I recommend a lovely stay at Sawadi Ecolodge. It is run by a French woman and her husband. They both fell in love with the desert and has started a paradise for us to stay at – just on the border of the desert. We stayed there after the tour. I’d love to go there again!
Leya, this is a fascinating story! Wow! What an amazing experience you had. How long did you ride? You must have been very sore the next day, but the photos you took. How did you hold still enough to take a picture? This was breath-taking in every aspect!
Glad to have you with me, Marsha! We were riding for some hours, and then sitting on the dunes until sunset. then going back again. Not sore – they were very comfortable, almost fell asleep! The ”ship” is very much like a ship. Holding still was worse…I had a bunch of useless photos, but now I regret throwing them away…memories.
You should have kept them. Blurry is the new in thing.
Oh, I know…but sometimes I want to be totally in charge myself!
LOL. Me too. My blurry did not come out as well as when it is done intentionally. I think because I don’t shake all in one direction – like taking a pano. My blurs are more like miniature earthquakes.
Hahaha…good comparison!
That was truly amazing. So lucky to have spied the Gerbil. Fabulous photos A-C 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Brian. Those early hours were the best ones, walking alone on the dunes, spying for the little ones. And yes, how lucky I was!
What an absolutely fabulous trip, A C.
It was, Sue. I’d love to go again. The beauty in ehtereal.
Indeed…I’ve never been, sadly
There are some things we can only see in books and on the internet or TV – but it is good to be able to see them there as well.
Quite
Beautiful photography Ann-Christine!
Thank you, Anne – easy to do in such a beautiful spot 😀
What a wonderful post! I love your photos and they make me want to travel there.
Thank you, Pat – and I’d love to go there again!
Amazing photos. What an experience.!
What a fabulous trip, A-C! I envy you the opportunity but appreciate you sharing so many gorgeous photos and commentary with us, allowing us the merest glimpse of the wonder of it. ❤
What a wonderful experience to have and beautiful photographs too
Amazing trip and those photos ..what a glorious memory
I think this is probably one of my favourite posts from your blog, Ann-Christine. There’s poetry in the photos and your words convey the meaning this experience has to you.
Here is mine:
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Dear Ann-Christine,
we really enjoyed how you introduced the Maroccan Sahara for us. Indeed, like in 1001 Nights. We can well imagine that you’ll remember this trip forever.
Thanks 🙏 🙏 and wishing you a great weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Gorgeous photos. I can see why it’s memorable.
Great theme, great great great photos. What an unusual trip. I’m gobsmacked with envy!
I like your Sahara trip memories!
Extraordinary photos and what a memorable trip. I can see why you chose this.