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We passed through a deserted-looking, wind and dust-swept Akjoujt, the only major town en route .. which was an ancient copper mining centre and where mining is soon to resume full production to cater for the
ever growing and IMHO questionable Chinese consumption of Africa's natural resources. As we were crossing yet another large and barren plain of rocky soil with the very occasional tree .. both of us started to look at each other with uncertain expressions on our faces.
We were both wondering where all the water .. that was around 200 metres away on either side of the road .. had come from. Trees, large rocks and even the occasional Camel were perfectly reflected in the water and it
appeared as though we were driving through the middle of a large flooded plain. So convinced were we, that we even stopped and looked on our map for a river or a water source.
Of course, if we hadn't been so amazed
and had thought about it properly; in this bone dry area of the Sahara Desert, there aren't any rivers or lakes .. so it was indeed a mirage. The first either of us had ever seen and so realistic we could not believe it was not true.
We initially thought we were both hallucinating !!
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