Merzouga, Morocco Travel Blogs

Of Kasbahs and Camels...
May 5, 2006 (21 photos)

... we made the trek again (at 5 am!) to catch the sunrise. Our time spent in the desert was hosted by Morocco's desert nomads - the Berbers. They are the indigenous people of northern Africa whose traditional way of life was as nomadic herders. Who ...

The Sahara
Aug 16, 2006 (35 photos)

We caught a night bus to Rissani on the expensive bus company (CTM) although the bus driver only sporadically put on the aircon so it was like an oven inside and none of the chairs reclined (for our 10 hour journey). From there we were picked up in a ...

The Sahara
Jun 2, 2009 (10 photos)

... .) Our drive home was uneventful - for the most part.  We had to stop once for camels crossing the road outside of Merzouga.  Then, we got stopped by the cops for "speeding".  How could they tell with no radar detectors?  I guess we ...

Tineghir, Todra Gorge, Erfoud, and Sahara Desert
Oct 25, 2004 (7 photos)

... their own language. Idriss had just started learning English a little while before we arrived, so he spoke Spanish with our Peruvian student, Helga. Afterward we went to Erfoud, hopped aboard a few jeeps, and went off-roading in the Dunes of Merzouga.

Into the Sahara and a sandstorm
Apr 8, 2006 (20 photos)

... spring water, fossils for sale and a local musical group. Gnaou musicians are descended from the west africans brought as slaves to Morocco along the Arab slave routes. Gnaou music is fantastic - chanting, drumming and of course, we all have to get up ...

Northern Sahara via Camel
Nov 9, 2006 (22 photos)

... stunt we piled into a 4-wheel drive for the drive south to the edge of the Erg Chebi dunes. About 20 minutes out of Merzouga Rus suddenly instructed the driver to stop - he climbed out and lost his lunch in dramatic style. After about 5 minutes of giving ...

Sunrise in the Sahara Desert
Nov 22, 2006 (9 photos)

We left our hotel at 5am for a 50 min 4-wheel drive ride to Merzouga, the desert area close to the Algerian border.  Once there, it was onto a camel, sharing with Cynthia, for a 20 or so min ride through the sand dunes.  I was glad to get off ...

Merzouga
May 28, 2005 (4 photos)

I don't have an entry for this but I wanted to put more pictures of my trip into the desert. So here they are.

sand dunes merzouga
Sep 18, 2008

all about sand dunes

an amazing place for food poisoning!!
Nov 22, 2006

absolutely spectacular; so many stars and shooting stars, one of the best sunrises ever, got a saw bum from riding a camel.... pity about being up nd down all night with food poisoning.... oh well, wouldnt have seen so many shooting stars otherwise

My Day in the Sahara Dessert
Feb 16, 2006 (51 photos)

In order to fill our days while the plane gets the permit extended to fly in Morocco, my coworker, her partner and I head towards the dunes of the Sahara with a stop in Erfoud. Erfoud is where many of the fossils in all the gift shops around town come ...

Western Sahara Desert
Sep 26, 2008 (46 photos)

Came riding in the Western Sahara...

Camelus dromedarius into the sandbox for the night
May 6, 2008 (121 photos)

Took the one humped prehistoric beasts out to the middle of nowhere sandbox-land at twilight...I don't know how this guy made it out there. Had an amazing tajine dinner, slept in a tent settlement. Woke up at five only to climb a massive...massive... ...

The great camel trek into the Sahara
Nov 7, 2008 (9 photos)

The monkey girls could hardly be contained from running out to claim their preferred camel companion, anticipating their Saharan adventure.  Their Touareg Berber guide, Mohammed, a young and amiable boy, was ready with a trio of varied dromedary ...

Fes to the Sahara
May 26, 2005 (5 photos)

... water and bread.. that day i felt i had found my calling.. feeding native nomads .. anyway.. From Midelt we travelled down to Merzouga on the edge of the Sahara, which was around 36 degrees in the shade. We were still feeling pretty sick and the thought ...

Into the desert - Riki tiki tenga
Feb 25, 2007 (10 photos)

Clem says:  According to our Berber carpet salesman, the four elements of the desert are space, pure air, silence and emptiness.  Elements that we relished - they were in such vast contrast to many of our other destinations. ...

Camelling around in the Sahara
Apr 19, 2007 (5 photos)

... dont drive at dangerous speeds....) with bus, long distance taxi (6 passengers at once!) and a van, I eventually arrived at Merzouga. The hotel owner I found myself in tried desperately to get me to do an overpriced 20 hour tour starting that afternoon ...

Good Friday
Apr 14, 2006 (14 photos)

... 16:00 we came off the main road & drove across the "black" desert on some seemingly arbitrary path to a hostel in Merzouga. Dropped off our packs (we'd previously packed daypacks) in one room of the hostel; tied on my sesh "Arab style"; jumped on a ...

Sahara
Oct 16, 2006

... pizza size flat pastry with a meat stew inside. Very tasty. After lunch we all piled into a 4x4 and drove for 40 minutes to Merzouga, the town right on the edge of the dunes. We stopped at a remote hotel where we were given a room to relax in for the ...

Frozen and aching in the Sahara Desert
Nov 17, 2007 (23 photos)

... people and haggle for our food, because he felt claustrophobic and couldn't cope. As we crawled along a bumpy dirt track towards Merzouga, we could see the Erg Chebbi sand dunes in the distance. We stopped at a faux Kasbah that has recently been built ...

The Desert!
Apr 12, 2007 (19 photos)

The taxi dropped us off at the hostel which was right on the edge of the desert. the man came out of the place and spoke to the taxi driver and were not too sure what they were saying but they told him we'd had some hassle. He showed us to our ...

The Road to Merzouga
Apr 24, 2001 (3 photos)

... (for the first time traveler) as there are no signs and it is a 35 km journey across the piste to the outpost of Merzouga. Pistes by definition is "poor track", however, there is very little track so that getting lost in the desert could have been a real ...

ATVs in the Sahara!!!!!! - Unbelievable
Jun 17, 2008 (7 photos)

Today we drove about an hour outside of the local town to a small tented camp in the dunes of the Sahara in Merzouga.  One of my HBS buddies, Jon Bunt, had given us the heads up that taking ATVs out on the sand dunes was one of the most fun things he ...

Merzouga
Apr 1, 2006

Sleeping in the dunes in Merzouga.

Hand me a pack of dromedaries
Jan 25, 2006 (5 photos)

... were the first inhabitants of Morocco before hoards of Arab invaders swept in to rule the country. Currently, he said, Morocco is fifty percent Berber and fifty percent Arabic, but he cautioned that Berbers, in general, were a disappearing population, ...

Erg Cherbi - Poos And Piles
Jan 14, 2006 (51 photos)

... . ************** OK I have never advertised a spot previously, but if you want to do something remarkable, come to Morocco, come to Merzouga on the edge of the Erg Cherbi dunes and stay at the Kasbah Mohajut. ph 0021266069185 email mohamezan@yahoo. ...

Just Like Lawrence of Arabia, Well Almost
Nov 4, 2006 (22 photos)

... some impressive rock walls that provide for excellent climbing if you enjoy that sort of thing. About an hour outside of Merzouga the road completely disappears and what is left is a flat gravel expanse that extentends in all directions for miles. This ...

Headed for the Dunes
Jun 22, 2007 (24 photos)

... representing that we safely slept through the night without Freddy Krueger at our door.  Excited to leave for the sand dunes in Merzouga (which borders Algeria).  We were told that for lunch we were going to have a pizza that is only made in a ...

Debut du Sahara
Oct 16, 2008 (6 photos)

Un desert c est sec. Mais je viens d arriver il vient juste de s arreter de pleuvoir. Et oui sur la frange du sahara il peux pleuvoir 15j d affilé. Tant mieux, car il est plus facile de skier avec des dunes humides. Je ne suis venu dans cet endroit du ...

Camel riding for the uninitiated...
Jul 7, 2007 (49 photos)

... music...our camp was located in a small oasis quite a ways out in the desert...the next morning we made our way back into Merzouga (again via camel) and made our way back to Fes...    I have to say that camel riding isn't terribly comfortable... ...