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Published: November 25th 2010
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Our first glimpse of the Sahara dunesThe blogs are coming fast and furiously now, however; we may scale back... we are simply being slaves to either great content or photos/videos or both!
We left Moulay Idriss and spent a day driving due south to the Sahara. The drive was fairly uneventful yet what it lacked in 'excitement' (don't worry, we do have an exciting rental car story to share later) it made up for in scenery. We won't bore you with the geographic details but we climbed passes (over 6000 feet) and dropped into arid valleys before finally arriving in Merzouga... a nothing town on the edge of the stunning Erb Chebbi. 'Erb' means 'dune'. This is the only dune in Morocco and is 20 by 30 miles in size with the highest 'peak' being 300 meters (apologies for the imperial/metric hodge podge).
We checked into a kasbah and set out onto the dunes for some sunset photos and gazing. The desert is really quite magical; the colours in particular are very stunning; it is an unworldly place. We planned a overnight camel trip the next day and set off across the dunes on our dromedaries (camels have two humps, dromedaries have one) at 4 o'clock (to
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The drive to the desert...it's like being on the moon! catch the sunset). Jason's dromedary was very fussy and didn't seem too excited about having a passenger hop on; it was actually somewhat nerve racking because these animals are well known to be unpredictable. To be honest, we wouldn't be that excited to have someone jump on our backs either... with a little dromedary whispering, Jason manged to hop on and we were off. Our guide led us along and walked in front. The dunes are very similar to snow... the way the sand blows across and the patterns/knolls they make is very reminiscent to being up in the mountains in BC. The procession was slow (we could have walked faster) and took two hours to reach camp. After ~90 minutes, we stopped for a bit to watch the sunset and take a few photos. The dunes looked like suede covered mounds for as far as the eye can see, but in the light right before sunset they appeared to pop out and became so vivid. We then moved onto the camp (which is permanent) and stayed the night. It was the second time this trip that Sabrina had her gloves and touque out... it was chilly; Jason would guess
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Our transport for the next couple of days ~5-7C. Our guide cooked us a meal (camping tagine!) and then had us up at 5:30 so that we could catch the sunrise. Words can't describe enough the beauty, so please just check out the photos for yourselves.
Naturally, Jason was very interested in learning about the weather of the desert. Apparently from May to August, there are constant sand storms and it is very slow from a tourist standpoint. The temperatures in July and August hover between 50-55C and they have had a few recordings of temperatures in excess of 60C!!!... insane. The fact that people (and animals) live there amazes me. We agreed with our guide that if he lived in Vancouver, he would miss the desert and if we lived in the Sahara we would miss Vancouver (and probably die)!
You will notice that Jason rode the dromedary sideways... this was to prevent massive pain the next day that everybody we met who had taken the trip complained of. Perhaps it doesn't photograph well, but he wasn't whining the next day!
Coming back the next day, we learned that foxes, mice, beetles and birds all make their home in the dunes. The mice eat the dromedary 'chocolates',
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Saddled up and ready to go! the foxes eat the mice, the birds eat the flies etc... it was interesting seeing all the various foot prints in the sand the next morning (again, very similar to snow).
The following day, we set off in our trusty rental car for the Dades valley. Jason had noticed a number of gorges on the map and was keen to explore. To make a long story short, we followed a route where we were told would be fine, but got into a very prickly situation. The single road gravel tracks with thousand foot drop offs and washed out spots gave us both goose bumps. One unusual part of it was as we drove trough This was rocky, mountainous terrain and many kilometers from the nearest town (which wasn't that big to begin with). Other than the route we were on, there was little evidence of people passing through this region. We were pretty surprised when children would come running up to the car to see us from what seemed like the middle of nowhere and ask for a little something (luckily we had extra oranges with us to share). It appeared that some people lived in caves in the rock
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Jason riding side-saddle (much more comfortable) wall and others lived in little houses made of piled rocks. It was really incredible. Finally, the road got pretty scary and we made the decision to turn back. We were both mentally and physically exhausted from the experience.
Our next stop was the city of Marrakesh. We're traveling with our GPS device which has been very helpful with getting us around generally, but it unfortunately does not recognize addresses in the small alleys of the old cities. With the address of our guest house (Riad Louaya) handy, we asked around for help finding our way. One fellow on a motorcycle gladly offered to help us (for a tip of course). He pulled out his mobile and called the riad for directions, led us to right area, helped us park the car and led us through the winding alleyway right to the door. We would have never found the place on our own, and were happy to give a tip for this guy's help.
In contrast, we later got given a complete run around from a 'well meaning' 'guide' who seemed utterly disgusted at the tip we offered him. We didn't know it at the time but he took us
on a 15 minute jaunt through the maze that is the medina for a journey that really should have taken 5 minutes! It was the only money we had at the time and later we were glad we didn't have more to give him!
Marrakech, in contrast to Fes allows cars, mopeds, buses, trucks (basically any form of motorized vehicles) to dart through their medina which does not make for leisurely walking. Crossing the street is a bit like a game of frogger; with only one life rather than three in the famous 80s video game! Marrakech was also 'discovered' by European tourists earlier than Fes and is therefore more geared towards tourism. This can be a good thing if one is looking for international food or spas (we ate at a below average Thai restaurant and went to an above average Hamman (spa)... but not great if one is desiring an authentic Moroccan experience. Marrakech is however a must see, if only for the Djemaa El-Fna which is described by the Lonely Planet guide book as the best and biggest circus on earth. Quoting from their description (which is extremely accurate):
“A huge square in the medina, and a
back drop for the world's spectacles. Although it can be lively at any time of day Djemma El-Fna comes into its own at dusk when the curtain goes up on rows on open-air food stalls smoking the immediate area with mouth watering aromas. Jugglers, story tellers, snake charmers, musicians, the occasional acrobat, and benign lunatics consume the remaining space, each surrounded by jostling spectators.”
Perhaps the oddest sight was a very strange looking fellow next to a table with teeth (yes, TEETH) piled up. Naturally he was the square's dentist... not only evidenced by the mountain of teeth but also the pliers lying on the table... we wouldn't have believed it had we not seen it with our own eyes!
We unfortunately both suffered a bout of 'funny tummy' during our Marrakechi stay which was unfortunate. On top of this, we also had a 3 day bout of a fairly nasty cold. Both afflictions to be expected in this area of the world.
Sickness aside, we were glad to visit Marrakech; however, if anyone is considering visiting Marrakech, and can only visit Fes or Marrakech, our vote would be Fes.
After two days in Marrakech, we made our way up
a very normal toll highway to the largest city in Morocco: Casablanca. From our understanding, there isn't much to see in Casablanca other than a main square and perhaps a window in the most 'western' of Moroccan cities. We therefore hadn't planned on staying the night and only visited for a few hours before catching our flight to Cairo (which was enough time). On the way out of Marrakech, we had a bit of a run in with the authorities. Jason, upon realizing that we were traveling in the wrong direction decided to pull a u-turn across two solid lines right in front of a police officer. Not half way through the maneuver, the officer blew his whistle and made it obvious we were to pull over. After asking for our car's registration and Jason's license he informed us the move was illegal and that we were to pay 700 Dirahms (~$85CAD). Jason's first tact of arguing was pointing out that he was amazed he had been pulled over given that based on his one week driving in Morocco he hadn't observed that there were ANY rules of the road in the country. This didn't go over well and the
officer kept saying 'you pay 700 Dirahms'... Jason then asked the officer to prove that the move was in fact illegal... the officer smiled and pulled out a pink book of Moroccan road rules... INCREDIBLE!... our only saving grace came in the form of strange pity... upon further review of Jason's license he asked if Jason was Spanish. When Jason explained that his father was Italian and mother English, the officer smiled and said 'ah, mixed'... after a bit more banter and Jason suggesting that he give us a warning, he sent us on our way.
Anyhow, we made it to Casablanca... snapped a few pics and then dropped our heavily abused rental car off... Morocco, CHECK.
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viktor berg
non-member comment
i love it
nice traveling you guys...awesome.