Our trip to the Sahara Desert

Hamza, our guide, and Mohammed, our driver, picked up our group of seven at 2 PM on Friday afternoon. We drove until about 7:30, then stopped at a hotel/restaurant in Zaida for the night. The hotel was very comfortable and we had a wonderful dinner (lamb tajine) and breakfast before heading off again. The scenery on the trip was spectacular, changing from large city (Rabat), to small towns, to tiny villages, to the High Atlas Mountains (Zaida). As we drove the last 6 hours to the Sahara, the landscape became more and more like that of the American West, and sometimes like the surface of the moon. We stayed glued to our windows.

Desolate landscape

Our guide stopped at an incredibly rural Berber market, which allowed the people who live in this barren land to congregate once a week and buy their necessities. It was like a really low-key flea market, with cooking oil, fruit, vegetables, used shoes, and piles of clothes.

Berber market

We continued to cruise across miles and miles of absolutely flat rock-strewn ground just as far as the eye could see.  And then, eventually, off in the distance, you saw them--the first dunes of the Sahara. They men helped us wrapped our scarves and we were ready to meet out camels (actually dromedaries, only one hump).

Almost ready

The ride was about three miles into the desert. It was incredibly quiet and serene as the sun began to set.

We drank the three bottles of wine we had hidden in our backpacks and ate a wonderful dinner outside under a sky that defies description. The stars were so bright it felt you could touch them. Zero light pollution, just bright stars filling the entire sky. Then, the young men who led our camel and cooked our dinners joined us with drums and singing. We then retired to our tents. We were up and on the camels again at 5 AM and rode the 1.5 hours back as the sky went from blackness to brightness.

Enjoying wine at the campsite

Shannon shows her drumming talent with the camel leaders

After breakfast and a stop for lunch, we were back at the homebase by 5:30, in time to take much appreciated showers, eat dinner and prepare for our placement tomorrow.