I’m sitting second in line in a row of camels, singing Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” at the top of my lungs with women from China and the US, who live in London, Germany and Madrid, and two Moroccan guides.
It’s not exactly what I had in mind when I first pictured my grand Saharan adventure in Morocco -- it’s even better.
The minute I finalized my flights to Morocco, I started
planning a trip to the Saharan Desert. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a
child, and I was dying for the chance to be able to ride a camel across those
tangerine dunes and sleep out under the stars.
What I found out, though, is that there are really a lot of
things you should know and consider before you do such a thing.
For starters, it’s really
far away.
The Sahara in Morocco sits in the country’s far east, just a
few miles away from the border of Algeria, which means it takes roughly two
full days of driving up and down the windy roads of the Atlas mountains from
Marrakech to reach it. There’s no real shortcut to get here, either. From Fes,
it’s eight hours on roads of similar conditions.
You have to really want to take this adventure to justify
the amount of time it eats up just there. But what an incredible adventure it
is….
The journey started early in Marrakech, where a private jeep
came to pick me and my friend up from our hotel. We opted to go with a
semi-private tour, because we wanted to continue north directly from the desert
to the blue town of Chefchaouen (most tours either return to Marrakech or go
onwards to Fes), and this seemed the best and easiest option. Before gratuity, it cost us $225 per person,
which included breakfast and dinner, transportation, and accommodation for two
nights.
There are two-day, three-day, and four-day desert options for
travelers to book either in Marrakech, or online. We chose the three-day
option, which took us to Merzouga and the larger dunes of Erg Chebbi, where we
camped for the evening. For those who don’t have as much time, a two-day tour
will bring you to Zagora where you can still view the Sahara, though the dunes are not as large as those of Erg Chebbi.
If you have time, book at least a three-day adventure (the
four-day option takes you into the towns of Rissani and Merzouga for extra exploration).
The first day wound us up and down through the beautiful
snow-capped Atlas mountains, past tiny Berber villages and to the 11th-century fortified town of Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Quarzazate province.
Our hotel that evening was rustic and charming, which was
exactly what we needed after 10 hours of windy roads and changing elevations.
We set off the next day headed directly for the Erg Chebbi
dunes in Merzouga, arriving just in time to hop on our camels and get into the
dunes as the sun began to set.
I ran to the tallest dune I could find, painstakingly climbed up it, and watched the sun turn the dunes different shades of orange as it set.
That night we sat around a campfire drinking tea and getting
to know the other people in our small camp of 12 — travelers from Argentina,
Germany, the U.K., and Canada; the conversation turned to laughter as we tried our
best to keep a steady beat on the drums our Berber guides provided us with.
For dinner we feasted on tagine — a north African dish of mostly slow-cooked meats, potatoes, and vegetables, named for the pot in
which it is cooked. The meal was excellent, and I started to realize just how
well the camp we were staying in was set up. We had beds in our small, enclosed
metal tent. Real beds! And a bathroom — with a flushing toilet! It was much more
than the sleeping bag on the ground that I had originally envisioned.
That night I stayed up late, watching the sky. The moon was full, and I counted no less than four shooting stars in an hour.
It’s an amazing feeling, being so small around these huge, majestic walls of sand at night. I felt content in a way I hadn’t before as the world slowed down for a few minutes, and I smiled to myself sitting outside alone (while everyone around me slept) knowing I was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
In the morning we woke up at 5 a.m. and climbed to the top of the dunes in darkness. As the sun came up, it kissed the tops of the tallest dunes, creating a wave of orange, pink, and brown. The sun and the full moon sat in the sky together in opposition of each other, and I sat with my mouth open in awe, taking it all in. As we hopped on our friendly camels for one last ride back to town, I took a million mental photographs (and some real ones, too) knowing I’d just experienced something extraordinary.
What a grand adventure, indeed.
Have you taken a trip
to the Moroccan Sahara? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Related Links:
- Confessions of a Himalayan Sherpa Guide
- The Rise of Spiritual Tourism: 8 Must-Try Experiences
- Exploring Hemingway’s Africa: A First-Hand Account
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