Sweeping sand dunes develop our romantic reputation of the Sahara Desert. Nevertheless, reality often presents visitors with limitless rock and scrub. Nevertheless, desert trips serve as a strong draw for travellers to Morocco. Marrakech is much more often than not the starting place for such tours.
In order to enable you to plan the trip of yours, I will primarily outline the pros and cons of each kind of trip. Next, I will detail the knowledge of mine on an extended three day excursion to the wasteland at Merzouga, a put that definitely conforms to our stereotypes of the Sahara Desert. Lastly, I will deal with several of the practicalities of the desert tour.
Continue reading to appreciate the Sahara Desert from anywhere you are sitting!
The Sahara Desert: one day, two days or three days?
Marrakech, as noted, will be the typical departure point for many Sahara tours. The one day journey is, actually, a camel ride in a close by palm grove. Think of it far more like tipping the toe of yours in the desert sands instead of a true combat trip. The price of this trip is generally around €30.
A two-day journey generally involves a trip to the wasteland at Zagora. Usually, these trips also take in Ouarzazate and Ait Ben Haddou. Nevertheless, the term on the road is to not expect way too many sand dunes. The price of this trip is generally around €60.
The Morocco desert tour takes you all the way to the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga. This’s exactly where the dreams of yours of golden sand dunes can come to life before the eyes of yours. The price of this particular journey is generally around €90, though there are concerns to be saved in mind when considering the trip of yours.
The Sahara Desert Trip to Merzouga: Day one
Red planet, cactus, ice & frost are not issues you’d look to see together. Nevertheless, as we get in to the Atlas Mountains on a February morning, these’re several of the sights which surround us. We group into the mountains on twisting roads, while green changes to cream, and the landscape gets progressively wintry. Eventually, we step off of our tourist shuttle for a brief rest. The air is equally chilly and fresh. It is cold enough for me to envy the 3 younger Japanese travellers within their Berber robes.
As we speed more deeply into the mountains, the white planet fades away, plus grey rock peeks out from underneath the ice. Cacti glisten in the early morning thaw. Occasionally, the highway surface gets to be more irregular, and my pen wavers as we bump along the highway. Looking up, I see gray walls of rock & ice glisten in the early morning sunshine. As postcard-perfect as the scene might be, it is not what I envisioned on a wilderness trip. Nor, being good, is it the postcard you may look to post from Africa.
A Brief Stop
The bus stops near the top point in the mountains. Snow and ice are everywhere. The morning hours sun reflecting on the ice creates a blinding light. Looking back down the mountains, it is apparent that the street is littered with switchbacks. Vehicles labour up the high incline. This is, the manual tells us, the final stop of ours before we achieve our first kasbah.
The Road to Ait Ben Haddou
Sometime after the stop of ours, winter appears to fade out. Unexpectedly, a wealthy, red brown landscape takes its position. Emerald eco-friendly fields sort the street from a riverbed in the distance. Next, in an additional twist, the scenery assumes a brand new color. Today, the eco-friendly disappears and it becomes a patchwork of white, green as well as orange. Little villages designed in exactly the same beaten clay blend nearly seamlessly into the scenery. The effect is practically love camouflage.
Ait Ben Haddou
The citadel at Ait Ben Haddou is nothing if it is not photogenic. A little village of adobe structures, it’s played host to productions like Game and Gladiator of Thrones. Due to the salt generation of its, it used to be a stopping off point on the camel trail to Timbuktu. Right now, with busloads of visitors arriving, many of its houses are shops selling textiles, especially scarves. Mohammed, the guide of ours right here, reminds us that this’s the final chance to purchase a scarf prior to the Sahara.
We just stop off at a workshop to discover exactly how they create conventional handmade cards using all-natural products. Principally, they make use of saffron making yellow, plus indigo to create a full blue. Lastly, they spend the card over the flame of a gas stove to create the outcome of shadows in the sand.
The reputation of the village is yet another point of interest. As a consequence of its value as a trading post, it would once enjoy a major Jewish population. After the departure of the French in 1956, many of the town had fled abroad. The final family left in 1964.
Dades Valley
After a lunch of Moroccan chicken tajine, we’re on the street once again. Our destination is Dades Valley where we are going to spend the evening. Having passed through a bare brown plus barren plain, we create a super quick stop at Ouarzazate. Next, our drive continues through areas in which the vegetation is strikingly sparse.
Lastly, the morning actually starts to bring to a close after 6pm. We just stop at a gorge within the Dades Valley. Red rock faces rise on each side and also there’s a little mountain stream right before the resort. With its enclosed place in the valley, the atmosphere is crisp. As I consider the haphazard arrangement of rocks on the river foundation, I think of the torrents which flow once the rains arrive.
The Sahara Desert Trip to Merzouga: Day two
Going east, the scenery assumes a progressively harsh aspect. Scrubland. Dust. Rocks. The sole change happens when it gets hilly. An occasional spot of natural vegetation indicates the presence of irrigation and warm water. During the early morning, a lot of the additional cars on the highway are buses, possibly leading the acceptance of the Sahara Desert as a location.
We get into the hills after Tinghir, stopping briefly to take pictures of an oasis of palm trees. Between the green palms along with a large cliff face lies an old looking medieval settlement. A brand new manual joins the tour of ours right after this since we’re intending to check out the valley as well as its canyon.
Todgha Canyon
The structures within the nomad settlement are conventional adobe constructions. Our guide explains exactly how local families share irrigated parcels of land. Using a fast wander throughout the village, we enter on the list of buildings to understand about carpet making. The folks here are semi nomadic, and their fabrics are available from agave cactus, goats, sheep, and camels. We see a broad range of carpets in different designs and colours. Evidently, the cooperative may even accept credit cards.
A stroll through a small course lined with date palms carries us with the highlight of the visit Todgha Canyon. Vast, towering and of probably the deepest white hue, I feel as in case I might be in the Palace of the Winds stated in The English Patient. Note: the winds are bitter. Our guide highlights a little water working in a gully at the edge of the highway which seemingly comes from very hot springs. The water is lukewarm, but that is really good enough given the frigid air of the canyon.
The Road to Merzouga
Very much of the desert is incredibly dull. We picture sweeping expanses of sand dunes. Nevertheless, often than not, the simple fact is stones and shale. Worse once again, there’s the 21st Century scourge of pollution. Strewn across the landscape are clear plastic bottles, reminders of the times of ours as well as the everyday issues of ours. The journey from Todgha Canyon to Merzouga is at very best forgettable.
Ultimately, we get to the resort just where we’ve to determine in before setting off with the desert camp. Having paid a cost of 5 Morrocan dirhams, we’re all set.
The Camel Ride to the Camp
Some activities look much better in pictures than how they think the truth is. Riding on a camel could class as those types of activities. On another hand, the dunes are stunning. They fly off into the distance, changing colour based on the lighting. Riding on a camel does absolutely nothing to improve the experience.
‘Camel massage,’ the area guide calls out.
The pet beneath me bumps along while we ascend and descend paths through the dunes. Mixed with a lumpy saddle and a grumpy dromedary, the drive is barely luxurious. Let us say that one male’s camel massage is yet another male’s butt destruction.
On the appearance of ours, they inform us that we should spend an additional hundred dirhams for any 4×4 transfer in the early morning. Or else, it’s an additional camel massage in the dark.