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Edge of the Sahara Trek January 2010
4 days trekking in the Sahara with a motely crew of fellow travellers, a rather incompetent guide, and some very friendly locals looking after the even friendlier camels who had the unfortunate job of carting around all our gear.
10 Hours in a Minibus The downside to flying into Marrakech to trek in the Sahara is that the start point is an awful long way away - in our case a ten hour minibus. Still the journey itself was not without its bonuses, including the stunning Atlas Mountains. We went from warm sunshine to snow and back again. Top tip - if you are of a nervous disposition I wouldn't site up front when your driver is overtaking! We stopped for lunch in Ouarzazate and the pushed on until we arrived at our first nights "fixed camp" - and our first meeting with the camels.
Day 1 - Finally Find the Dunes An early start with eveyone raring to go - only to find that Moroccon time moves at a slightly slower pace. We finally set off and were soon clear of the village and into the sand. Soon we
met our first sand dune and realised that walking up them was not as easy as you imagine. Walk up the side and you soon see your legs disappearing up to your knees. Your best bet is to try and walk up the ridge, and better still to follow in the footsteps of some poor soul who has hardened the sane in front of you.
We also soon realised that far from a set of rolling dunes the landscape was more of a moonscape interspersed with the occasional dune. At lunchtime we met up with our "lunchtime camel" and found some welcome shade under the only Acacia tree for miles around and were pleasantly surprised by the wonderful food on offer, and by the antics of saod camel as he tried to steal whatever food he could.
We continued walking into the desert and by the end of the day were in more "typical" dune on dune territory. We made camp near a famous shrine which we all duly set out to explore that evening, expecting great things, only to arrive and be a little disappointed by the rather forlorn shed that passes for the shrine. Of far
more interest were the ruins of the village next to it which existed when rivers flowed freely through the desert. Anyway our first night in the Sahara and also the realisation that despite it being 30 odd degrees in the day the temeparture happily dropped to freezing at night. 2 season sleeping bag not good enough!
Day 2 - The Big Dune Set off past the shrine from the night before and then on to an old fort with a well in it - a source of water for the camels and those unlucky enough not to have brought enough bottled water with them (iodine tablets and water may be good for sterlisation but it doesn't do much for the taste!). We were heading for the largest dune in the Moroccan Sahara which we could see on the horizon all day and which seemed to stay firmly on the horizon and no nearer. This was the hardest days walking by far with a continuous ream of up and down dunes. When we finally made it to the foot of the dune very few in the group were keen on the evening excursion up the side of it, opting instead
for some relaxation by the camp fire
Day 3 & Day 4 - When will it ever end… having it made it to our farthest point out in the Sahara the final 2 days were really a fairly unpleasant walk back out to civilisation. Rather than retrace pour steps we headed round the dunes and across a very flat and desolate moonscape with no interesting features and plenty of dull walking. Day 3 Camp was near a well which at least had the redeeming feature of a camel trough which doubled up as a paddling pool and the last days trekking ended on the outskirsts of a town in dunes that were obviously used as a rubbish tip for the locals.
The Return At least for our return trip we had a bigger minibus with aircon and comfier seats. We then had a pleasant 24 hours in Marrakech haggling in the souks and eating some great grub before crwaling back on the the plane home.
Useful Stuff A fuller version of this blog first appeared on my main blog site. So if you want to find out more please visit the
Helvellyn Blog. Visit this site for
more on
Holiday Accommodation in Morrocco.
The trek it was booked through KE Adventure Travel in Keswick, which despite the problems we had on this trek comes highly recommended!
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