Trip to The Sahara
On arrival to Marrakesh I booked a 3 day tour to Erg Chebbi, one of the largest ergs in the Sahara desert, to start the next day.
I packed a backpack and a driver came to pick me up at 7 am. With no idea what to expect, I slipped in a small bottle of cognac for when the journey got rough.
After half an hour of sorting out tours and groups, our ride for the journey arrived and we set off. My group was quite interesting and mixed: A Japanese man on a gap year in London learning English, a married Indian couple living in London, an unmarried Polish couple living in Frankfurt, 3 Chinese women studying for their Master's degree in Law, Media and Communications in London, and me.
Driving through Marrakesh there were young men playing basketball, groups working out in the park and women jogging in hijabs. #FitFam
We had regular tea and loo stops. As well as opportunities to take photos. It is a sight-seeing tour after all.
And then we got to Ait Ben Haddou. The famous UNESCO World Heritage Site and location for movies such as Gladiators, Prince of Persia, Jesus of Nazareth, The Mummy, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Oepidus Rex, Babel and the series Game of Thrones.
A part of it was damaged as there had been a recent storm in Morocco. Although it is now mostly used for movies and tourism, 8 families still reside here with no schools nor electricity.
New village across the river
The white bits on the rock is salt.
Our guide said the water from the river is salty and not good for human consumption so every day the villagers do a 15-mile trek on the mule to get good water.
He also moaned about UNESCO not doing anything for the villagers besides try to take their livelihood. A few years ago the villagers made some money ferrying tourists across the river, but then UNESCO built a bridge and that has slashed their income. Also, they put a history of the Ksar and other details at the foot of the bridge. This cuts out the need for local tour guides, again cutting out income.
We spent an hour exploring the Ksar and then went to a nice terrace restaurant for lunch.
After lunch, our next pit stop was Ouarzazate, famous for its movie studios and nicknamed "The gateway to the desert".
We stopped for the night at a Guest House called Auberge Le Vieux Chateau. At this point, I was freezing because I had foolishly left my jacket and boots in Marrakesh. Night time temperature was around 4 degrees.
I stopped to chat with the security guard and he invited me into his outpost that had this fire. He told me about life in the mountain, showed me photos of his family and I showed him photos from my trip so far.
Went back in for dinner and we had local drummers entertain.
Found a fireplace just by my room. Had to bring out the Henny at this point.
Woke up around 7am, opened the door to the terrace and I was blessed with this amazing view. Turns out that my room, room 20, is the only one with a terrace. Good God!
Selfies wouldn't do the view justice so I got my laptop and posed for a few shots.
8 am we were off again. I had a few books with me but couldn't take my eyes off the views long enough to read. I watched as the roads cut an arduous path through the mountains, date palm oases and strips of lush greenery.
We stopped at another Berber village close to the Todgha Gorge and our guide took us to the Co-op rug centre. We were welcomed with mint tea (Moroccan Whisky) and Muhammed explained to us the different types of wool they used, how they were coloured and the rug making process. The black dye is from khol, the red from poppy leaves, blue from indigo, green from thyme and yellow from saffron.
Berber women always add yellow to their rugs as saffron is moth repellent.
They then showed us amazing rugs with unique patterns. They never draw out their designs, they just weave it from memory. Proceeds from sales of the rugs go to all the families equally, not just the woman that made it.
"Don't go Fatimah, I show you to my family and we marry. Stay with me Fatimah". That was Muhammed giving me the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a Berber wife.
He was able to converse in German, Japanese, French, English, Arabic, Spanish and the three Berber dialects. I was in awe!
And then Todgha Gorge. Amazing! Gorgeous!!
Had quick lunch at Touroug Cafe, our last stop before Merzouga.
I could not stop taking pictures of the sky. I have never seen it this blue and dramatic.
Tidbit: Camels have two humps and native toCentral Asia, Dromedaries have one hump and found in the Middle East and Africa
Our Dromedaries
We rode into the sunset and got to our camp after dark. 6 of us had to share a tent with lots of blankets.
And we all had to dig in to communal bowls for dinner.
After dinner, we tried climbing the dunes. After a while, I left the group to go talk to one of the Berber boys. He was born in the desert and has lived there all his life. His family lives some 30 kilometres away in another part of the desert as semi-nomads, while he now works in tourism. We laid on blankets and looked at the stars. At that point I realised I needed to invest in a good camera as although my iPhone 6 had taken decent pictures all through the trip, It could not capture the stars. There were many of them and many shooting stars.
Another early start. Woke up 5:45 and by 6:10 we had mounted our dromedaries and were heading back to town. You could hear moans and grunts as we still had sore thighs from the night before.
My bad boy! He grunted all the way to and fro camp. The only noise of the lot. I kept praying it wouldn't throw a fit and slam me to the ground.
Day 3 was pretty much tarmac pounding. We didn't have a lot of stops as the plan was to be close to Marrakesh before it got dark. Being winter, the sun sets at around 5:30 and it is completely dark from 6 pm. And so we pounded the road and I eventually got to my Riad shortly after 8 pm, exhausted, battered by the elements and ever so grateful for a hot shower.
This trip comes very highly recommended, although I'd say go for 4 days so you'll do less time on the road. After the desert, I could not wait for my Christmas pamper day.
