Our tour to the Moroccan desert started with an early morning pick up in Fes where we met our guide Ismail and driver Hassan. The first day was a long travel day as we headed south from Fes in a 4WD, across the Atlas Mountains to finish in the Sahara desert near Merzouga a short distance from the Algerian Border.
We only stopped briefly as we crossed the mountains, thought the Atlas scenery from the car was very interesting (particularly from an orienteering perspective!). We did get out to feed the monkeys which was one of those things we probably shouldn't have done but didn't really have time to make the ethical and healthy (for monkeys and humans) decision. It was easy to see they were used to taking food from humans though.
As we moved further away from the mountains things became more arid, with the occasional vivid contrast from yellow and brown coming from date palms and other vegetation wherever a trace of water could be found.
Eventually we arrived in Merzouga in mid afternoon where we transferred from 4WD to four legged beasts for our first trip into the desert. The desert near Merzouga was the very sandy type that you see in the movies - big orange dunes with almost no vegetation. Thankfully the wind wasn't blowing meaning our scarves could be worn for sun protection and show and not for protecting the face from being sand blasted.
Our camels were thankfully very well trained and seemed quite happy to cart us along as we headed off in the late afternoon. As the sun went down behind us, the beauty of the desert landscape was fully on show (although it's hard to document in pictures from the back of a camel).
Eventually we arrived at our camp at dusk. Our tent had carpets on the floor and came with it's own shower, flush toilet and the camp had wifi better than many hotels so we weren't exactly roughing it. Dinner was the usual soup, bread and tagine followed by fruit. We slept well after a long tiring day.
We only stopped briefly as we crossed the mountains, thought the Atlas scenery from the car was very interesting (particularly from an orienteering perspective!). We did get out to feed the monkeys which was one of those things we probably shouldn't have done but didn't really have time to make the ethical and healthy (for monkeys and humans) decision. It was easy to see they were used to taking food from humans though.
As we moved further away from the mountains things became more arid, with the occasional vivid contrast from yellow and brown coming from date palms and other vegetation wherever a trace of water could be found.
Eventually we arrived in Merzouga in mid afternoon where we transferred from 4WD to four legged beasts for our first trip into the desert. The desert near Merzouga was the very sandy type that you see in the movies - big orange dunes with almost no vegetation. Thankfully the wind wasn't blowing meaning our scarves could be worn for sun protection and show and not for protecting the face from being sand blasted.
Our camels were thankfully very well trained and seemed quite happy to cart us along as we headed off in the late afternoon. As the sun went down behind us, the beauty of the desert landscape was fully on show (although it's hard to document in pictures from the back of a camel).
Eventually we arrived at our camp at dusk. Our tent had carpets on the floor and came with it's own shower, flush toilet and the camp had wifi better than many hotels so we weren't exactly roughing it. Dinner was the usual soup, bread and tagine followed by fruit. We slept well after a long tiring day.
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