Midnight at the Oasis, Put your Camel to Bed.......Rock the Kasbah...Internet dates, palm dates and Camel dates, and there are no bad dates in the desert...

The prologue....
....we went to the desert (without a horse with no name) on dromedaries called Ali and Hassan....

                          Morocco...Part 3.....The Sahara....
...... a place of overwhelming beauty at every turn and much much more...

"Berber whiskey makes you frisky, but it isn't risky"
...ancient Moroccan proverb...told to us by our taxi driver...it actually refers to Moroccan tea...ha

We find ourselves on a sand dune in the Sahara, under a November supermoon, a scant 15 km from the Algerian border...

     OK.... let's rewind this story and start back        several days earlier......

Paul Bowles; author of The Sheltering Sky and more...writes the following about the desert...

..."The coming of day promises a change; It's only when the day had fully arrived that the watcher suspects it is the same day returned once again - the same day he has been living for a long time over and over".....PB

His words strike a chord with us....a timeless cycle, sand, sunrise, sunset...the wind shaping, shifting dunes...yet, the rhythms of the desert continue on..

To us the desert is like a lover we all desire... intimate and close.....it gets under your clothes, lingers on your skin, slips into your bed, runs its fine, wind-driven fingers through your hair and caresses places only a lover knows....

...it is a place of silence and solitude...a place where dreams and mirages merge; where beauty lies in the sameness, the wind, the quiet....it is unhurried and reflective...it is to sit silent, watching the dunes in a Sahara sunset capture shadows and spirits like a Berber storyteller gathers tales... it is a place for footsteps to vanish, to return to the grains to be cleaned once more...where the vast emptiness speaks to our hearts and grabs our soul....it....is.....to breathe...

We meet Mohamed on an internet camel site... OK... actually, it was a blog that mentioned his outfit.... Camel-Trekking Experiences...he sounded good online....and, as several other Trekking outfits hadn't bothered to respond - we were left with little choice.... upon reflection...it was a great choice....

Hassan (our driver) Mohamed (Camel Trekking Excursions)

After several back and forth emails between us, sight unseen, we have a Camel Date with Mohamed in Merzouga.

Mohamed and his driver come to pick us up 2 hours north in the town of Errachidia. From here we travel with an SUV south through spectacular gorges, villages and palmeraies.

A 'donkey parking lot' in the middle of town...vendors coming to town with their donkeys laden with their wares need a place to secure their animals.  Ropes staked to the ground prevent these beasts of burden from wandering .

Later that day, with the sun setting over the desert dunes, we are now in the wild, empty, vibrant, silent Sahara... alone, spending 2 nights in the desert at Mohamed's camp with our camels.

Trust got us here. To this point. In Time. In Morocco. With Mohamed. Trust gets us everywhere we want to go when we travel. No different in Morocco.

We see how that the little voice of fear, pounded into us by the everyday noise and naysayers, erodes and poisons one's dreams and journeys. It paralyzes all of us, yearning to live a life. We ignore the doubters and are here, under the deep blue sky and golden sands of the Sahara...it seems to be at the ends of the earth near the Algerian border.

We ride the camels. Over 3 days, we spend 6 hours on these quiet ships of the desert. Just us in the Camp, along with Mohamed and several others to watch over us, feed us and guide us among the dunes.

The hammada or stony dessert

We visit an oasis, eat Berber pizza made fresh in a simple ground oven, wander through an old, abandoned Kasbah and climb a sand dune to watch the setting sun.

The oasis full with solar panels, water lines being pumped from the well and woven mats to walk on in the dining area.

The pizza, stuffed with ground beef and veggies is covered by this tiny drum that has the wooden fire lit on it.  At about 15 minutes the pizza is flipped and the cooking continues...

The result...a most delicious pizza eaten in our own little  Berber dining room! Even the goat Herder enjoyed it.

An abandoned Berber village from years gone past.

Our camel guide watching the sunset in his traditional jellaba coat

This is me in my jellaba coat watching the sunset.

For 3 days, we sleep in and wear the same clothes. We do have a western-style toilet, a 6 person tent to ourselves and a wash basin. It is cool at night, so we layer up on our clothing and pile on the extra wool blankets. So cozy as the wind whistles through our woven door flap.

The young man that guides our camels walks for hours over dunes and on the hard packed, flat desert.

He has a few Arabic camel commands and, it seems, only a few English words..."Good"....either inflected with a ? or ! and, "hold on" as we descend a dune while holding on tightly.

We spend hours together, just the 3 of us (hum that tune) tethered by rope and the stillness, alone with our thoughts, as our able footed friends... (Ali and Hassan as the camels were named)...plod along.

Our last morning starts early.... Yvonne goes to capture the blossoming sunrise. We eat a simple breakfast of bread, jam, cheese and tea. We pack, say our goodbyes and shokrans. Then, we climb onto our trusty rides for one last hour, rise up awkwardly on their backs, and head back to Merzouga.

Our time in the Erg Chebbi is over. We leave with an appreciation of the ancient camel trains that traded these routes.... bringing spice and cloth....sharing knowledge and passing history...

We leave you with another quote from P Bowles....

"The only thing that makes life worth living is the possibility of experiencing now and then a perfect moment. And, perhaps, even more than that, it's having the ability to recall such moments in their totality, to contemplate them like jewels"

......our moment in the Sahara was just such perfection....to remember....will be to cherish..

                              Next up....... Morocco... Part 4...
              ........Taking the road less traveled..
          ..Skirting the Algerian border....



Morocco.. part 2...Making time in Meknes.....the road south to the desert.....amazing Atlas Mtns...surfing Safaris and Camel riding...

Hello Meknes...

We leave Fez by train for Meknes.

The Fez train station is modern, clean and sleek. 

The interior has a bit of old world Moroccon charm like this amazing wooden ceiling in the centre of the station. Glass, marble finish with plenty of shops to help pass the time while waiting ...

Our train leaves on time. Service including food and drink can be purchased by stewards walking through  the cars. Seating is very comfortable. Too bad the trip only lasts 20 minutes.

This is definitely the way to travel through some regions of Morocco.

We arrive in Meknes, one  of the four imperial cities of Morocco, get to our Riad (house) Felloussia in the Medina. Wonderful room, quiet and safe with Gravois hosts. It's just a few steps to the alleys of the Meknes Medina.

Our room with 16' ceilings.

A shower with enough room for the whole family!

A welcome mint tea starts our stay here.

We head out to see the famous Bab Mansour Gate finished in 1732. This gate is one of the best preserved of its kind in Morocco. Although, the palace grounds are closed for renovations, there's plenty else to see in Meknes.

Across from Bab Mansour is the giant plaza. Once, it was the site for royal pronouncements and public executions centuries ago. While that has been done  away with, it is still a place to gather, to sit, to buy.

Snake charmers continue their centuries old entertainment; while story tellers weave astounding folk lore tales and magicians delight and mystify the children and families that stroll through the plaza.

People gather to meet, talk, eat snails or check out the 'flea' market goodies.

Inside, the Medina is less frantic than in Fez. Shopkeepers work, plying their handicrafts. Many of these thread shops turn their spools of gold, silver and magenta into glittering gowns for festivals and weddings. What Rumpelstiltskin would have done with these treasures.

The handiwork is evident everywhere.

And, we encounter little pressure to shop or buy. Much more laid back in the Meknes Medina, than in Fez.

We come across a rug, blanket, curtain auction. We step inside to watch. Seems the women down the middle are selling their handcrafted goods. Men carry each good from one end of the hall to another, bids are offered and sales are made.

A timeless tradition still carried on to this day.

We never did find out if the sales were for personal use or to be sold in someone's shop with a bit of a mark up. 

Our Riad Felloussia has a perfect terrace overlooking the plaza. We sit in the warm afternoon sun and watch the crowds build for the nightly fun.

Of course, a brilliant Moroccon sunset over Meknes ends the day (with a stork gracing the sunset).

The souks in the Medina carry a wide range of fruits and vegetables.  

There seems to be a vibrant agricultural scene in Morocco. Soil is rich, land is tended and worked. 

Soon, it is time to head on the road again. After, a wonderful breakfast at our Riad we prepare our packs and head to the bus station for a 7 hour journey south and the desert. 

On the Road to the Atlas Mountains and the Desert.....

We leave Fez by bus on a bright, sunny morning and head south towards the town of Merzouga; the gateway to the Sahara Desert. This is a big travel jump. The 7+ hours journey should get us to the town of ErRachidia, where we will spend the night before moving on the next day. 

South of Fez the bus rolls through the fertile plains that extend far in all directions. This region looks to be able to grow a wide range of crops. Tidy homes and farms dot the ever increasing rolling hills.

We start to climb into the forested hills surrounding the Atlas Mountains. Sheep, goat herds are tended to under the watchful eye of the herder.

As we pass from range to the plains, the terrain changes. Growing more and more desolate and stark, the last landscape takes on a Martian-like panorama. 

The views are impressive. The distant Atlas Mountains still carry snow.  There are ski areas, alpine towns done in a Swiss theme.

We pass through quiet towns with the ever-present mosque, and, to eat at roadside grill stands. Grilled meat, onions and tomatoes wrapped in bread.

We motor on. The scenery now begins to look as if it could be a backdrop for those westerns filmed everywhere.

It is a gorgeous, stark terrain. 

We get fleeting glimpses of old/new adobe Berber settlements.

Rugged, lonely but so beautiful. This is a vast, striking country in its variety.

We push on through the Atlas Mountains until we descend into the Ziz Gorge and into the valley.

We stop for the night at the Auberge Tinit in Errachidia.

We order dinner and are served tea. Poured the old way!

Tomorrow, we head into the desert for several nights from Merzouga. A chance to ride camels, follow a bit of the Spice Trail and sleep in a Berber home.

Can't wait.....

Additional Random Photos...

The Super Moon

Traditional shop

Beautifully tiled fountain in our Riad but also seen everywhere in towns where people get their drinking water, wash hands or fruit.

Tea set in our room

Baker baking  bread for shops.  Can you see him?

Tea break

Not my favourite bathroom ! 

WOW!!

Cheers until the next post after our desert trek...🐪🐪