Storyline: Highlights of Morocco
The sun is completely up here at 8 am. And everybody was out to watch it.
I reluctantly got up, previous night still alive in my mind, with a million stars flickering in front of my eyes and drums cracking in my head.
By the time I braved the cold, Alex was already way up in the dunes. For everyone who knows me, I am not exactly awake until I’ve had my coffee.
So, I snapped a few shots from our room terrace and headed for my coffee and breakfast. The breakfast buffet was really good. They made us Berber tagines (eggs tagine with delightful Moroccan spices), pancakes and other pastries to supplement the bread, olives and jams.
It was a lovely quiet morning while the group was exploring the desert in 4x4s. I had the time to wander around the hotel, take more pictures and do some writing while enjoying the shapes of the dunes and the warmth of the sun on our terrace.
We had lunch at the hotel too, and a few free hours before the sunset activity.
Alex: With Ray safely and regrettably on his way to Marrakech to get his eye seen to, and Diana wisely passing on this opportunity (that darned motion-sickness thing), the remaining seven travellers and Said climbed aboard two full-sized SUVs and headed south along the edge of the dunes.
We stopped several times to take in the views, have our first close-ups with the local camels (dromedaries to be precise), including one extremely cute baby – who would have known that a camel could be so adorable? – and to hoon about for a while over and around the dunes.
I’ve been on roller coasters that were less steep than some of the dune faces we climbed or ran down. But it never felt unsafe. There was a refreshment break in a Bedouin encampment, where we were served the ubiquitous and delicious mint tea and were given a brief history of Bedouin culture and the current challenges to the nomadic lifestyle.
We stopped finally about 25km south of the hotel for more local music. This time, it was a Senegalese group who drummed, sang and danced for us while we sipped our mint tea, then had us all up and dancing along.
We were delighted by the antics of one of the performers’ toddlers. On our return through Merzouga – about 20km south of the hotel, our driver proudly drove us through the narrow streets of the village and showed us his home. I, for one, had an enjoyable time. Could I have spent the time just scrambling among the dunes and enjoying the stunning views? Absolutely. There was little enough time for that as it was. But I’m glad I joined the 4×4 tour.
Diana: In the afternoon, Alex and I walked through the dunes, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
Later, mounting a camel (dromedary) was quite an experience for me. It was the most dreaded activity for me included in the tour. I was ready to bail out, but having done this once during our South America tour (bailing out from an activity) and forever regretting it, I was inclined to give it a try.
Camels have a strange multi-step way to get up from their resting position and back down again: first the forelegs come up, throwing you back, then up goes the rear end, throwing you forward, and just when you’re feeling safe up it goes again in front. I survived the 35 min ride up through the dunes to watch the sunset, although I and others were never quite comfortable as the ‘saddles’ all seemed to have a list to the right.
After surviving the thunk, thunk, thunk as my camel reversed its getting-up procedure, I gladly dismounted. The next stage was really hard though, since we had to scale a very steep dune… loose sands sliding with every step and my legs sinking into the sand up to my knees.
Close to the top of this gigantic and steep dune I got help from Alex pushing me up while Said pulled me, so I eventually made it to the top.
It wasn’t a spectacular red sunset. There were a few clouds. And we were on one of the highest dunes. In the distance we noticed another group. The sun set much earlier for them since they didn’t climb a dune, but sooner were down between a few dunes near their camels.
As we were waiting for the last bit of sun to go behind the horizon a strong wind blew sand all over us, hitting us like hail. Despite all my coverings, I had sand in my eyes, mouth and ears. It was time to head down.
Most of the group slid on their bums to where the camels were.
On our way back, I decided I’d prefer to walk and Alex joined me. Said walked with us because the guides thought it was harder to walk and we may get behind and lost (The guides had walked the camels into the desert, so we felt comfortable that we could walk out).
The tracks of the camels were well-defined, however Said later said – if there is strong wind, all the tracks can disappear very quickly. For me, walking was much easier than being up on the camel. And it was a good exercise.
We could have spent weeks in this place admiring the quietness of the desert, the ever-changing shapes and colours of the dunes, and the absolutely stunning starry skies at night. No telescope needed.
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