| Málaga – the beginning | |||||
| Day 1 - Leaving Spain | Day 2 - Chefchaouen | Day 3 - Fes | Day 4 - Er Rachidia | Day 5 - Merzouga | Day 6 - Tinghir |
| Day 7 - Aït Benhaddou | Day 8 - Marrakesh | Day 9 - More Marrakesh | Day 10 - Cascades (Ouzoud) | Day 11 - Ifrane | Day 12 - Tarifa |
| Day 13 - Málaga | Day 14 - Torremolinos | Day 15 - Torremolinos-1 | Day 16 - Torremolinos-2 | Day 17 - Caminito del Rei |
Merzouga
0 kms
After a delicious lunch we piled into a couple of pick-up trucks and were driven across to Merzouga to start our next adventure.
We were driven through the quiet streets of Merzouga, eventually reaching a dirt lot at SAHARA ATV Quad rental. Not that we’d be renting quads, oh no! We were going all-out and getting some dune buggies!
Local kids in Merzouga
We had the option of each getting our own buggy, or splitting the rental time (one hour) between us. We decided that splitting would be fine for us, especially with a rate of 120€ for the hour. We weren’t given much instruction as we got into our buggies, and other than wearing our motorcycle helmets and buckling in, there wasn’t much preparation needed. The main point was to follow the buggy in front of us, and leave some space. Roger! I took the first shift and we rolled out of town.
Yes, they have sand boarding and skiing! No, we did not try it
Heading out for some adventure!
The buggies were simple to operate: there was no shifting of gears to deal with, just a gas pedal and a brake pedal. They were loud, however, and I felt a little conspicuous as we drove through town. But hey, we’re also contributing to the economy, so I tried to not feel too bad about it.
We eventually crossed a wide, empty area and left the town behind. Before us rose the smooth, soft dunes of the “Little Sahara”. The locals called it this because the area we were about to explore is a small lob of the desert that protrudes from the massive, vast, true Sahara. Not to say that this lob was small – the dunes went on for as far as I could see.
The color changed depending on how the light hit the sand
Camel trekkers share the dunes with the quads and the buggies
Driving the buggy in the deep, soft, sand was a lot like driving through snow. Fortunately, I spent my early driving years learning to drive in snow, so it felt pretty good to me. Dan, however, kept encouraging me to “Give ‘er!” and really push the buggy into the turns. But Practical Me wasn’t having any of it. Note the safe placement of my hands at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions:
The lead buggy kept up a good pace, and it was sometimes very disconcerting to come to the lip of dune, unable to see what was on the other side. The buggy would drop over the crest, plummeting down in a mostly-controlled manner, before I yanked the steering wheel to one side in order to hit the approach to climb the next dune.
We eventually stopped at the top of a dune for a photo break and to change driving positions. It was Dan’s turn to drive and he really pushed the little buggy through the sand. All-in-all, our opinion was mutual: it was fun, but not something that we felt compelled to do again.
Dan was a lot more aggressive than I was
Coming back into Merzouga
We drove the buggies back to the shop where we were greeted again by the same locals who had driven us here from the lunch hotel. The drivers of the pick-ups were young “brothers” and seemed to really enjoy driving us across the trackless desert. Well, it wasn’t exactly “trackless”, but there was no dedicated road and one just aimed the wheels to whatever looked to be the smoothest route.
At the hotel we gathered our gear, threw it all into the beds of the pick-ups and headed back out into the sunshine. Our route retraced a bit of our morning’s approach to Merzouga, but then the trucks veered off the main road and cut across the black desert floor. The drivers were clearly enjoying themselves and had a bit of an impromptu race to get to our destination: a camel ride!
But not just any old camel ride, but a “sunset camel ride to a luxury camp in the desert” for the night. Oooh-la-la!
We piled out of the pick-ups and headed towards two groups of camels sitting in the sand the way camels do so well. Each one had a saddle and a bridle already in place. Oh, and I should note that these were not just camels, but “dromedary” camels, that have a single hump on its back. There was a short introduction on how to get on the camel – and stay on the camel – as it got up from its sitting position. This was weird to me, as normally when riding a horse, the horse is already standing. But to get on a sitting animal, and then have it stand up, was totally new. But it was also much easier than I expected. There was a gentle rocking as the camel moved to its … elbows? … with the front legs, and then another sway as the hind legs came up, and then the final movement as the front legs were extended. I found this video of some random person that illustrates this perfectly!
The camel’s fur was soft and almost wooly. It felt good under my hands and I was encouraged to pat the camel and talk to it. Once we were all on our camels, we split into two groups: Dan and I with our guide, and Ron, Sue, & Hana with another guide. I didn’t quite catch our guide’s name (it sounded like Ziaha), but he was incredibly friendly and talkative. His English wasn’t that great, but as I like to say, it was better than my Moroccan! He offered to take our photos, at which point he instructed us to raise our arms and call out “AFRICA!!!!!!” That was fun the first time, but after many more photos with the same request, it felt silly. All the same, I do like the photo.
I love the perspective that makes Dan look half my size
Although this was to be a sunset camel ride, the sun hadn’t been informed and didn’t make much of an appearance. But still, it was a pleasant evening and the ride was enjoyable.
Our other half, plus another group in the background
There are no stirrups on a camel saddle, so my legs just bounced around a bit as we progressed through the dunes. The camel’s gait, which is offset (syncopated), is where two legs on one side move almost exactly at the same time, followed by the other two legs. I thought for sure that this would create an odd “rolling” sensation as the camel moved, but instead it was a very smooth and comfortable movement. I will admit that I was really curious what it would be like to be on a running camel. They can reach speeds of up to 65 km (40 miles) per hour for short bursts – fun times!
Part of Ziaha’s conversation was about the natural world at our feet, and the geopolitical world on the horizon. He pointed out tracks in the sand, hard to see from my elevation, but of where lizards, beetles, birds and even a fox had wandered. On the horizon to the east was a distinctive dark ridge: Algeria. The relationship between Algeria and Morocco suffered a severe setback in 2021 when “relations between two countries had reached a “point of no return due to Morocco’s continued provocation of Algeria”.” Clearly we wouldn’t be getting anywhere near the Algerian border on this ride.
Bird tracks
Camel-back view (the metal bar is to help you keep your balance when getting off or on); it also makes a handy place to hang your bag
A very short video taken from my position: camel riding
Algeria in the distance
It was almost dark when we reached our camp. I couldn’t see much around us, but Ziaha informed me to hold on, as the camel would be dropping down to the ground. I held onto the little metal bar, but like getting up, getting down was a smooth combination of back and forth. The camels sat quietly as Ziaha motioned Dan and me towards him. He brought over the small backpack that had been hanging on my camel’s saddle and proceed to pull multiple paper-wrapped items from it. Ah HA! the Sales Pitch commenced. I initially had no interest in buying anything that he was offering, but on the other hand, I didn’t mind supporting him and the artisans that made some of the hand carved items that were steadily filling up the small blanket in front of him. Dan and I exchanged a look and agreed that we’d each pick out something. I chose a small carved stone camel, and Dan chose a small geode with incredible coloring inside. Now for the haggling.
We did not negotiate well. He suggested a price, we suggested a lower price, Ziaha said “No” and repeated his original price. After some awkward exchanges, we finally settled on his original price, but said that it included his tip as well. We were really bad at this, but on the other hand, it was 200 Dirhams ($20), which would mean a lot more to him than to us. And now we had some genuine souvenirs from our trip to the desert.
When I had originally read that we’d be staying in “luxury tents in the desert”, I was mostly fixated on “tents”. What kind of tents? How luxurious could a tent possibly be? Well, pretty darn luxurious it turned out. This camp was permanent and the tents were in the traditional Berber style. Each tent had a hot water shower, toilet, and sink. The bed was bigger than the one at home, and the decorations were understated but tasteful. This was a pretty cool tent – or would have been cool, if it had openings to allow a breeze to blow through. As it was, we propped open the door that night so that we could get some sort of air exchange.
Walking into the campsite
Cool lighting design along the walkway
Inside our tent
Because we had arrived later than usual, we didn’t have much time before we sat down for dinner. It was an extravagant affair, with seven courses eventually making their way to the table. Once again, the food was great and the conversation centered around our afternoon’s activities. Eventually we drifted away from the table, each of us going off to do our own thing. The night was dark and I wandered off outside of the camp, hoping to see some amazing stars. Despite the crescent moon, the stars were not all that I was hoping for, many of them muted and fuzzy due to atmospheric haze. I had really been looking forward to seeing the Milky Way, but it would not be tonight.
Our hosts informed us that there would be “a drummer” who would come to the fire pit and play some tunes. I admit that I didn’t have high hopes for a good show, and figured that I would be able to hear them just fine from within the tent. It turned out that they were quite good, and I felt a little guilty the next morning not having been out there to give the musicians some support. That being said, I was comfortable in my bed and fell asleep quickly to the sounds of the drums outside my door. It had been busy but great day!