Apr 4 - Sahara

We hopped on a mini bus with a couple of other tourists and took a 9 hour bus ride to Zagora, a town on the edge of the Sahara desert. The ride bus ride was very nice; we drove through small villages and right through the Atlas Mountains. I have been here once before with my father and remember doing this same drive however I forgot how vast the mountains are and how nerve racking it can be when navigating the tight turns and winding road with 1000 foot drops on either side, especially when the bus driver seems like he’s in a hurry to get home.  

 

 

We arrived in Zagora and took a 1 ½ hour camel trek to our camp in the Sahara – in the middle of a sea of sand with nothing else in sight but dunes. Although the ride was a bit uncomfortable it was really cool and the camels were awesome. I kind of zoned out and imagined we were a caravan of Arabian knights trekking through the desert to find lost Egyptian treasure.  We were told that we would have our own tent however this was not the case – we’ve noticed that the Moroccan vendors will tell you whatever it is that you want to hear, regardless of whether it is true or not, as long as it gets them the sale. Not to worry, we bunked up with a gay Moroccan couple who turned out to be very nice and I was probably the loudest snorer of the group anyway.

The Berber “hosts” prepared a delicious chicken Tagine and some Moroccan tea and treated us to some traditional singing and drumming around a fire. The whole experience was wonderful and getting to see the open sky and stars in the middle of the desert is something that I have always wanted to do.    

 

Our camp

 

Berber

Arabian Knight

My Camel, Charlie

 

Tea in the tent

Camel Toe!

Hard to tell from the pic but this thing is huge