See Simi Travel Blog

Seated at a table in a tent lit only by one oil lamp, with a man babbling in French about how the West should fall would generally not be the kick start to a great trip. But camping in Erg Chebbi, Morocco was the highlight of my Morocco experience.  This Oxfam sponsored expedition took us from Rabat, to Marrakesh through to Ouarzazate, on to the desert (the Sahara, at Merzouga), through “les Gorges de Dades et Todra“ and finally back to Marrakesh(to do some last minute shopping).

He finally stopped his hatred rant and left us to enjoy our meals in peace. It may have been due to hunger, but our supper was delicious, even with the gritty sand that had somehow made its way on to all of our plates.

Here is where I share TMI. Skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to be grossed out. But not having a bathroom when camping in the woods is not big deal, as your private act can be concealed by trees and bush. In the desert however, there is no such shelter. I had to wait patiently for everyone to fall asleep and the duck behind a camel to relieve myself. Poor camel!

Wait! Let’s backtrack a little.

The choices of accommodation before we entered the desert were interesting. Many without heating, but not to worry, I was offered “natural heating” at one of the inns by the concierge <shudder>. They were lavish in a simple way.  Most of the individual rooms were heated by firewood and had large stone bed frames and cold water showers. I felt almost like a Viking queen. Meals were served in the common room where one could play tam-tam style instruments and playing cards.

To get to our tented home, we took a two hour camel ride into the desert. Our camel caravan was lead by Omar, on foot, and I was second in line. It was freezing! No matter how I tried to position myself to block the wind, I was unsuccessful.

Once at our destination near the disputed Algerian border, we stayed in tents and stayed warm by covering up in layer upon layer of blankets. We had two hosts who took very good care of us, preparing our meals (the food was delicious, even with the sand on our plates) and making us as warm as possible.  I still almost froze to death though, should have brought a coat!.

At sunrise, our group woke early to climb the great dunes and catch our first Saharan sunrise… a feat that I did not accomplish due to a mild sand storm.  It was beautiful from where I got stuck anyways.  For the camel ride back to the hotel base, I was graciously given a blanket to help fight off the hypothermia.

Coming out of the desert we were stopped by flooded roads, and had to take on a little mountain boy to show us the way. He was definitely super impressed by the automatic windows in our 8-seater SUV (which we crammed 10 people into. sigh)

It was freezing the entire time, and I actually got to see a couple of centimeters of snow when driving through the High Atlas. The Gorges de Todra were enormous and fantastic.  Overall everything was great and the scenery was beautiful! We were also treated to a live concert in the middle of nowhere….and were encouraged to participate and dance along.  An incredible experience! Check out the video:

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