Ziz Gorge.
Ziz Valley Oasis.
A donkey in the oasis.
Street scenes outside our lunch restaurant.
Our camels waiting for us in Merzouga.
Erg Chaabi Dunes.
Two pictures taken by Hallid.
Our camp for the night, taken from the top of the dune.
Memories of the red sand dunes of Namibia.
Rachid joins the other three guides on a Moroccan singalong.
Monday,
September 18th.
Today
we had a fairly long drive. We stopped several times for lookouts,
pee breaks and snacks. We drove through Er Rachidia, a large city
that is the frontier between Morocco and Algeria. There were lots of
military bases there. The Moroccans are flirting with the EU and the
EU has decreed that they have to seal the border between the two
countries in order to stop the flow of refugees and militants.
As
we drove we followed a river and a long oasis. We stopped at a
restaurant beside it for lunch. We had the buffet which had a number
of Moroccan dishes. We stayed here for a couple of hours because
Rachid didn't want us to get to the desert too early as it would be
too hot. Wim, Andrew and I took advantage of that to go for a short
walk through the date palm groves of the oasis. It was beautiful
there and much cooler in the shade. I also went out and walked along
the street to watch what was happening in the area.
Finally
we got back in the van and drove on. The landscape became more and
more barren as we headed south, with only the occasional gum or palm
tree. When the sealed road ended we drove for about twenty kilometers
to our destination: the Auberge Samala. This was the place where we
were going to leave most of our luggage in the van and only take what
we needed for our Sahara camp. From there we could see the red sand
dunes and they reminded me very much of the dunes in Namibia. We
organized our kit and a cup of tea and then we loaded up on our
camels for the ride to camp. Unfortunately Joanne was feeling poorly
and she had to stay behind, and Rachid stayed with her. I decided not
to take my new good camera or my computer with me because of all the sand. I took my
back up camera as it is already banged up.
The
caravan took over an hour across the red dunes. We had two local
Berber guides with us and one lead the cararvan on foot and the other
followed along with us. He took a camera from each one of us and took
some photos for us as the camels walked on. I've been on camels
before but this was the best. The scenery and dunes were beautiful
and peaceful and with the sun setting the atmosphere was amazing. As
we came over the last dune we found our home for the night. It was a
little compound of six rectangular tents in a rectangle. We quickly
got organized for our climb up the big dune beside our camp. The dune
was very large (150 metres) and walking in bare feet was an arduous
climb. We got to the top after the sunset but did get some of the
glow. After taking a few group shots we descended, this time down the
very steep side, to camp. It was great going down and sinking into
the sand and causing sand slides.
When
we got down we had a dinner that our local guides had cooked for us:
a soup and some chicken and vegetable tagine. And Rachid had joined
us, as Joanne was feeling better, along she stayed at the Auberge.
After dinner we gathered around a campfire and Halid, Rachid and
Rachid played some drums for us and sang some songs. Some people hung
around the fire and talked and sang, but I headed back to the camp.
Some of us wanted to sleep in the tents and others outside. I chose
the later. I took a mattress and a blanket to the edge of camp and
spread myself out to admire the stars and soak up the atmosphere. The
temperature was perfect, but unfortunately, the wind was picking up
and blowing sand around. I lay there for a while but it was getting
worse and I was getting sand in my ears, eyes and nose. I gave up and
went into one of the tents and lay on the indoor mattress and tried
to sleep, but it was very windy and the tents were banging around a
lot. I finally did fall asleep for a few hours.
I was just showing Rachid the photos of John and I climbing the dune in Namibia in 2010, and I noticed that I am wearing the same orange shirt... yikes, too funny.
I was just showing Rachid the photos of John and I climbing the dune in Namibia in 2010, and I noticed that I am wearing the same orange shirt... yikes, too funny.
Neat to see the drummers, and the drums-same as the ones I brought home from Maroc 45 years ago!
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