Dans cet article, Laurent de Rauglaudre partage comment une expérience nomade dans le désert du Sahara peut se révéler un voyage initiatique au fond de soi.
The desert will never fade within you…
Walking for a few days in the desert is an incomparable experience. The great inner upheaval, the cleansing of the past, the shift towards a greater depth of consciousness of being are all present.
Why is a desert trek so impactful?
From biblical writings to Théodore Monnot’s accounts, the abundance of testimonies confirms that joining the rhythm of the nomads and entering this breathtaking setting leaves few people indifferent.
Everything contributes to the path of transformation:
- The disconnection from time, if one takes care to leave their watch and phone in a safe place before leaving…
- The confrontation with danger since safety resides in the microscopic circle of trust that is created in the trek…
- The unusual entry into relationship with the signals of the body that walks, that sleeps outside, that takes care of its needs behind the dune, that speaks of fatigue, that seeks the right position on the mat without a chair, that savors wholesome food whose flavors surprise…
- The subtle and often joyful exchanges with the Berbers who welcome us, protect us, inspire us in their territory…
- Nature that delivers the splendor of its three-thousand-star nights without veil or disturbance, its dunes with warm shapes and colors, its surprises of life that spring up here with an improbable tuft of grass or an acacia, a tamarisk, a palm tree, there with a bird, a desert fish, a beetle…
- Walking under the scorching sun in the footsteps of the dromedaries that crisscross according to a line of least fatigue…
- The intention that inhabits those who attempt the adventure of the trek to go in search of their true source…
In itself, walking for a few days in the desert suspends the agitation of our lives. If we have forgotten the virtues of boredom, walking in the Sahara reconnects us to all our emotions, and the sensation of living there is very intense.
The transformative group synergy in the Sahara
Moreover, the decision to embark on an initiatory and guided walk carries an extra dimension: a small group of searching humans discovers that each carries burdens, sometimes very heavy, sometimes secret, that are just waiting to be laid down.
In the magic of the desert, after letting go of the “whys,” the “hows,” the “whens,” comes the time to intensely experience the sharing circles, to freely attempt the proposals of symbolic acts, to surrender to confronting exercises with the benevolent support of those who agree to support the fragilities.
Then, in a semi-darkness, under a Berber tent in the hollow of a dune, one weeps for the rape that continues to haunt her. Another looks at his anger at not having known his grandparents who died at Auschwitz. The third lays down his guilt for not having been there to protect his friend who threw himself under a train.
Another boxes with her vision of a future that she imagines is inevitably bleak. This one manages to say “I love you” that his partner has been waiting for for thirty years.
It is no longer a question of posture, diplomas, or titles. It is a question of connecting who we are with our origin: stardust that has decided, just for a brief moment, to assemble into a human who clumsily seeks the meaning of their existence.
Then, the past fatigue and the shed tears give way to laughter and songs around the fire, an eternally fascinating spectacle.

Tasting all the magic of the desert
In the night, a cameleer will secretly perform an act of reconciliation or complete a mourning with three stones, two branches, a text to burn. Another will spend a long time scrutinizing the stars and trying to glimpse the course of those that shoot. A third will be surprised by great sobs from a wound that still needs to bleed before healing.
Dreams filled with symbolism will disturb and then come to rest at the next sharing circle. At dawn, the awakened will climb a dune to greet the great blond one who will put the stars to rest.
When the sand drips from the arms in a caress, when the dromedary welcomes a tired body, when the orange surprises the palate in a sweet explosion, when the top of the great dune offers the sporty promontory delivering the spectacle of the sun’s disappearance on the horizon, when the improbable well shares fresh water, when the long silence grants respite to the incessant buzzing, when hearts dare to share and welcome the fragilities that unite us, then the desert is imprinted forever.
The time of return comes: each one, paradoxically filled with large spaces, leaves behind weights melted into an anchor. Nature is no longer an environment; we are nature.
By Laurent de Rauglaudre
N.B.: Laurent will accompany an initiatory walking trip in Morocco and the Sahara “The Silence of the Desert” from November 6 to 18, 2023 (13 days / 11 nights)!