After spending the night in the desert, it was time to climb back on our camels and head back to Merzouga. While on our way back into town, I got to chatting with one of our guides. As I still had the rest of the day available, I was curious if he had any suggestions for other areas to visit around Merzouga. He told me of an interesting salt flat on the other side of town, where there will sometimes be a temporary lake, which is a popular place for migratory birds to stop. Visiting this place seemed like the perfect way to spend the rest of my day, so I convinced some of my new friends to join me when we got back.
Since this happened to be in the same direction as where the camels were being taken to, they let us ride them a bit further past town before we were given some directions and parted ways. Riding the camels was an interesting experience, but not comfortable, so it was nice to get off and stretch out my legs again.
After another few kilometers, we arrived at the salty desert lake. It is weird to see water in the middle of the desert. Even weirder is how salty the ground is in some areas.
It almost looks like snow on the ground, until you get closer to it.
It is curious that the ground can be so different in areas so close together. Not far away from us are the massive sand dunes we just came from, and near some of the small lakes you can even see vegetation growing. In other areas a very dry clay crackles under my steps.
And a little ways away the ground is covered in black, as if it had been burned, but just at the surface.
Near the lakes we can see a film shoot. I am not sure if it is for a movie or maybe a commercial of some kind, but they have a handful of white trailers, and a tent with lots of food. Considering this place would make a great location for desert scenes, I was curious what movies I might have seen that were filmed here. After a quick Google search, I was surprised to learn that scenes from Aquaman (2018) and Prince of Persia (2010) were filmed in Merzouga. I don’t really remember much about those movies, but I would assume they probably filmed in the sand dunes nearby, and likely not at these salt flats. I wonder if I will ever see what this film crew was working on.
Oddly enough, we do not see more than just a few birds visiting the lake, but it is okay because the views were still pretty surreal. On a good day, we are told you can see quite a few species of birds here, including ducks, doves, larks, desert and shore birds, even flamingos!
Despite not seeing birds, we did see quite a few camels being herded this way and that.
We saw many camel footprints in the hardened mud near the lakes, but we didn’t see any of the camels actually stop to drink. Later I am told that they hardly ever drink there, because the water is too salty.
As it is starting to get dark, we head back to the homestay. We cut through the oasis behind the town, and catch our last sunset in Merzouga before tomorrow’s departure.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my visit to the Merzouga salt flats and lake. All pictures were taken by me.
If you are interested in reading about my camel ride into the Sahara, and camping with the Berbers, that post can be found here.
If you are interested in seeing what a traditional Moroccan flea market is like, you can read about that here.