Sahara Sun and Moroccan Moon

---

Panorama Dwarfed by the Dune

Day 101-103 ....a three day tour, a three day tour. (sung to the Gilligan's Island jingle)

A trip to Morocco would be incomplete without a visit to the Sahara. And I planned this trip to be in the desert for the full moon on 26th June.

The tour took us through valleys and gorges, THE kasbah and village (Ben Haddou) where some of the scenes from Gladiator were filmed. Of course, listening to The Clash at the Kasbah is a definite must. Playing the song on my iPhone attracted other Aussies and we did a little dance of course. Australians have such a freedom of expression in the strangest places. No one else would do this so readily. It's the 'I don't care what anyone else thinks' frame of mind, I suppose.

Our driver, Aissar, stopped very often..."Take picture here". So we were in and out of the Defender countless times on the first day. Of course, he would stop in pre-arranged places where there would be one or two favourite stands with rocks, crystals, fossils and jewelry for sale. It was a little tedious but you get used to it quickly.

There were 6 of us. Our driver, moi, a couple from Italy (Fabiana and Stefano) and 2 from Malaysia (Daniel and Katherine). Aissar was quiet most of the time and luckily Fabiana spoke French so we could get more information from him. As we stopped often and were under the pump for time each day, we would be rounded up with the call of 'Australia', 'Malaysia' or 'Italia' until Aissar would remember our names. haha! First night was in the Dades Gorge in a great little hotel typical of the Moroccan/French style. Very beautiful and cool.

The second day of the tour takes us through Ouarzazate and then east to the desert near Merzouga. We stop in various places on the way, another gorge with beautiful clear mountain water, and then for lunch. After lunch... to the desert. Yippee! Everyone was excited but boy, it was hot. We get to the edge of the plain and Aissar stops the car. Ok, everyone on the roof! What a thrill. Not much respite from the heat but much more fun than inside. All five of us clamber up and hang on. Aissar didn't just follow the trail but decided to deviate a little and we found ourselves hanging on tight over the ridges and dips across other trails and rocks. Squeals and unhibited laughter from Katherine, which was funny in itself.

10kms later and extremely windblown we entered a small walled village containing the hotel and just a few houses. It's great to make an entrance and we looked a sight to all the other tourists. You could see they wished they were able to ride on the roof, too.

We were told that we are only to take things we REALLY need for the night and not our full packs. I'm used to travelling light but the looks on the others' faces showed that they weren't. Extra water packed and we walk through the hotel to find our camels saddled up and waiting (on the other side of the hotel, of course). We board the camel express and are off. Up, down, across the mountains of sand for an hour and a half to our camp for the night. Camp is situated amongst some nomadic settlements in a small valley on the edge of the desert. We settle in to the tents and have time to climb the dunes before dinner. It wasn't long before the kids of the settlement were joining us. Aww, how cute! Wait a minute! They aren't here because they are curious about us but to sell us trinkets. Out comes the jewelry and craft for sale. One girl, only about 7 years, was very astute. She could write the cost of the items upside down in the sand. I think she's been doing this for a long time. She bartars like the men in the Marrakech Souks. It was difficult but I got her down to half price. ha ha. The kids hang around so we started singing songs to entertain them, and ourselves too. They thought we were nuts. Of course!

A large rug in the common area of the camp is set up with cushions to sit on and we enjoy mint tea. Our camp includes 2 other tour groups: a family from Argentina and a school group from Scotland. The language barrier gets in the way tonight. Firstly, the Argentinians kept to themselves and secondly, the 17 year old Scottish kids were insulated and very difficult to understand. ha ha. Not sure they were having a good time. No matter. We enjoyed a great meal and entertainment afterwards. The Berber men looking after us bring out the musical instruments and we danced and played and told stories until well after midnight. We did spend a lot of time before and after dinner watching the full moon rise behind the dune. It was a spectacular sight but unfortunately my camera doesn't do it justice. Tomorrow morning is an early start for us so time for bed. And to finish off the evening well, we drag our mattress out onto the rug and sleep under the stars (and moon) for the night.

5:30am and the sounds of clapping from our guide wakes us, realising that we are covered in sand; eyes, nose, ears, mouth. Yuk! Spit spit, cough cough. ha ha. Who cares. In 10 minutes we are perched on our trusty steeds again heading east towards the sunrise. It's a cool fresh morning and we are still waking up when we stop and dismount to climb yet another dune but this time the sand was cool on the feet. A vast difference to the previous afternoon. Another fantastic view and a gorgeous sunrise. Back on the camels to return to the hotel. At this point, I have to say that the part of me that connects with the hump part of the camel was extremely sore. After another ten minutes and countless times that Mohammed asks if we are ok, I finally said no. I have to get off and walk. He was surprised and told me to jump down. Now, from the top of a camel, it feels like the ground is a 20 foot drop. I convinced him to make my camel sit down for me. Mohammed was fine with that but my camel was not. It takes a lot of effort for the camel to sit, especially with me on his back. A lot of noise and argument came from him before he relented. Then I think he was happy to have less weight for the final 2kms back to the hotel. I think we were both relieved.

A quick brekky and then back in the Defender for the long trip home. Not due back in to Marrakech until 7:30pm. It was a very long day. We were late the entire way and to make it worse. 'Malaysia' wanted to stop to buy some rocks and crystals in the mountains which took another half hour to negotiate. I was so tired that I slept most of the way anyway. Arrival in Marrakech Medina was after 9pm and the square was packed. Such a great time of night but after the 16 hour day of driving in the heat, I couldn't enjoy it as much.

Some statistics for this trip...

• Number of times hearing variations of 'Australia! No time, let's go' - 26
• Number of times Aissar said Ali Baba! - 33
• Number of exclamations from all of us about the heat inside the Defender - 196
• Number of marriage proposals from Berber Tribesmen - 4
• Number of times I felt like a beer - 58
• Distance travelled - 1000kms (mas o menos)
• Distance travelled on the roof of the car - 10kms
• Number of times in and out of the car - 61
• Number of times wrestling with a dodgy seat belt - 122
• Amount of time really considering the implications of being near the Algerian border - 0 (ignorance is bliss)
• Number of showers in 3 days - 1 (just kidding - it was 2. The second when I returned to Marrakech on the last night)
• Number of people in the square Jama'a el Fna on the last night - 536901 ha ha

FYI - Sahara Expeditions is the company based in Marrakech and I highly recommend them. The entire trip was professionally done with no sign of trouble or problems. The food was good and the price was very reasonable, 950 Dirhams (95 euro) for the 3 days. If you have the choice to ride in an aircon vehicle as opposed to the Defender, take the Defender. It may be hot but you'll have a more exciting time.

---

Photos

Stop! Take picture here!
Berber villages along the way