Mosquito coast.

The bait that lured me back to Libya for this, my tenth visit, was a chance to hoon off southeast towards Chad and take a look at Waw en Namus, an extinct volcano in the middle of nowhere. Leaving the bulk of the party to dig up bits of rock, four of us and two Libyans set off across the vast expanse of nothingness that is this part of the desert. Easy gong over largely flat terrane it was about 150 miles. We checked in at the loneliest police checkpoint in Libya and gave one of the guys stationed there some laxatives. At his request! The piste started to go uphill as we approached what appeared to be a black dune sandwiched between the sand and the sky. Over a distance of about 100 yards golden sand turned to volcanic ash, heavier and not subject to movement by the wind giving a sharp cut off line when viewed from Space (Google Earth it). As we popped over the crest, before us lay a breathtaking sight. Looking like The Lost World, was a crater some 3 miles across with three oases, trees, birds and reeds. We walked down the steep edge into the centre to be met by an army of mosquitoes (Namus is arabic for Mosquito) Like steam trains it was clearly better to be outside looking in, rather than inside looking out, so we retreated and camped about a mile away, before returning to meet up with the others the next day. Pics show; the police checkpoint, the approach to the black stuff, the stunning view over the edge and the lost world within.