Loving Life in Morocco: The Sahara Desert

Imagine how life is on the Sahara Desert. Children using a sea of sand dunes as their playground. An average high temperature of 40 degrees centigrade (104F), in summer.

Now, imagine the camel trains, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of camels, led by the Imazighen (Berbers) across the Sahara Desert hundreds of years ago. Our tour of the Sahara Desert wasn’t that grandiose, but we did ride into the Sahara Desert on camelback, spend the night in an Amazigh (Berber) camp, shot some fabulous photos of sunset and sunrise on the desert, and got a glimpse of the Amazigh way of life on the desert.

This post is one of a series of posts about our adventures in Morocco. Click on Travel Morocco for more about our time in Morocco, including Deb’s hilarious account of us getting rubbed and scrubbed by a stranger in an authentic Moroccan hammam. It was not a tourist hammam.

Future posts in this series will cover our experiences in Fez and Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl of Morocco.

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Camel Trek into the Sahara Desert

Our overnight camel ride into the Sahara Desert started from the Hôtel Nasser Palace in the town of Merzouga, When assigning the camels, they called my name first and gave me the white camel. Was it alphabetical? Was the white camel for the good guy, like the white cowboy hat? Or did they size me up and gave me the biggest, sturdiest camel they had? I think the latter. And then they put me at the back of the line; but I assumed that was so a mature, responsible adult would watch over the youngsters 😇. Anyway, we mounted our camels and rode off into the desert. Tell me; do I look worried?

Nah, I got this! And I got rid of the stupid palm tree growing out of my head in the last photo 🤣 Merzouga is on the western edge of the best known sand dune sea in Morocco, called the Erg Chebbi. Erg means “sea of sand dunes”. All right. According to Wikipedia, this erg is not part of the Sahara Desert; this erg is in the “semi-arid pre-Saharan Steppes”. But what do they know? 😏

Our tour group from Marrakech to the Sahara Desert consisted of 10 people. In Merzouga, our group joined other tour groups for a total of about 30 camels in our camel train. We were split up into 4 “camel files”, each with a camel puller (leader). Our file had 6 camels.

TIP: For our overnight in the Sahara Desert, we had to strap all our luggage to the T-bar that we held onto while riding our camel. That’s it! Knowing this, and that we were not going back to Marrakech after the desert tour, we left our laptop, big suitcases, excess camera equipment, books, jewelry, and most of our clothes at the hotel in Algeciras, Spain. Only quick-dry clothes and essentials were brought for our whole 11 day tour of Morocco. We had Deb’s day bag, my fanny pack as a camera bag, one carry-on size suitcase, a small backpack, and a small tripod.

The shape-shifting Erg Chebbi stretches 28 km north to south and varies between 5 and 10 km east to west. According to a popular legend passed down from generation to generation, the area was once a lush jungle. But after families in the area refused to welcome a hungry woman traveller, God punished the people with millennia of extreme heat, drought, and endless sandstorms. Today, the sand dunes serve as a constant reminder to the locals to be hospitable, friendly, and helpful. And they are.

During our trek to the Amazigh desert camp, the camel puller stopped us at the top of a dune for pictures. With each person’s cellphone he took their picture from the bottom of the dune. The highest dunes in Erg Chebbi rise 160 metres.

Next came the obligatory camel-riding shadow shot. That is Deb and I bringing up the rear. Pretty good shot, if I say so myself.

The camels got to rest while we watched the sun set on the Sahara Desert; a colour spectacle like no other. Strangely, it was then that I felt the remoteness of where we were. Nothing but sand as far as you can see in every direction. A Sahara sunset is a sight to behold!

We played in the sand during our rest stop in the Sahara Desert.

TIP: Make optimal use of the fabulous light from the sun setting over the sand dunes. We did.

And Deb got to express her love for animals by snuggling with her camel during our rest stop in the Sahara Desert. The camel looks to be enjoying it too, but then they always look like they are smiling.

Guess what name Deb gave her camel?

Aaaaaw! Deb has a little love for me too. 😘

One last shot as the sun was dropping rapidly below the horizon; then it was off to the Amazigh desert camp for the night.

Overnight in the Sahara Desert

After a two hour ride (including stoppage time), we arrived at the Amazigh desert camp. The camp is several tents arranged around a small oasis with a few trees and a campfire. The tents are made out of big pieces of fabric somehow attached to form walls, ceilings, and floors. The Imazighen of the Sahara Desert are nomadic people, but I am sure these camps are permanent, intended for the regular flow of tourists. We all sat down at a long table for dinner. The food was good, but I honestly don’t remember what it was. 

After dinner, we sat around a fire chatting and listening to Amazigh music.

TIP: Nights can be cold in the desert, so bring a jacket and sweater.

I went outside the camp with a few others to look at the stars and see the Milky Way. The stars are an incredible sight in Erg Chebbi; more stars visible in the sky than I think I have ever seen. But I could not make out anything that resembled the Milky Way. Even my camera failed me; or, rather, I failed my camera because I didn’t heed the hard lesson I learned in Iceland just a couple of months earlier photographing the Northern Lights.

TIP: Bring a red-, green-, or blue-light flashlight/headlamp for night-time photography work so you can see your camera’s controls without ruining your night vision. The other photographers around you will appreciate you not ruining their night vision too.

I wasn’t able to photograph the Milky Way, but I did experience the thunderous sound of silence.

TIP: Married couples can reserve a private tent; this was our tent. The private tent has just two cots, some blankets, and a bare light bulb stuck through the top corner of the tent; no power outlets; no internet; and no mobile connectivity at all; none of the conveniences of home. The washroom facilities are communal. The camp also has shared tents for some of the single travellers.

TIP: Our tour also had the option of sleeping on a cot under the stars, a true bivouac. I have seen advertisements for luxury camps in the Erg Chebbi, but then you don’t get the true Amazigh experience.

Out of the Sahara

It was 6:30 in the morning on the Erg Chebbi. Sunrise on the sand dunes was amazing, another highlight of our overnight bivouac in the Sahara Desert. Spectacular!

The start of new day of fabulous experiences in Morocco. It was time to meet our rides for the morning. We were assigned different camels than the day before. Deb’s looked very pleasant. Mine looked a bit ornery; perhaps because it was 5:30 a.m. and he hadn’t had his coffee either. 😀

TIP: It was time to mount our camels for the ride out of the desert. It can be unnerving the first time, so here is what to expect:

1. First, get on the camel’s back while it is still sitting (lying?) down. That is the easy part. Then the camel puller issues the magic words and the camel begins to rise.
2. Next, the camel gets on its hind legs. It is a herky-jerky movement, so hang on tight! At this point, you are practically looking straight at the ground, thinking you might topple forward onto the camel’s head.
3. After that, the camel gets on its front knees with more herky-jerky movements. Continue to hang on tight.
4. Lastly, the camel gets up on its front feet. You’re up! And you’re glad you hung on tight.

We began our slow ride out of the Erg Chebbi with the promise of caffeine, breakfast, and a sink at the end.

When we arrived back in Merzouga, it was time for final goodbyes to our camels.

TIP: The facilities at the Hötel Nasser Palace were not great. First of all, the Moroccan tea was not to our liking because it was too minty. But more important, a number of desert tours ended the same morning, so the line-ups for the sinks were long and the line-ups for the washrooms even longer. It wasn’t too bad, but you have been warned to get in line fast. 😁

TIP: In case you are interested, there are outdoor activities available on the dunes, like sand skiing, surfing, bodyboarding, and paragliding; We understand that equipment rentals are available. However, our bivouac tour didn’t include any of these activities, and there wasn’t any free time in the itinerary.

Stay tuned (subscribe) for our fourth post in our Morocco series, the City of Fez.

Camels of the Sahara Desert

Arabian Camels were introduced into Egypt from Arabia before the common era (BCE) and then spread gradually across North Africa into Morocco. These are the single-humped camels called dromedaries. In antiquity, horses and donkeys were the primary method of transporting goods for localized trade in the desert and arid regions of North Africa. But the superior adaptations of camels to the desert allowed them to supplant horses and donkeys as the primary mode of transport by about the 4th century CE. Because of their padded feet for stability, faster pace, hump of fat reserves which they can convert into water and energy, sweat glands that regulate body heat, greater size, and longer life-span camels are able to carry larger loads farther, faster, and cheaper. The heyday of the great camel caravans crossing the Sahara Desert began in the 9th century CE.

“Ships of the desert” is a well-earned moniker for these camels.

Other interesting facts about camels:

1. Dromedaries have a light coat to protect them from the heat of the low deserts of North Africa and Arabia. Conversely, the two-humped camels (bactrians) have heavier fur to protect them from the cold of the steppes and deserts of Central Asia.
2. Camels have nostrils they can close, bushy eyebrows, and two rows of long eyelashes, so they can keep out blowing sand.
3. Camels have tough lips, so they can eat dry, thorny desert vegetation which supplement their water reserves enough to survive for weeks.
4. Male dromedaries are up to 2.1 metres tall.
5. Some people raise camels as a supply of milk, meat, and wool.
6. The camel population in Morocco is declining.
7. Camels do not smell as bad as elephants do; trust me, I’ve ridden both.
8. Funny facial expressions, in the form of a displaced jaw or a goofy smile, are common with camels.

The camels on our tour were very gentle and good-natured. No biting.