Dwti Draig

Our night in the Middle Atlas Mountains was perfect; blissfully quiet in contrast to the night before which had been spent in a campsite listening to dogs bark and donkeys braying all night! We had driven into the town of Midelt, famous for its apples, then taken a track off into the mountains, on the Cirque du Jaffar; which is a famous off-roading track. We didn’t know how far we’d be able to go, but took the truck for a little spin, marvelling at the scenery.

Morocco is such a country of contrasts. Forget the big agricultural fields; we were now on the moon! We had a view of the huge plateau to one side of us, and towering mountains the other side. It was all quite desolate and bleak, but beautiful nevertheless. We bumped along slowly, crossing many culverts built to off set the snow melt. We saw hardly anyone, just a few donkeys, and the odd shepherd or two, who waved. We stopped for lunch with a view.

We eventually got to what would become the end of the road for us. We met a family of a woman and several children at the point we turned around. She indicated that we were too big to continue down into the gorge. She asked for clothes for the children. We could only offer some sweets and money.  It was really hard to see the way they lived in such a remote and desolate place. It was quite upsetting. 

We turned the truck at this point, and waved goodbye

and continued back up the track we had come from, looking for a flattish place off the track to park up. This took longer than we thought, and we both got a bit fractious! It had been a long day being bounced around in the cab, plus we were both hangry; never a good sign. Once we had found a spot and parked up we began to settle. I even managed to beat Lyn at cards; my first time this holiday! We slept soundly, despite being sad not to be able to see any stars, as the full moon was so bright it cast moon shadows off the rocks. 

We drove back to Midelt the next day, then over the High Atlas Mountains, before descending dramatically into the Ziz Valley, which is one of Morocco’s most beautiful oases. The landscape changed from austere mountains to a ribbon of green that twists through a canyon carbed by the Ziz River. The towering cliffs reminded us so much of the American South West ; we could have been in Utah or Arizona, if it were not for the date palms. We passed ancient ksars and small mud brick homes. The whole valley is amazing, and we stopped in a campsite for the night underneath the towering cliffs and alongside the mostly dry river bed. 

The valley started to widen out near the town of Errichidia, where we stopped at a big Marjane supermarket. We parked alongside a German Overlander when we got there, and another German Overlander parked alongside us! People obviously use this place to stock up before heading to the desert. We bought some food, but was disappointed with the tiny fresh food selection. I was hoping for another amazing nectarine, but it was not to be. Perfectly understandable when you think of where we are!

The greenery soon started to fade and the horizon opened  out into the vast stony plains that mark the approach to the pre Saharan zone. The road became flatter, the air drier, and the temperature definitely warmer. We had spent a comfortably cool night in the mountains, but this was going to change!

We reached the town of Erfoud; the “Gateway to the Sahara”. This area is rich in fossils and mineral deposits and we saw many roadside stalls selling fossils, and even some huge dinosaur skeletons! After Erfoud the tarmac cuts through a barren, almost lunar landscape of hamada (rocky desert) before we could glimpse our first sighting of golden sand dunes in the distance. I was quite excited by this, it felt really special to know we would be camping in/on the Sahara Desert.

We followed google maps to find our campsite, but then found we could veer off the main road and track directly across the stony plain using 4×4 to save time; creating a huge dust ball behind us, as other off road vehicles did the same in every direction. We were soon in front of Erg Chebbi; the tallest dunes in the Moroccan Sahara. We had arrived, and parked up almost on the sand to take some photos. It was quite a surreal moment; espcially watching camel trains pass us carrying prople into the desert, although this was spoilt somewhat by people approaching us to sell desert trips etc.This has been quite an eye opener for us; we are constantly asked to give money/buy things, which is often quite off putting for me. Luckily Lyn has a great way of engaging with them, and being insistent on saying “no” and we have not had anybody who has taken offence yet. I guess everyone has to make a living somehow; it’s just we really dont have the space/money/desire to buy much. 

I couldn’t quite believe we were here! It had taken a lot of driving and bumping. The Sahara is quite an amazing place; around 9.2 million km squared; roughly the size of the United States, or the entire European continent. It spans 11 countries in total; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, had, Sudan and a sliver of Eritrea. It’s at least 7 million years old, but has cycled between lush savannah and arid desert every 20-25000 years due to the earth’s orbit and tilt. It’s mind blowing to think that just 10,000 years ago it was full of lakes, rivers, hippos and crocodiles!

Temperatures can reach 50 degrees celsius in the summer days and can plunge to below freezing in winter nights. In many areas less than 1 inch of rain falls per year. Some weather stations have gone decades without measurable rain. Not like home at all!

We all associate the Sahara with the mighty sand dunes, (ergs) but this only accounts for 20-25% of the desert, the rest is a mix of the hamada (rocky plateaus), reg (gravel plains), wadis (dry riverbeds), massifs (rugged mountains) and sebkhas (salt flats). Of course it was the sand dunes we had come to see, and we traisped up them yesterday evening to watch the sunset. We were not on our own in the dunes, as we could see 4x4s parked up high,  and people who obviously had the same idea as us, we the area is still so vast we could find our own little space so that it felt we were the only ones there. It was quite a special moment, sitting high up in the dunes, watching them change colour as the sand blew, with camels passing by. We stayed up there long after teh sun had disappeared,a nd the other tourists had left. This has been one of those memories I won’t forget. How lucky we are to be able to experience this.