Morocco - Sahara Adventure

We got up early to pack our bags and sort out what we wanted to take with us for the following 4 days, and stored our large packs at the Riad, taking with us only a change of clothes and some basic necessities in our day packs. We had been advised that breakfast was included in the tour, so we headed out to the meeting place at 7am. Unfortunately we later discovered that breakfast was in fact not included on the first day and we ended up not having lunch until after 2pm.

After some initial confusion with buses, where we ended up being swapping buses three times, we finally headed off at about 8am once everyone turned up. Our bus driver was a quiet man from Marrakech called Josė. We also found out pretty early on how much driving was involved in the tour, as the first day was to consist of roughly the following;

-         - 2 hour bus ride

-          -Stop for toilet break

-          -1 hour bus ride

-          -Stop at the kasba for a hour tour

-          -1 hour bus ride

-          -Stop for a late lunch

-          -2 hour bus ride

-          -Stop for toilet/food break

-          -1 hour bus ride

-          -1.5 hour camel ride in the Zagora area

We were a little surprised at first about the amount of driving, but should not have been as we had been told that it takes a long time to get anywhere in Morocco!

The first few hours of the bus ride were pretty uneventful until we started to head into the mountains and stopped a number of times for photo opportunities where there were some excellent cliffs and valleys. At about midday we stopped at the Kasba (not sure how it is spelt) where scenes for a number of famous movies were filmed, including, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and Prince of Persia. It was definitely a spectacular area with amazing orange mud brick buildings. The were two main parts of the city, the old and the new, separated by a river (or in the case when we were there a river bed). The tour guide explained that the river is two metres deep for half of the year and dry the other half. The river comes from snow melting on the mountains, and due to the soil composition is actually salt water even though it is not tidal.

After a tour of the old city, we headed further south to another town for lunch. This comprised of a basic choice of chicken/meat skewers, Tagine or Cous Cous… the three meals which seemed to be the commonplace in the country. By the time we got lunch we were all starving, and sat around on a nice terrace above the restaurant for about an hour and a half before, once again, getting on the bus for another three and a half hour bus ride to the area where we would be doing a camel ride.

We eventually arrived at a random section of road, out of any town area, where the bus pulled over next to a big herd of camels which we soon discovered were our next ride.

After all picking or being directed to a camel, we mounted up at about 8:30pm, still in decent sunlight, and started our hour and a half trek. We were all exhausted by this stage, and by the end of the trek were quite sore as well. After passing a couple of other camps we eventually arrived at our one, and in the near darkness found our way to our tents.

The camp site we stayed at was a basic circle setup with a fire area and chairs in the middle. It had a large tent with tables for meals and later we found it had a large tent full of showers and toilets. We were met at the camp site by another group of a dozen or thereabouts who had arrived shortly before us and after a short break we settled in for an amazing dinner, once again of chicken and vegetable Tagine. After dinner we headed to the showers only to find only the female section had running water in the showers, so after a shower for Bec, and a sink shower for me, we headed off to get some sleep before another big day. The only issue we really had that night was the fact that the tents, which are basically made of big carpets, kept the warmth in, and after a hot day did not cool down until the early hours of the morning. Most of the people in our group ended up dragging their mattresses outside for the night, which we decided to do the next time.

Day two and we got up to another breakfast of bread (the local people only eat bread and water for breakfast) before heading off at about 7:30 for another 45 minutes of camel riding back to meet the buses. From here we basically drove until lunch time, through some amazing country side and along the tops of immense cliffs, before stopping at the same place we had lunch on the previous day. Here Bec and I got off the bus and stayed for a few hours in order to meet the bus that was continuing for the longer expedition we were doing. The bus we had been on was heading back to Marracech, whereas we were doing a night in a gorge area followed by an night in the larger Sahara desert.

We met up with our new bus mid afternoon and headed north into the High Atlas Mountains where we stopped several times to get some photos of the rocks, cliffs and gorges, before arriving at about 6:30pm to our hotel which was located right at the bottom of a skinny gorge. All there was room for at the bottom of the gorge was the little road and the long thin hotel which backed onto a small creek. The room we got here was a nice double room with mud walls and painted in nice Moroccan style colours and patterns overlooking the creek. Once again dinner was provided in the traditional looking restaurant, which comprised of the normal Tagine. The one at this hotel was especially good however and we barely ever had anything to complain about any of the food throughout Morocco.

The following morning we got up early again (starting to take its toll on our energy) and got back on the bus. Our new driver/guide Ucef demonstrated his horrible driving skills throughout the day by overtaking near corners and speeding even after most of us showed our disapproval. The driving and roads in Morocco are notoriously bad, however we were lucky in the fact that we had good weather and brand new tyres on the mini-bus.

Just before lunch on the third day we headed to a stream running though a gorge that was very popular with the locals. It was a hot day and there were hundreds of people swimming and having picnics all along the water. We spent half a hour walking around the area and ended up coming to the start of the creek which was actually a spring coming out of the rocky ground. The water was quite cold and very refreshing to walk through after a long morning travelling.

In the late afternoon we arrived at what appeared to be some sort of resort, where we had a half hour break before another two hour camel ride. This time the area we were setting off into was filled with massive orange sand dunes (unlike the smaller Zagora area that seemed more rocky than sandy). This time we had quite comfortable saddles/seats on the camels, which lead to a much better experience. After the previous camel ride I was still a bit stiff and sore, but this one loosened me up a little, and by the end I was feeling quite good. The camel ride took us through some amazing areas and along the rims of some massive sand dunes. It was amazing watching the sand flow down the steep faces of the dunes as the camels walked right along the edges. As the sun began to set we arrived at our destination at the base of a 150 metre high sand dune where we watched the amazing sunset change the colours of the sand dunes, much like the sunset I have seen before at Ayres Rock. In the final minutes of light myself and one of the other travelers climbed part way up the massive sand dune with a snowboard we found at the camp, and spent a few minutes snowboarding down the sandy slope.

The camp in the Merzouga area of the Sahara was similar to the other one we stayed at in Zagora except there were no toilets, showers or electricity, however the common area in the middle of the tents was much better with tables and carpets over on the ground. This time Bec and I dragged our mattresses out under the stars where after another traditional meal, we fell asleep, tired and slightly sandy, under the stars.

The last day of the trip and Bec and I managed to get seats in the Landcruiser that was travelling back from the camp. The previous day six people had come out in it as there were not enough camels, but after three camel rides, we decided the car was for us! We had a great ride back to the resort over the massive sand dunes and down near vertical slops, and got back 45 minutes before the camels. This time we used to swim in the pool and get changed into some cleaner clothes before the long bus ride back to Marrakech. The drive back was long and infrequently broken up by interesting scenery. We arrived back in Marrakech about 8:30pm tired, dirty and ready for a shower and good night sleep!

Sunrise over Djeema El Fna Square

The first of many gorges

Me above the gorge

The Kasba where Gladiator was filmed

Me and the Kasba

Bec and the Kasba.. in her Moroccan clothes

The river bed between the old and new city

One of the main areas where Gladiator was filmed. It was about 45 degrees when we were here.

Making burnt oil paintings... they paint the oil on then burn the page to bring out the picture.

Kasba again

Climbing to the top of the mountain the Kasba is built on

View from the top

The first camel ride.

Bec getting on her camel

My uncomfortable camel

One of the other strings of camels in Zagora

Bec... close to night time

The meal tent

Dinner.. another Tagine

The tour guides played music for us.. even though we were tired and wanted to got to bed!

Camel day two... somehow i got the same one with the tiny seat!

The Zagora only had small sand dunes

Bec with a crashed truck behind her... Moroccan rides are safe.... 

Some of the scary cliff top roads.

Can't remember what this is but it was an amazing building next to where we had lunch

Amazing rock face near where we stayed the night in the gorge

Me and the rock face

Bec and the rock face... photos don't do it justice.. it was bright orange

Out the front of our hotel

Our hotel for the night

The signs were all around the countryside... this one seat something like "Breathe Easy"

Us walking through a oasis area they use for crops

An old city we walked through

Us learning about the carpets

Ucef, our tour guide in the second half of the trip

Everywhere we went we got tea!

The creek running through the gorge

Little picnic area in the middle of the creek

Us cooling down our feet

Bec in the gorge

Me... a hotel in the background right next to the spring that feeds the creek

Bec and Ucef

Our second camel ride begins...

Heading off into the desert

The dunes begin...

Bec and her camel

Awesome pattern in the dunes

No more plants... just sand

Our shadows.. I am the first in the line and Bec is the third

Our shadows again

Huge dunes in the distance... and our destination

The Landcrusier where we watched sunset

Bec and the sunset

Sunset

The camp... the 150 metre dune behind

Sunrise the next morning.