Sahara Bound

Roadtrip to the Country

We left Fez and headed to Midelt. The day was pretty slow and mostly just a travel day between cities. Our first stop was a few hours into the drive at a town called Ifrane.  This town was built by the French in the early 1900’s due to it’s cold climate in winter. It includes a ski resort too. While we were there we didn’t get snow, instead an extremely heavy downpour came, including hail, so we sat in a coffee shop to wait out the storm before heading back to the bus.

After an hour or so we had another stop, this time for monkeys. Lots of people stop to see the animals, some of the people feed them. Everyone takes pictures. Elizabeth also enjoyed the dogs.

We had a picnic lunch on this day in between all the driving. The highlight of the lunch was Elizabeth finally learning (for herself) that the Mars bars abroad are really just American Milky Ways. The Milky Way bars abroad are more like 3 Musketeers. So confusing.

We hopped back into the bus and after a few more hours we eventually arrived in Midelt. You drive all this way just to get closer to the Sahara. There is not really any other reason to be out in this part of Morocco. We took a lovely walk around a canyon and through the countryside. It began to rain again so we cut it short and as a group we ran to the hotel.

Another uneventful night was broken up with the learning of a new card game. Not fit for print, the name of the game is bestowed upon the loser of the game. One of the benefits of the game is that are no winners, only a single loser. On this first night, one of the Australians lost five games in a row. Not an easy feat, but he continued to try to match this losing streak for the rest of the trip.

A Date with the Desert

The next morning began with more driving to get us to the Sahara. After a quick stop for a Moroccan pizza lunch, we arrived in the middle of nowhere. Our bus driver took a left on a flat piece of land and started driving. There were occasional signs for places to stay out there, ruts where other vehicles had driven, and not much else.

It was lonely and desolate and exactly what we were looking for. An hour later or so the dunes of the Sahara climbed over the horizon and buildings started to take shape as we arrived at our car’s stopping point.

We got out our small overnight pack and prepared to catch out next ride. But it was not to be, as a sandstorm showed up to stop our plans. We waited for it to blow through with many of us looking out the windows of the hotel, as if we were trying to get a glimpse of Santa or the mail man or the Wells Fargo wagon.

When the storm passed, we made our way to the edge of the dunes. Tentatively, we climbed on the back of our camels and began walking.

Now it was not as if this was all that extreme. These camels have made the walk hundreds of times, so much so that if one of us had fallen off and lost sight of the camels, he/she could have followed the trail of droppings and found the desert campsite. The camels are also tied together so they can’t even walk off if they wanted to.

Nevertheless, it was quite the experience to sit on the hump of a camel and traipse across a small stretch of the Sahara like we were in Lawrence of Arabia. Most of the guys in our group even wore scarves with a typical design of the region. We were also taught how to tie the scarf so it wouldn’t unravel while being worn. Such tourists.

We did eventually arrive in our desert camp. Not exactly rustic. We had a full mattress, running water, electricity in our tents and flush toilets. We sat around having a cup of tea feeling quite proud of ourselves for getting there anyway.

At first we started to play cards. Our guide scolded us, rightly so, for playing cards when we had so much of the desert to explore. Following his lead, we left our cards behind and climbed the largest dune we could see. It was right behind our camp, it was easy to access, the highest around, and would provide excellent viewpoints of the sunset. Nature intervened though because the wind was so strong and so much sand was being thrown around, you couldn’t stay on top of the dune for very long.

Instead, we headed down for dinner determined to watch the sunrise the following morning, even if the sand was whirling. We talked a fair amount at dinner on this night about the Camino, as those on the tour with us where interested in knowing about it. We happily explained how enjoyable it can be and how terrible it can be as well.

We watched the stars dance at night, following any shooting stars we could catch a glimpse of.

“I Wake Up… Rise to the Sun”

We did awake in time to catch the sunrise. I think I was the first out of bed and onto another dune to see if the payoff was worth the effort. It was. We all watched in awe as the sun rose to greet us. After climbing back down the dune we prepared mount our camels and leave.

We left the desert camp the same way we arrived – Camel power. Elizabeth’s camel was a bit fiesty and bit the camel ahead of her. The camel was immediately taken to the front so Elizabeth enjoyed uninterrupted views on the ride back.

We arrived back at the hotel where we had dropped our luggage, and we were off again. This time we were heading to Todra Gorge, a large creek in a deep canyon.

Three stops were made on the way to Todra Gorge.

The first was an awesome fossil shop dealing in marble with animal fossils remaining in it. It was something we needed, but could not afford.

The second was so we could climb down in a hole in the middle of nowhere. One the side of the road, we began to see small mounds of dirt, maybe six feet high. A lot of them, hundreds. We learned these were used for underground water transportation, these holes dot the landscape of interior Morocco.

The third stop dropped at the edge of a beautiful valley, and we began walking next to another creek surrounded by flora and fauna. We zigzagged our way through and around creeks, flowers, and ants to get to our hotel.

Morocco, like every country and state we have ever visited, has beautiful landscapes. The rivers, valleys, Atlas Mountains, Sahara desert, and plains all form an incredible place to experience. It was difficult to be outside with a view of a majestic piece of land and not appreciate it.