A night in the Sahara
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2009
1
27
41
Trip End
Mar 19, 2009
Erg Chebbi,
Morocco
Friday, March 6, 2009
We stopped for a coffee and toilet stop, then lunch, then drove off road just past Merzouga to Auberge Salama where we stopped to offload our bags, drink mint tea, collect our overnight bags and sleeping bags and climb onto camels for an hour long ride through the dunes of the Sahara desert to a desert camp.
Our camp was at the beginning of the Erg Chebbi dunes and the views as we were riding were amazing - rolling dunes of a beautiful orange gold colour and so peaceful
Gorgeous view form the rooftop of accomodation
. The camels seemed so placid, happy to stay in formation, and did as they were told. Mike hopped off his camel and let Abdul ride it and walked about half the way. The camp was a great setup - about 4 individual tents with thick blankets over timber frames on the walls and roof, all connected with an open area in the centre. We chose tents - the 3 single guys in one, ladies in another and Mike & I in another. Each tent looked like it could sleep about 6 people, but it was nice to have such a small group and have the place to ourselves.
After we claimed tents we sat and had mint tea, then decided to climb the dune behind the camp to watch the sun set. It was a tough climb, the dune was massive and the sand was so soft it was hard to get a footing. Even climbing sideways across it was tough. I took off my shoes so I could climb more easily, then I had to carry them and was almost crawling a lot of the way. At the peak of the dune it was not as difficult, but still hard to get across. Finally got to the peak of the dune and sat in the wind and the cold to watch the sun go down. It was worth the effort though as it was a spectacular sight and one of those moments to always remember (like climbing Mt Sinai). The only bad thing about the whole experience was the sand constantly blowing everywhere - got in your eyes, nose, ears, mouth, clothing, even in my camera lens (starting to play up)
Goats on the road
. Coming down was much easier, I think it took well over an hour to climb up, but only 10-15 mins to get down.
We sat around in the open area and had a great dinner prepared by Moustafa (the guy who had led our camels in) and a couple of other guys. There was another group in the next camp and they cooked for them as well. Dinner was chicken and vegetable tagine (vegetable tagine for Mike and AJ) and we sat on the ground around the tables to enjoy it. Fresh oranges afterwards, then we sat around an open fire while Moustafa and Abdul played bongo drums - excellent way to finish the day. We all sat too close to the fire to start with though and the smoke made us cry, but after we moved back a little, it was a bit more pleasant.
Mike, AJ and English Mike made up their beds out in the open, using upturned tables as wind breaks and slept there all night, so I had the whole tent to myself. It wasn't as cold as I had expected but I'm still glad I had the sleeping bag as well as one of their thick blankets.
