I'm alive! I'm alive!
It's true, by now some of you might have thought I was swallowed by a saharan sandstorm...
but I wasn't.
I was swallowed by the gloriously internet free desert though.
So, with my new traveling buddy Mike in tow. We hopped an 8 hour bus from Azrou and headed south. Through SNOW in the mountains. Down into desert valleys. Strange places where everything is rock blasted desert...but for the river valley which is bright green, lush and planted with crops and filled with palm trees. Eventually the bus led us to Rissani... and from there a car picked us up and brought us 35 more kilometers to the end of the line, Merzouga.
And the dunes.
You could keep driving if you had a four wheel drive...either over the dunes or down a piste to Algeria. Except the army which scans the border with radar and heat sensing equipment would find you and... capture? Kill? I don't know. I didn't find out. But I can tell you that there were NO LIGHTS OF ANY KIND for over 180 degrees of view from the top of the dunes. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We ended up at KSAR BICHR. A cool hotel, guest house built out of mudbrick, with a great swimming pool (it's usually hot as crap out here) and guys dressed in traditional blue robes (sure it's just for show when you're at the hotel, but it's cool.). The man in charge, Ali was AWESOME. He was super fun, friendly and made us feel at home. The rooms were nice, and even had REALLY hot showers. Good to take before 3 nights in the desert.
So we stayed here for the night. Enjoyed the nearly full moon over the nearby dunes and could hear drum music wafting in from someplace nearby. The moon was so bright I could TAKE PICTURES without the flash and see things. No BS. It's pretty awesome.
So the next day we had a chill morning. I headed out for a walk over some of the dunes. It was cool. The big ones, 500 feet and more stretched in a line blocking the horizon with thousands of small ones all in front of them. After lunch and the hot showers, it was time to SADDLE UP.
Walk out front of the Ksar and there are 3 camels and our guide, Mohammed. He wears blue as well. It wasn't 2 minutes and I'm climbing onto the back camel and up it goes. It's a very strange, high angle, multi-step balancing act that brings it up to it's feet with me riding on top. Mike hopped on his. The middle one carried gear and we were off. Mohammed walking along, the camels following in line. A rope from one stretched to the mouth of the one following.
And the dunes swallowed us for 3 days.
It was really something else. The low sun was brilliant. The shadows dark. We named our camels. Ricky, Bruno and Aziz. Aziz was my favorite, I rode on him/her (didn't look below to see which) for most of the days. Which consisted of 2 hours or so of riding over the dunes.
We got to the base of the high dune as the sun was getting really low and Mohammed told us to go up now to see sunset. It's not easy marching up a 500 foot dune (blissfully barefoot). But we did it and saw a cool sunset over the expanse of dunes in all directions. Beyond the dunes was hard rock desert. Towards Algeria in the east and south it was black desert. The distant mountains were at least 50 miles away, and you could see them.
The sun set, it got dark. Mike rolled down. I enjoyed the peace and quiet. And i mean QUIET. Not a sound. Nothing.
Finally I headed down...straight down the side of the dune to camp. Was awesome. Unlike a mountain, a dune is never going to be super super cliff like, and so you can just go down down down. Was so cool. I thought "I'm walking blindly down a giant saharan dune in the dark. Awesome."
Camp consisted of berber tents (low tents with rugs all around a central area. We had mint tea (you always have mint tea in Morocco. I mean ALWAYS :). We had a wonderful Tagine. We sat by a fire in silence.
Then we heard voices.
High in the dunes. Women. In English.
"Hello!" I call out.
"Hello!" comes back.
"Where are you from?"
"New Zealand. Where are you from?"
"America".
"(sing song) Of course!"
We were barely speaking above a normal voice. They were near the top of the dune. With the angle, maybe 700 to 1000 feet away. You could hear every word perfectly. It was so surreal to have a normal volume conversation with someone so far away who you could barely make out against the moonlit sky.
Well, I had to find out who they were, so up the dune I go. It's STEEP. But I eventually met up with them on the ridge about half way up. We sit and chat. Traveller talk. "Where you from? What have you seen? Tell fun stories". It was nice, as there are SO FEW travelers on this trip. It's amazing.
But eventually they head down. And I go up and enjoy pure awesomeness. Moon views for miles. Darkness for nearly 270 degrees, save 2 lights.
DAY 2.
Up and food and Sand board! We hike it up a bit. Then slide down. I stood pretty much every time. Never done it before. But it was fun. Wish there was a lift! We probably did 100 foot runs. We're not crazy.
Chill in the shade, as the noontime sun (even when it's only 75 degrees) is fierce. Enjoy lunch. Nap. Chilling.
Then up on the camels for 2 hours ride out to the black desert and the Nomad People. They live half the year in the mountains, and come down near the river (which is dry) in the summer. Live in mudbrick homes. There was a low tent set up for us. We barely got to interact with them, though one had a California sweatshirt!
I walked out into the black desert towards Algeria. It was surreal.
Tea at sunset. Dinner. And sleep by 9pm. There's nothing to do after dark and it's pitch black by 6pm. It's pretty wonderful.
Save the shits.
Yep, Diahrrea in the desert. Yep, using the Berber toilet (that means the ground outside).
Yep in the middle of the moonlit night.
Yep, it was interesting...but always a good skill to know you have: The ability to shit anywhere, level 2.
And it got cold, but the warm camel wool blankets ruled.
DAY 3.
Up early. Breakfast on the ground with a little table and blankets.
Brushing teeth and... oh shit. More shits.
Yep, Berber toilet, fun times. I had some bad problems with this for the next day, but fortunately the camps have Porta Pottis. And then Mike gave me this perscription anit-diarreha pill that his doctor gave him. That shit WORKS.
Anyway. The point of all this shit is that the shitting didn't ruin the desert trip at all. I was a little worn out today, but honestly, when you're in the peace and quiet of the dunes, it wasn't really a big deal at all. :)
2 hours of camels back to dunes. Chilling. Lunch. Then another 2 hours over the low ridge to a camp in a dune bowl at the base of another huge dune. Very cool. After tea (and watching Mohammed pray towards Mecca on a dune ridge up by the camels...cool). Mike and I head up this dune. Much easier climb, but almost as high. An amazing sunset. Great picks. Good laughs.
He headed down soon after sun down,but I hung out up there. And started dancing. It was hard not too. Twilight. Stars coming out. Dancing on a dune top with "Standing on top of the World" by Van Halen stuck in my head. Might be one of my favorite travel moments ever.
After a wonderful Tagine, we lay on the Berber blankets and watch the stars grow and grow in brightness and shooting stars too.
DAY 4.
Up nice and early, a final breakfast. A final camel ride out of the dunes. And an end to one of the coolest part of this trip. I doubt it'll be beat. And when we got the bill of 1500 Dirhams (that's NOT EVEN $200). It's almost hard to believe it was possible. But it was. It happened. If you're ever here, head to Mourzouga. Stay at Ksar Bicha with Ali. Take the desert trek with Mohammed. Experience perfect peace and silence like you'll never find in civilazation. I mean, TOTAL silence. I've never "heard" anything quite so quiet. No trees. No animals. Nothing but stillness. Calm. Peace. Perfect.
Craig O
PS: Here's the info for
KSAR BICHR: Ali is the man! www.merzougadesert.com, ksarbicha@yahoo.fr
MOHAMMED the guide: www.saharadeserttour.com, info@saharadeserttour.com
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