Camel Trekking in the Sahara

So a couple of days ago I departed from Marrakesh on an excursion to the Sahara Desert!

We headed off at 7am from the main square in a people carrier with our tour guide, Eunice, telling us stories of the little towns we past while bombing it down the dirt track roads at a ridiculous speed and edging donkeys, cyclists and motorcyclists off the road as he went!

To get to the desert we had to first pass through the high Atlas mountains. I had thought the mountains would be spectacular but as we snaked our way along the winding roads I was truly amazed at the different colours of the earth on each peak and the way the peaks reached up to the sky as far as the eye could see...

All the hill tribes build their houses from a mud and straw mix taken straight from the ground so each village blends in to the mountainside such that you only realise there is a village at all from the colourful rugs and clothes hanging on the walls, drying in the sun.

The further we went, the more sand coloured the earth got, until we arrived in Zagora. After a quick stop to buy some water we were shown to our camels for the two hour trek into the desert. I'd never been on a camel before and was surprised how big they were. I climbed onto my camel, which I named Geoffrey (who, I later found out, was actually female!), and was almost sent flying off the front as it lurched forward then backwards to stand up!

We trekked towards the desert and watched the sun go down into the sandy horizon. The camel was fun for about 15 minutes but the following 1hr and 45 mins was painful... After almost an hour trekking through the desert in complete darkness we finally arrived at our camp ground. There was a huge tent with colourful Moroccan rugs decorating the ceiling and walls and filled with silky cushions surrounding three tables. There was another group there and we all sat down together to eat some Chicken Tagine while the guides played some traditional Moroccan songs and danced. After dinner it was time to join in with the dancing and, after some traditional Moroccan dancing followed by the conga, we all sat outside looking at the stars before heading to bed.

The next day we got up at 5am to see the sun come up and were amazed to see rolling sand dunes as far as the eye could see! Zagora was completely out of sight and the only non-sand feature was the Atlas mountains stretching up on the horizon. After another painful camel ride back to Zagora We cruised back to Marrakesh on the bust and stopped at some more little towns. It was truly an amazing journey!!