Walking with camels: Exploring the Simpson Desert by foot

Debbie Newton
Oct 7
7 min read

I love nothing more than synchronicity and serendipity - particularly when it takes me on a remote adventure to the Australian outback.

If you had asked me two months, two years, or even 20 years ago if I would ever go to the East Simpson Desert to walk alongside camels for ten days because of a photography project about Australian sand dunes, I probably would have laughed. When researching and planning the logistics involved in undertaking such a project, I knew that the longitudinal sand dunes of the Simpson Desert would form an important part of the story I was trying to tell.

I'd heard about camel surveys in the Simpson Desert from a fellow photographer, and I felt that may be the most efficient and practical way for me to document the world's largest system of parallel linear sand dunes - it would also become the catalyst for my curiosity and subsequent fascination into the slow travel movement.

Researching my options for camel surveys in the Simpson Desert brought me to the Outback Camel Company who specialise in small group desert treks and expeditions. It would be a true wilderness adventure in the Simpson Desert walking alongside camels being led by cameleers over dunes, gibber flats and desert claypans for eight days. There are no showers, no toilets, and no phone service - just a swag and sleeping bag. It's the ultimate back to basics trek, and would offer a chance to explore this vast and arid landscape on foot. I signed up for the trek in March 2023, and booked my flights up to Queensland to start my trekking adventure two months later. After receiving my comprehensive information pack, I set about preparing for the trek.

The physical preparation consisted of walking 5km a day four days a week for two weeks, and then increasing that to 10km a day four days a week with a weighted backpack for the remaining weeks prior to my trek. I started gathering all of the necessary clothing, equipment and medications outlined in the information pack, and what I found was that packing for a trek in the desert isn't quite as straight forward as you might imagine. There are weight restrictions on baggage for both the trek itself, and regional carrier Rex Airlines who would get me from Brisbane to Birdsville and back. Ordinarily, I think it wouldn't have been a problem packing as a trekker only - but I was packing as a trekker and as a photographer, and so that meant packing the necessary clothing, equipment and medications strategically. You are allowed to have one small bag which is carried by the camels, and this bag is provided by the travel company. You are also allowed a day pack which is subject to the usual carry on restrictions of the airlines, and it is your responsibility to carry that back pack at all times throughout the trek.

At that time of the trek, adventure photography hadn't really been in my sphere of experience, and so I just took the camera equipment I had at the time which consisted of my Canon 6D Mark ii body, Canon 2.8 24-70mm lens, and my DJ Mavic Mini 3 drone. I packed spare memory cards, three batteries for my Canon, three batteries for my drone, and my Cygnett portable power bank with solar capabilities (plus additional batteries for my head torch). I didn't have any extra available space for a tripod, and so that meant shooting hand held at all times. All of the camera gear, chargers, batteries, power bank, water, and any necessary clothing I would need during the day were packed in my day pack, which meant I was carrying an extra 7 kilograms on my back every day of the trek.

The time had come, and it was time for the adventure to begin.

I arrived at Brisbane Airport the day prior, and settled in for a feed and a sneaky beverage and made the most of sleeping in a lovely big bed, having a hot shower, using a flushing toilet and charging my electronic equipment, knowing that for the next seven days and nights, I would be completely disconnected from the creature comforts I'd come to take for granted in my everyday life.

With nervous anticipation and excitement I arrived at my gate ready to board the plane. I looked around and could see some fellow trekkers wearing wide brimmed hats and hiking boots just like me - we weren't hard to find in our unofficial outback uniforms. From the moment we introduced ourselves, my nervous energy started to settle, and I felt a wave of calm wash over me knowing that these were the people I would be enjoying this adventure with.

The flight out to Birdsville where we would begin our adventure took 7 hours. From from the cityscape greys of Brisbane, to the lush green landscapes of the regional centres, to the oranges of the rural centres, to red of the outback - I thoroughly enjoyed watching the the landscape change before my eyes over the course of the flight. It was in the plane as we were descending into Birdsville where I would first realise that the outback landscape was nothing like I imagined it would be - it was better. Expansive orange and red longitudinal dunes covered the landscape as far as the eye could see, and I got my first taste of the sheer size of the Simpson Desert.

After landing in Birdsville airport, we met our guide and had a quick bite to eat and a beer at Birdsville Hotel, before we loaded into our transport and headed out to the camp for our first night in the desert. We were given a quick demonstration of how to set up and roll up our swags - and off we went to find our spot to set up our swag for the night. The first night in the swag gave me my first taste of the magic of the outback sky. I laid in my swag with the canvas cover down, and gazed up at the ceiling of stars, shooting stars, satellites that lay before me. The silence of the outback and the Milky Way beckoned for still, and my mind happily complied with the night sky - it was a night I will remember for as long as my mind allows.

The next morning we packed up our swags and watched as the cameleers gently shepherded the camels into their positions. The camels were loaded up with careful care and precision with our food supplies, swags, and our bags. It was truly beautiful to watch the relationship between the camels and cameleers throughout the course of the trek, and whilst I had never had much experience or knowledge about camels before, I now have an entirely new appreciation for these magnificent creatures. Before we set off, we were given our safety instructions, and with camera in hand, we started exploring the Simpson Desert by foot.

Biodiversity & dune systems in the Simpson Desert

Something I noticed early on is that the dune systems in the Simpson Desert are very different to the coastal dune systems I'd become so accustomed to capturing. In the desert, the dunes are linear and covered in vegetation. The dune colours in the Simpson Desert can change as well - the further north you are, the more red the sand becomes, and the further south you are you'll tend to find more orange and white coloured dunes. Each linear dune has two distinct faces creating a ridge, with the eastern slope being more steep and the western slope more gentle. These linear dunes can run up to 200km long, can tower anywhere from 10-40 metres high, and are separated by swales. Desert swales are low depressions of land between the sand dune ridges and every swale would have a distinct landscape of their own. In the Simpson Desert, the swales can consist of grasslands, gibber flats, clay pans, salt lakes and coolabah or gidgee trees. Each time I reached the top of the dune ridge and looked into the distance, all I could see were what seemed to be never-ending sand dune ridges fading off into the horizon - I felt so small and insignificant in the very best way, and it really gave me a profound sense of just how expansive this desert landscape is.

The vegetation covering the dunes consist of a mix of Yellowtop daisies, sandhill canegrass and lobed spinifex, which made for interesting walking. I quickly understood why gaiters and long pants were on the checklist of recommended clothing. It's quite remarkable that even in this arid, unforgiving landscape, nature finds a way of existing and thriving here. The Simpson desert has an average annual rainfall of 150mm, and vibrant wildflowers cover the landscape after the rain.

Dotted throughout the landscape were burrows where wildlife take shelter from the searing heat of the day. Certainly there were plenty of spiders and lizards to see, and some of the trekkers saw snakes and scorpions, but footprints in the sand were the only signs we had that emus and dingoes had been in the area. Wild camels also roam the desert.

An adventure holiday and the experience of a lifetime.

Physically, mentally - and by extension creatively - the trek stretched me in ways I never could have anticipated. Yes, at times the trek was quite hard-going, but the experience far outweighed the moments of mental or physical challenges.

It's a full on day, every day. From 6:30am you're eating breakfast, then packing up your swag, helping the cameleers to load the camels, and then walking for up to 6-7 hours a day with your backpack, before getting to camp and setting up your swag - and for me, the day didn't end there. We would generally set up camp at around 3pm-4pm, and after I'd set up my swag, I would be heading out scouting the area for photographic opportunities and then heading back out to capture the landscape as the afternoon light subsided and softened. During the day, there are no second chances to capture photographs on these treks. The distance we walk, and where we stop is dictated by the camels being able to graze and feed. Photographs are absolutely encouraged, but to be clear, this is by no means a dedicated photography trek. It was imperative that we stay ahead of the camels at all times, and whilst there were so many photographic opportunities throughout the day that I wished I could have returned to to capture during golden hour, it was simply impossible to walk back to those areas and return to camp safely, and so, I had to get creative and think on my feet (literally) and learn to work with the harsh daylight to the best of my ability.