The camel caravan arrives at Tissardmine where we are waiting to head out into the desert and Erg Chebbi, a large dune 28 km long, 7 km wide and 150 m high.

Slowly the sand crept up the trunk of the palm tree, particle by particle. Day by day, the sand wallowed around its base and core. Sandstorms fitted while the palm tree stood strong, fearless and confident that it would never bend. One by one the grains grew and accumulated. The neck of low branches is now covered with a cloak of dust, suffocating, the tree's skin now the desert itself, its arms merely a whisper of green in the sand.