Palms Hotel Erfoud

... no hiding place and I can only imagine he ended up tying a knot in it until we made an impromtu stop at a café 20 minutes drive away. Mind you, for the first time since the beginning of the tour, he stopped talking. Quite a tiring drive and it was good to get to the hotel. The Hotel Salam was cute, the rooms in a quadrangle with gardens in the centre. Good size room and warm which was a bonus as the nights were freezing here. I liked the fact there was a table and seating area in the ...

... themselves up, leaving the rest of us to wish we had bought one, because they allowed you to breathe through the thin material without getting the sand in your mouth and nose. off in the distance 4 camels were walking by one single tree that seemed to be the only green thing that could withstand the harsh climate. In every direction was sand. We got back in the van and continued to approach the sand dunes. It really felt like it was the edge of the ...

... remaining on the return to Marrakech were the most interested. M'het was a strong student, aware of the crossovers of Islam with Judaism and Christianity and very eloquent in his respect for other faiths. Yet, for a clearly highly intelligent and well educated boy, he took all his religious studies at face value. There was a Garden of Eden. There was a talking snake there with a corrupt angel in it. To suggest they are merely stories is folly as Mohammed ...

... around. However one in particular has still stuck with all of us, even now. This adolescent, white and gray cat comes hobbling over to our table with a huge rag rapped around its front paw. Being vet students, we take a closer look to see what is wrong with the cat. Then all of a sudden, Lindsay lets out a huge scream in disgust. Suddenly we all look away, and moan and groan at the sight of one of the most pitiful things I have ever ...

... By the afternoon we have out medinaed ourselves, so we write inane scribblings such as this on our web page, upload a few snaps to keep you all extremely jealous and grab dinner in the Ville Nouvelle. Tomorrow is loosely planned. It's a big haul on the bike to the Saharan sands of Erg Chebbi, and will require crossing the Atlas. We estimate it took Hannibal a bit more than a day, so no specific agenda but to head on south and see how far we get. May ...

... enjoying it and thought we did also so we let it slide. We arrived right after dark at the desert hotel in Timbuktu. I had heard of Timbuktu as a joke somewhere but I couldn´t believe that I was actually there. The hotel was actually really cool. It looked like a big sand castle on the edge of the little town which was just a couple of little houses and miles upon miles of sand dunes. I have never seen a brighter moon than I did that night.

... soup and a drink we set off again. The further south we drove, the dryer - if it was possible - the lunar landscape that surrounded us became. Dry dirt and mountains around us looked like they had come straight out of a Western movie. Right on sunset we arrived at an Oasis. A lush valley of green grass and palm trees was an amazing sight after all the dry dirt we had seen for the past few hours. It also gave Rashid a chance to drink and eat breakfast ...

... between 2WD and 4WD is often confusing..... The hotel is an old style Kasbah, but only 4 years old. It is a veritable oasis in the desert. Amazing Moroccan salon-style rooms are beautifully decorated with a local touch. Even though it is mudbrick, it is 4 star mudbrick if that makes sense. I am spending more than I would as a 'traveller' because I am hanging round with those on 'holiday', but it is a fair compromise and still exceptionally good value because it includes food ...

... Laynni's trip back was made less comfortable by her inability to find an opportunity to relieve herself before we left. That job is au naturale in the desert and with the other trekkers perched on the dunes high above still enjoying the morning she was unable to find, shall we say, comfort in solitude. Finally, our desert experience was at an end. We promptly crossed "Desert Camel Trek" off our Things to Do list and moved on. Camionette, grand taxi, bus ...

... have never in my life seen so many stars. We saw the moon set, which was pretty cool, I don't remember ever seeing that happen before. Our guides were fantastic. They were both named Youssef and they were incredibly nice to us, and very good with the camels. We woke up at 5:30 today, just in time to see the sun rise. That was definitely the highlight of the trip. There just aren't words to describe it, but it was unlike anything I have ever ...