Draa Valley and Sahara Desert, Morocco (Post #55)
Hello…Michele here…Today is Thursday, Oct 6 – exactly 4 months since the day we left. Yesterday we returned from a 3 day, 2 night trip through the Draa Valley (described below). On our last night we rode a camel ride out in the Sahara Desert and slept under a star-filled sky.
Our trip began with a stop at Ait Benhadou. This is one of the best preserved kasbahs (ancient castles) in central Morocco and the site for several films including Lawrence of Arabia and , more recently, Gladiator. Here is a picture:
Next we drove through the Draa Valley. It is described by Lonley Planet as one long ribbon of technicoloured palmeraies (oasislike areas with palm trees), earth-red kasbahs and Berber villages. The areas around the rivers in this valley are filled with date (not coconut) palm trees, as well as fig and olive trees. Here is a picture:
We got a short tour through the crops of one Berber village and visited a Berber Village house. The man who lived there explained that he and his family are nomads. They spend 8 months living in their village home and the other 4 months traveling across deserts and mountains. In fact, we saw some nomad families living in their bivouacs (Berber tents) when we rode camels in the Sahara desert (described below).
We spent the first night of our trip in an auberge (hotel) situated at the base of the Dades Gorge. The Dades gorge is a huge rift in the High Atlas Mountains with deep pink and red colored cliffs with spectacular rock formations. After driving through more incredible scenary (through an area called “the valley of one thousand kasbahs” we arrived at the Todra Gorge, another beautiful pink canyon with a crystal clear river running through the middle of it. We saw several village women with babies on their backs, bringing their donkeys, mules, and goat herds to drink out of the river.
Finally, we arrived at the Erg Chebbi, part of the Sahara desert. An erg is a sand ocean and this sand ocean was probably one of the most incredibly things we have ever seen. We rode camels out to our bivouac (tent) site. I was on the lead camel, which was being pulled by Hassan. Hassan lives in a nearby village on the outskirts of the erg. He explained that where we were, close to the Algerian border, people listen to African music and identify more with African people as opposed to the people in the northern part of Morocco, who listen to middle eastern music and identify more with middle eastern people. Hassan and his assistant cooked dinner for us and we ate the food with our hands. At night we slept out in the open (on a small pad) with a blanket. The sky was filled with a million stars and we really enjoyed just staring up at the sky. At 5:00am the next day we walked up a huge orange dune of sand and watched the sun rise. It was amazing to see the ocean of orange sand with its wavelike shapes. Here is my award winning picture of the sunrise…
Mike on one of the sand dunes:
And us the night before…
We rode the camels back to an auberge (hotel) where a breakfast of bread, jam, honey, butter, coffee and tea was waiting for us. Next came a 12.5 hour minivan ride back to Marrakesh. Even though the journey home was long, we got to view all the beautiful scenary again and we spent the time planning the next phase of our trip (Greece, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt).
Tomorrow we leave for a 4 day, 3 night hike in the Atlas mountains with a guide and a mule. We will blog when we get back. Bye!
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Tags: Category #15: Morocco
Michele Harmon
Wow! What amazing photos! Keep up the amazing blog…it’s making my life feel more exciting just reading about what you guys are doing! 🙂
“Wow” is my reaction as well. The next phase of your trip sounds even MORE exciting. We’ll need to compare notes on Egypt, since I had the pleasure of spending a week there. All the best….
Hello Michele and Mike,
Sounds like you guys are having a great adventure. You look happy and very Moroccan, especially you Mike in that fine Highlands T.
Well it’s another Horton MMTR thgis Saturday. Good ramblings.
Be well,
Dan
May I add a third “Wow?”
I have enjoyed reading your blog as we are going to Morocco in a few weeks. How did you get to desert- did you have a car or train it? Thanks.
WOW is the only right and honest comment! The picture of the sunrise is AMAZING!!!