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We were so far out in the desert that boundaries didn’t matter anymore. Were we in Tunisia? Libya? Algeria? It didn’t matter, our guide Massoud told us, pouring mint tea into my battered metal cup under a Saharan sky filled with stars. Didn’t matter?! Libya supported the bombing of airplanes, and Algerians were killing tourists.

“No countries matter out here,” Massoud explained in French that was almost as mangled as his teeth. “We are all Sahara.”

It had been pure stupidity to come to the Sahara in the middle of August. During the day the temperatures rose above 120 degrees, and we spread a blanket over a bush to wait out the heat and fight off hallucinations. We moved with our camels at dawn and dusk. At night the desert came alive, and Massoud cooked for us and offered swigs of what I believe was camel’s milk that fermented in his saddlebags during our sweltering trek. Even more stupid was to travel so close to rogue states like Libya and Algeria, where we could end up in prison with no rights if caught. Yet I felt oddly safe.

One night we met more Bedouin guides like Massoud, on the move somewhere between the states of the Sahara, uncaring of what nation claimed them. They were nomads; they belonged to the desert. And they told me of places deeper in from Tunisia, of the great volcano of Waw an Namus in the heart of the Libyan Sahara, places that sounded so fantastical that they could not be true – places I felt that I had to see. But Libya was off-limits.

Now the world has changed. Libya, once the baddest-of-the-bad terrorist state, is now open to Americans. Places once closed by war, genocide, and dictatorship are open to travelers willing to take some risks. These destinations are filled with natural wonders as well as the chance to connect with local people who have long been locked away from the rest of the world. Travel here offers a chance to share ideas and help build a more understanding world – so long as tourism remains focused on benefiting, respecting, and empowering the native people and ecosystems. The fairy tale of Waw an Namus is now available for me to explore along with the people of the Sahara who know it.

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