My twin brother, Joe, and I are taking an excursion to the Sahara! This is Day 2. Click here to watch Day 1 where we visit Ait Ben-Haddou, an impressive and beautiful desert village.
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Day 2 starts us off be exiting our hotel in the Dades Gorge and heading straight to the city of Tinghir, a town built on an oasis at the edge of the High Atlas Mountains. We met our guide who took us through the green farms next to the river and the old city. He told us about the history and heritage of Tinghir how it was founded by nomads from the mountains and the desert who herded animals and, of course, used the oasis to feed and water their herds, eventually turning it into farm land.
Tinghir
Our guide then brought us to a local family who makes hand-made rugs, a famous product to come from Morocco. The family invited us in for mint tea and showed us their rugs. One or two in our group decided to buy one.
After the rugs, we took a drive up into the High Atlas Mountains to a canyon called Todra Gorge. The same river that flows through Tinghir runs through this gorge and is fed by natural springs.
Todra Gorge
After lunch, we made our way towards Merzouga, the gateway to the Sahara. It was a long drive from Tinghir, we got there just before the sun set. the town sits right on the edge of the the infamous powder sand dunes of the Sahara. The sight of them was remarkable.
A sea of dunes
Ready and waiting for us was our mode of transportation into the dunes. Several rows of camels that groaned when forced to get up from their comfy spot on the sand. We hopped on one by one and were then led into the vast ocean of orange sand. I can not say that the camel ride was very comfortable, but the experience was amazing. With the sun setting behind us and the dunes... wow.
What up?
We ended our camel trek after about an hour and a half at an encampment set up among the dunes. Here we were shown the tents we would sleep in and were fed a meal of soup and tagine. After dinner we were entertained by a musical number performed by the workers and guides. They sang, clapped, played drums, and tapped spoons on a baking sheet... yep, it does make music.
One of the amazing things about the whole experience was getting to see the stars. Since there was almost no light pollution and the moon had set, we got some of the brightest stars I had ever seen. And to top it off, there was a meteor shower going on too. Amazing! Lounging in the cool Sahara sand was also a great experience.
Experimenting with night photography
After a few hours of sleep we were woken up for the trek back to Merzouga. We were herded out of the camp quickly so that we could get back to the van and on our way back to Marrakesh as quickly as possible. This part felt rushed and somewhat unpleasant but it was about a 10 hour drive to make that day, so yeah.
Sunrise
Thus ends our Morocco Sahara excursion. Would you spend the night in the dunes of the Sahara?
Music used:
Desert by Inova
source Royalty free
https://soundcloud.com/inova/inova-desert
Desert City by Kevin Macleod
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
http://incompetech.com/
My video is at DLive