From Marrakech, we took a four day/three night tour around Southern Morocco.
Before even thinking of the desert, we had to cross the Atlas Mountains.
On the first evening we reached the town of Zagora, from whence we rode camels into the desert.
We stayed in a "traditional" Berber camp, sat around a camp fire and watched the stars.
In the morning it was back on the camels and back into the minibus.
We stopped at the fortified city of Ait Benhaddou.
You may remember the city from such films as Lawrence of Arabia, The Jewel of the Nile or Gladiator.
We spent the second night in a hotel in the Dadès Gorges.
On day 3 we visited another village and were shown the traditional method of making rugs.
And got to see the Todra Gorge.
The highlight of the tour was reaching the Sahara and spending the night by the dunes of Erg Chebbi. Again we set off on camels at sunset to reach the camp.
We were followed to the camp by Rocky the Desert Dog.
At night, we sang and drummed along with our Berber hosts.
It was incredibly cold at night, so we stayed especially close to the fire.
The following morning, we were back on the camels. Here are some nice photos of sand.
Lunch on our final day.
Yaz tried some local avocado juice, which was more accurately an avocado milkshake. It was tolerable.
Our final stop was a visit to the door of the desert, Ouarzazate, to see the kasbah and get a view of the artificial lake there.
The landscape that we were able to see on this voyage was more beautiful and varied than we had expected. On top of that, it was a great opportunity to experience the culture and meet with the people who live in such remote but enchanting places. Being able to see this part of the world in less than four days was incredible, but left us feeling that more time is needed to truly understand, appreciate and enjoy all that Morocco has to offer.
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