Day 247 : Sahara Awaits

I have seen many famous movies set in the Sahara desert, and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would visit the Sahara desert in person. So it was something I had no intention to miss when I am in Morocco.

My trip to the Sahara along with the travel plans for the next couple of days had been arranged by the Fes Riad owner, and all I had to do was to get my bus tickets to each of the towns.

After a 10hr overnight bus ride from Fes to Rissani, I finally arrived at 6.30am, and boy… was it cold!  Rissani is the bus point closest to Messourga, one of the entry points to the Sahara desert. 

I was met up by Mohammed, whom was dressed in a sheik-like attire and said we would be going into Messourga on a 4X4.

There was also a couple on the same overnight bus and we headed into Messourga together.  After about 30 minutes on the sandy roads, and watching the sun rise, we finally arrived at the lodges in the Sahara. 

As it was very early, we were asked to take a rest in one of the rooms in the lodge, since we will only be leaving the lodge and heading deeper into the Sahara on camels at around 4pm.  The rooms were equally freezing cold, and without any heater, I decided to skip the sleep and head out to the common area to warm up under the rays of the rising sun.

I took the opportunity to explore around the perimeter around the lodge, and it was a sea of orangey-brown sand as far as my eyes could see. Even the lodges were in the same shade!  As I walked on the sand dunes, they felt much firmer as compared to the sand dunes at San Pedro de Atacama.

While I continued to explore the surrounding vicinity, I was surprised to find a garden in the middle of the Sahara!  There were some staff working on the garden, and as I approached, one of the staff came up to me and showed me around.  He said that the garden was made possible due to water located below the sand dunes and this was also the reason why the sand dunes are firmer because of the presence of water.  The staff have managed to channel the water in the dunes, so that it sufficiently meets the needs of the garden.  The garden was filled with various crops including spring onion, carrot, radish, tomato, chilli, mint, olive and some other vegetables.  Very impressive!

After relaxing till about 4pm, the staff got ready the camels for our ride deeper into the Sahara.  I was made the leader of the camel pack, led by the guide who walked the whole way through!  The journey on the camel was rather bumpy, though still fairly comfortable.  As we were led along, the guide told us of the various animals that roams in the desert, and pointed out to us the footprints of these animals in the sand.  These animals included mouse, wolf, snake and mini kangaroos (without pouches). 

About 1.5hr later, we arrived at our destination where a number of tents were set up.  We were shown our personal tent, which would be our home for the night.  It was a completely bare tent, with just a blanket laid on top of the sand.  We were also told that if we needed to use the toilet, we just needed to pick a spot out in the open sand, and make sure that there are no scorpions around before we start our business!  What a punt to the term “call of nature”.

The staff got ready to prepare our dinner while there was still some light.  As the sun started setting behind the sand dunes, the temperature dropped tremendously.  I piled on my layers of clothes to keep warm, and even wrapped myself in a blanket provided by the staff as we sat out in the open air and admired the numerous stars in the twinkling starlit sky.  We could easily see Mars, Venus and Jupiter along with numerous constellations.  The Milky Way was also very visible to the naked eye. 

Dinner was ready!  We sat around a table in a tent and waited for our food to be served.  The menu for the night – Tagine, a Moroccan speciality! 

After dinner, the staff asked us to head outside, where a camp fire had been set up.  We were asked to sit around the fire to stay warm, while the staff played some music for us.  They also tried to provide some additional entertainment by telling jokes and some hilarious stories about past tourists, some which involved drugs such as hashish, that seems to be easily available in Morocco.  One of the guide also mentioned about a trek across the entire Sahara, which will take about 5 days!  I don’t think I would ever take up the 5 day trek, though it could be enjoyable if there were a group of friends travelling with you.

As it started getting late and with an early start in the morning to get back to the bus station, I excused myself to head to bed.  It was extremely cold and even all the layers I had on me was still not warm enough – a layer of thermal, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater and a jacket, while on my bottom I had a thermal and a long pair of pants.  I made sure there were no possible scorpions that may have slipped into the tent and laid out my bed with 5 layers of blanket and snugged under it.  Ahhh…. now it is nice and warm!

Good night folks!