The Sahara Desert...4x4's and Camels, tents and singing.

March 16, 2008

We woke up and went to breakfast this morning. It was probably one of the best breakfasts in awhile. I ate a lot! We left the hotel to make our way to the Sahara in Toyota Land Cruisers. We first went to the Valle de los Fosiles, a museum of sorts. The guide showed us various rocks that have fossils in them. They make furniture and figurines out of these fossils. While I was there, one of the sales guys came up to me and said, “You are very nice. You are very pretty. You can live with me in Morocco if you want.” I told him I had to go and left!

I ended up choosing the best driver for our 4x4’s. He has been doing off-roading in the Sahara for 20 years, and you could definitely tell. Anytime he had the chance, he would go off the path and go over rocks, sand dunes, make quick turns, almost donuts, etc. It was quite the “African Adventure” as he called it. The off-roading was one of my favorite things I have done since I’ve been abroad. We made our way through the desert to a lake. There are flamingos there at times, but sadly there weren’t any around when we were there. It was really pretty/really strange to see a lake in the middle of the desert.

We continued on to the Merzouga Pueblo. While there, we listened to Group du Zaïd. They were a group of black men who played wooden drums, guitars, and these clapping instruments while they sang and danced. It was very cool. We went off-roading some more til our restaurant for lunch, where we hung out for a little bit, and then continued off-roading til we got to our camels. Right before we were supposed to stop, our driver thought it would be a good/fun idea to drive up a really tall and steep sand dune and park it. It felt like our car was 180°! Then we went backwards down, he said “Bonjour!” like always after our crazy stuff and took us to our camels.

Camels are very interesting. Their knees bend opposite ways, and you mount them on the ground, and then they stand up. The ride was very similar to a horse ride. We went to a dune and got off to watch the sun set. Afterwards, we rode our camels to the Cherguí Oasis where we would eat dinner and spend the night. This place is made out of tents from blankets. We sat by the fire for about an hour, waiting for dinner.

Afterwards, the Group du Zaïd came back to play and sing for us. Julie and I were really tired so we didn’t stay up too late. The beds were not too comfy, and we were scared about the bugs because there were some BIG beetles. But we went to bed trying to get a goodnight sleep. Today has been one of my favorite days since I have been abroad. There is nothing like the desert. Absolutely gorgeous!

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