After a long but entertaining bus ride with my new friends from Fes, I arrived in Merzouga. Merzouga is a small town in the Sahara Desert, at the Southeastern edge of Morocco, near the Algerian border. At about 4 a.m., the bus dropped us off on a dark and deserted road on the outskirts of town. We had brief communication with the man who was meant to arrange our trip into the desert, and he assured us he would be awake to let us into his guesthouse. Walking along the dusty road, surrounded by complete stillness, I wasn’t optimistic about him being awake. To my surprise, after a few knocks at the old wooden door, a dark, slender figure creaked open the door and waved us in. There was no light, only a blanket placed in my hands and a soft whisper in the dark, “sleep now.”
I woke up on a dusty couch, under a huge wool blanket, with a cat cuddled up at my feet. My friends are scattered across the room, sleeping on various pieces of miscellaneous furniture and spare mattresses. A few other travelers emerge from other rooms, and we all share a traditional Berber breakfast of fluffy bread (batbout), which could be dipped in olive oil, a flat sort-of pancake (baghrir) dipped in honey, an omelet, olives, and of course hot Moroccan mint tea.
Despite the town being surrounded by desert on all sides, there is an oasis just behind the guesthouse where locals can grow food.
We spent the afternoon poking around the town, and making the final arrangements for our trip into the desert. At around 4 p.m. we walk to the edge of town to meet our camels. After a short tutorial, we are on our camels and off into the desert.
We stop to enjoy the sunset, and are accompanied by some desert dogs who have been following us since we left town. They run so effortlessly across the dunes, and have very calm demeanors around humans.
After nothing but sand dunes for a few hours, we come to our desert camp. There are a few large tents setup with many rugs and blankets piled on the floors. The boys took one tent, and the girls shared the other. Nothing fancy, but it did look like it would be cosy when the desert cold came in the night.
We share a large dinner of tagine in a separate tent, then head out under the stars for traditional Berber songs around the campfire.
The atmosphere is surreal, and to get a better look at the stars I climb a nearby dune. In every direction, there are more stars than I had ever seen, like being at the center of a snow globe. I count 3 separate shooting stars, and far more constellations than I could ever name.
It seemed that the night was going to end peacefully, until we hear a loud and sudden shriek from the women’s tent. They run out screaming about a very large spider that ran out from under one of the blankets. Upon later research, we confirm that they had come across a Camel Spider, which are mostly harmless to humans, but do look absolutely terrifying.
The next morning, we all got up to watch the sunrise. The air was crisp, but I couldn’t help but feel refreshed and fully alive, optimistic for whatever came next.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip into the desert. All photos, except for the spider, were taken by me.