This is the most inhospitable land I have ever seen.
Five pickup trucks of passengers from the Viking Sun traveled in the bed of 5 covered pickup trucks to venture for several miles on a "freeway", then through the desert for several more miles to reach the settlement. I say "freeway" because it was 4 lane, but who ever traveled on a freeway that has speed bumps? A convoy of double bottom dump trucks had a bit of a problem with one of these. Four trucks made it past, but the last one, somehow, did not.
The drive across the dessert was interesting. There seem to be several tracks which have the loose sand plowed aside to reach solid packed sand. The truck drivers each had his own idea of which track was smoothest and/or fastest. We wove back and forth, bumping our way along until we arrived at our first stop -- the nearest well. It was 25 meters (about 80 feet) deep, and was one of the shallower wells in the area. I am not sure how they dug it, but according to our guide, they find the spot to dig by withholding water from a camel for 2 months, then turning it loose. The camel smells the water, and they dig the well.
Next we drove to the actual settlement where about 70 people lived. The settlement was not at all like I expected. There were no tents, no herds of goats or camels and few people. We saw fewer than 10, but there was no explanation about where the others were. Perhaps they stayed out of sight in some of the other buildings or perhaps this was just a "show" village for tourists. The buildings were usually made of some sort of brush walls with palm frons or brush for a roof or just open sided shelters.
We were greeted by a group of men, playing drums and some kind of long stick with a string played at intervals with a kind of a bow. It seemed to produce only one sound, a wailing screech.Our guide lead us to one of the shelters where we were served tiny cups of steaming hot tea in metal cups. He then explained, in detail the family life and marriage customs of the tribe. Children under the age of five all play together. After that the girls live with the mothers and the boys with the fathers. They are not allowed to have any contact with members of the opposite sex. Women do only "women's work," taking care of the girls, cooking, and having babies. The names of the children are entered into the tribal register, maintained by the sheikh. He sits in a shelter overlooking the village and makes notes on the behavior of the people. When a girl is physically able to have children, she is eligible for marriage, whether she is 9 or 19 years old. If a young man decides he wants a wife, he has 2 choices. He can marry one of his cousins from the tribe or look for a wife from another tribe. If he chooses to stay within the tribe, he already know the girls because he played with them until they were 5 years old. His mother meets with the other mother and negotiates a price, usually 10 camels. If he is too poor, the tribe contributes to the price. Since the sheikh has been writing down his good and bad deeds and qualities, that can change the price.
Selecting a bride from another tribe is more complicated. Somehow the tribes must mingle to some extent, so if he hears that there is an eligible girl in another tribe, his mother visits the tribe, talks to the mother who will offer a daughter. The three visit for a while so the mother can decide if the girl is suitable. If so, the son will visit the future mother-in-law for a chat. The prospective bride watches, but out of sight. If she likes him, she sends in a glass of tea with sugar. If not, no sugar, so he knows whether or not to go to the next step. At the next visit, he meets her, sort of. In a very controlled atmosphere, with the girl covered from head to toe, except a thin slit for her eyes. After this meeting, he can accept and the exchange progresses. If he rejects her, he gets a black mark in his book with the sheikh. The process goes on. If he gets too many black marks, he is too fussy and no one will help him, so I guess he remains alone. It is all very complicated, so I may not have it right.
Next item on the agenda was a camel ride, if you wanted to. I did. My camel driver took lots of pictures of me, and he was quite a joker!
So far, the only people we met were men. Now we saw the only women, but she was not allowed to talk to us. Her job for the day was to show how they made a bread by rolling out a dough of flour, water and a bit of salt. She cooked this over an open fire until it was spotted with brown. We all tried it, and it was delicious. A young girl who was probably her daughter, sat silently on a bench. We were allowed to take pictures of both the woman and her daughter, if it was her daughter. As soon as we had all tasted the bread, both of them vanished.
The Bedouins use local herbal remedies to treat all sorts of things and a vitamins to maintain health. One of the men explained how several compounds were used and offered to sell them to us, for just $10 a bag. There were no buyers.
When we left the shelter we were treated to a display by 2 whirling devishes. They spun for almost 5 minutes, non stop, while manipulating various "skirts" over their heads. Amazing! I took videos of them, but no pictures, so if you want to see them you will have to visit me. I have not figured out how to send videos.
Fortunately the ride back was quicker, but unfortunately , because of the speed, it was a lot bumpier.
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