- Departure for Morocco
- Fes arrival, Morocco
- More Fes, Morocco
- Fes Tannery’s & Sufi Music Festival, Morocco
- Meknes, Morocco
- Meknes to Merzouga, Morocco
- Sahara Desert Camp and Dilshad’s birthday, Morocco
- Todra and Dades Gorges, Morocco
- Ait Benhaddou, Tisseldai, & onto Marrakech, Morocco
- Marrakech, Morocco
- Essaouira. Morocco
- Safi, El Jadida and Casablanca, Morocco
Sahara Desert Camp and Dilshad’s birthday
After sleeping peacefully that night, we spent most of the day resting and relaxing around the Nasser Palace Hotel pool area, as we were schedule to leave for the Desert Camp after 5PM. Below are some views of Nasser Palace hotel which was at the edge of the desert, literally.
Nasser Palace, refreshing pool
We then drove in the late afternoon from Hassilabied to Merzouga; about 3kms away. Both are small dusty, sleepy towns with little of interest in the towns themselves.
The attraction of these areas is the various adventure tours into the desert from here. These towns have small buildings almost entirely made of mud and straw; that keeps them cool from the heat outside.
When we drove this area, it was quite hot; must have been at least 90+F and due to the heat, you saw few people outside. See town scenes below
More Merzouga, everything constructed with mud and straw
We had a late lunch at the only place that seemed to have AC to get a break from the afternoon sun
Late lunch of Moroccan salad and soup. Salads typically consisted of different kinds of vegetables, including potatoes 🙂 . Every meal always started with olives and bread.
We had some laundry to get done, so found out where the local laundry place was, so we could drop off the laundry, and then pick up the next day when we returned from the Desert Camp.
I went off to the laundry, found it; but it was closed. I was informed the owner was the Imam of the mosque, and so was off to conduct prayers at the mosque. Not clear when he would be back, if at all. Things move at a leisurely pace in the small towns in the backwaters of Morocco 🙂
On the way back, stopped at the only ATM / Bank in Merzouga to get some cash to pay Ali for the Desert Camp. The Bank was closed and the ATM machine had an error message on the screen. We were told then the next nearest ATM was in Rissani, about 30kms away. So rather than drive all that way and back, decided to pay Ali cash with US$’s that we had on us for the Desert Camp.
I am now 0 for 2. Hopefully, the Desert Camp will happen.
We then headed over to Ali’s place (everything is very close by; small town), and got ready for the Desert Camp trip. Mansoor, our driver, came to pick us up and got us prepared; below
Ready & kitted out for the Desert
The Sahara is a vast Desert, where hardly anything grows. A lot of the desert is just dirt and rocks/stones like the scene below; this is contrary to what we believe (desert should be sand dunes).
Sahara Desert and dustbowl from the wind; nothing but heat, dirt, & stones.
There are 2 areas in Morocco that have vast sand dunes within the Sahara Desert; and they are called Erg’s; literally meaning “shifting sand dunes”.
Morocco has Erg Chebbi and Erg M’Hamid. Erg Chebbi is where Merzouga is, so that us where we were headed.
We piled into Mansour’s Land Cruiser, and our first stop was at a Gnaoua settlement outside Merzouga.
We were treated to Gnaoua music, which is a form of Sufi music, where people go into a trance with the beat of the music, and thus get closer to god. The Turkish whirling dervishes are another example.
After this Gnaoua performance, we left and Mansour took us to the proper Sahara desert. Apparently. This part of the Sahara had been a sea a long time ago, and the rocks contained all kinds of fossils of sea creatures.
You could simply walk around, pick up a rock, and most likely it had a fossil in it. Quite amazing. The stones in this area also have minerals so semi-precious stones are mined in this area in large quantities.
Mansour showing us the fossil rocks
Vastness of the Sahara Desert without sand dunes
Mansour then drove to the Erg Chebbi, and took us over large sand dunes; at what looked like over 45 degree slopes; quite a scary ride.
Erg Chebbi dunes rising out of the barren desert
Waiting for Lawrence of Arabia 🙂
After some more spirited driving over more sand dunes, Mansour finally dropped us at Berber Experience, which was our Desert Camp for the night.
Berber Experience Desert Camp; those are our tents in the back
They had proper western flush toilets and showers here in this Desert Camp; all very clean. They were not messing around
WC , shower stalls thru the open door, and sinks outside
I did not ask how they managed the waste 🙂
After settling in, since it was getting close to sunset time, it was time to climb the large sand dune below to view the sunset
Sunset viewing at the top of the large dune
Some people were arriving at the Desert Camp by a 2hr camel trek
Sunset time over the Erg Chebbi vastness.
It was very windy and sand was blowing hard; such that it felt like a microderm abrasion was taking place on all exposed skin areas. No wonder the local’s galabia is all-covering for a reason.
Selfie sunset. Head covering was necessary due to the sand, and sun
Back at the campsite, came across these camels after their land journey, settling for the night.
After showering and cooling off; it slowly started getting slightly cooler; and the dinner at night was one of the best we had of traditional Moroccan Tajines
And some of the best Tajine we had in Morocco
Soon it was time to light the campfire, and Berber music
Camp staff became Berber musicians at night
Dilshad’s birthday was celebrated at midnight, by the lively, mostly French crowd singing happy birthday in French
French Happy Birthday to Dilshad
With local Berber musician who was quite intoxicated and very philosophical
We then climbed a nearby sand dune to lay on the sand and listen to the vastness of the silent Sahara, and stargaze. Was that Romantic enough? Then off to sleep
Desert Camp at night from nearby sand dune.
This entry was posted in Africa, Morocco, Morocco May 2017
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Happy belated birthday to Dilshad…how exotic it must have felt to celebrate the day in Morocco and that too with close friends!
Love it. Great trip. You took the easy way out getting there in an SUV. We took the rougher way by riding camels for 2 hours. And you think we are spoilt!!!
Interesting about the fossils and the desert.
Thanks for sharing your journey with us
Its quite an adventure you have had. Of all the places you have been which was your favorite?