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| Eclipse in the Sahara gallery |
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Standing in line at a 4am check-in, it's hard to remember why I have committed myself to spending two weeks in intimate proximity with 11 strangers.
But since the 1999 partial eclipse over London, I've been promising myself the real McCoy. So when desert travel expert Chris Scott offered a tour to view the 2006 totality in the middle of the Sahara, I made sure I was one of the 12.
After landing in Agadez, Niger's second city, we join an eternal immigration queue and pay our 'Eclipse Tax', before being ushered to the 4x4s waiting to take us out into the desert.
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| The three Toyota 60s and Nissan Patrol |
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The workhorses carrying us, our luggage, our food, water, firewood and fuel are three Toyota 60s - ubiquitous throughout Africa - and a Nissan Patrol. The four drivers and two cooks are local Tuaregs, all of whom will make our trip comfortable, safe and fun.
The clockwise route goes north along the foot of the Aïr mountains, due east across the Ténéré to the frontier outpost of Chirfa, south to the oasis town of Bilma - where the eclipse is viewable for four long minutes - followed by a mad two-day rush dune-hopping back for the very last flight out of Agadez for this season.
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