Singing Sand Dunes

We have joined both the Canadians in Qatar and the South Africans in Qatar ex-pat groups. They provide get-togethers that help all of us keep in touch with "back home" and get comfortable in our foreign environment.

Last Friday we tagged along with a group of about 150 South Africans for a braai (bbq) at the Singing Sand Dunes. Intrigued by the name we decided we couldn't miss the opportunity. There is nothing like meeting with people who are in much the same position as ourselves and with so much background in common. We made new friends, sang old songs, watched kids ...and others, slog up the dunes and toboggan down, caught up on stories.

We started off in the car park of a local mall and then drove in convoy into the desert. Our caravan snaked along in a record 44 vehicle train. Thank goodness for gps as there are no signposts, and the frontline cars were using latitude and longitude co-ordinates to get there. We have had a 4x4 for the past few weeks which was just as well, as we could not have attempted the bone-jarring, joltingly bumpy off road adventure using a sedate Honda.

When we arrived at this natural amphitheatre we parked all the cars alongside each other and then set about forming a laager (circle) of camp chairs. We sat around a great big campfire that sent flames shooting straight up into a clear night sky. The flickering firelight provided enough light for children to still scoot down the dunes on cardboard. Someone set up a stereo and we heard the nostalgic sounds of South Africa: Ladysmith Black Mambaso, acapelle, boeremusiek, folk .... anybody remember Des and Dawn? We tucked into picnic boxes and lit up bbq's for the ever present SA boerewors.

The dunes themselves are beautiful to look at - high hills of pure sand that have formed over eons of time due to wind, geography and geology. The sand is so fine and the granules so circular - perfectly sculpted to create the phenomenon of singing sand, in approximately 30 locations around the world. There is still some controversy over why the dunes sing: scientists reckon that the grains of sand must be round and between 0.1 and 0.5 mm in diameter, must contain silica, and needs to be a specific humidity. Then a combination of wind and the exuberance of climbers causing sandslides produces the "singing". An eerily haunting percussion that echos around the amphitheatre sounding somewhat like a combination of the roaring of a lion and the hum of a didgeridoo. A deep base boom that Bedouins of bygone times attributed to "djinns" - evil spirits.

A truly great experience and a big thank you to SAinQ for an organization feat!!
Ons het lekker gekuier!