We are on a pretty strict budget for this trip, and have
been careful not to splurge on too many "extras" during our time. We assumed that we would get to ride camels
in the desert in Morocco – but didn’t realize that in order to do that, you had
to go far from the bigger cities (Marrakesh, Casablanca, Fez, Rabat) and take a
couple of days to journey into the south-eastern part of the country. Getting into Merzouga (near the dunes) is a
trek – so we ended up booking a splurge – a 4 day/3 night trek that would take
us from Marrakesh to Fez with a LOT of driving, but also a camel ride and night
in a Berber tent in the desert for our last night there. It was worth every
extra penny we spent!
Our first two days were spent driving to Merzouga through the High Atlas mountains (curvy roads – they film those crazy car commercials there) and stopping at occasional casbahs and other sites along the way. Casbahs are pretty cool to see – but hard to explain. They are like mini-fortresses that Moroccans (mostly the Berber tribe) used as stopping points during caravan trips from the south to the north of the country. They are distinguished by their four towers – one on each corner, where apparently the high priest of each casbah kept his four wives and family. Multiple casbahs together can be called a K’sar. (Editors note: I gleaned this info from Mohammed, our driver/ guide. His English was good, but lacking enough for some trouble communicating at times. Sometimes we spoke in Spanish. Lots of the facts here could be totally wrong but it is what we think he said!!). One of our favorites was the casbah where Gladiator was filmed. In all honesty, once you have seen a couple of casbahs – that is enough. Kasbahs look like giant sandcastles - amazing up close!
Very cool and interesting inside (getting a guide to show you the specific one is important – we learned a lot about what went on in each room, what the tools there were used for, etc), but all pretty similar at the end of the day.
Our first two days were spent driving to Merzouga through the High Atlas mountains (curvy roads – they film those crazy car commercials there) and stopping at occasional casbahs and other sites along the way. Casbahs are pretty cool to see – but hard to explain. They are like mini-fortresses that Moroccans (mostly the Berber tribe) used as stopping points during caravan trips from the south to the north of the country. They are distinguished by their four towers – one on each corner, where apparently the high priest of each casbah kept his four wives and family. Multiple casbahs together can be called a K’sar. (Editors note: I gleaned this info from Mohammed, our driver/ guide. His English was good, but lacking enough for some trouble communicating at times. Sometimes we spoke in Spanish. Lots of the facts here could be totally wrong but it is what we think he said!!). One of our favorites was the casbah where Gladiator was filmed. In all honesty, once you have seen a couple of casbahs – that is enough. Kasbahs look like giant sandcastles - amazing up close!
Very cool and interesting inside (getting a guide to show you the specific one is important – we learned a lot about what went on in each room, what the tools there were used for, etc), but all pretty similar at the end of the day.
 |
| Near a Kasbah - but I just loved the horse running thru the soccer field! |
Our 3rd day, however, was what we were waiting for. We arrived in Merzouga for lunch and left our stuff at the hotel that the tour guide runs. The kids spent some time playing and wrestling in the dunes – the sand was impossibly soft, like powder, but moving through it is no easy feat.
We packed a small bag with toiletries, and were off on our camels to spend a night in a bivouac – a group of traditional nomadic Berber tents in the desert. I’m not going to glamorize riding on a camel. It is fun for about 30 minutes, and then it hurts! Brian and I both have soft spots for camels – our alma mater, Connecticut College has the camel as its mascot – but we have no delusions of getting up on a dromedary again. Getting up and down is a bit of a test, but the bump-bump-bump gets old quickly, and leg cramps and sore butts (and groins I was told by the boys in my family) are par for the course. But it was also fabulous to be sitting up there riding through the vast Sahara, where (besides the constant talk from my kids about which camel was pooping at any given moment) the silence was astounding and the dunes seemed to go on forever. It would be impossible not to be awed by our surroundings.
After arriving at our bivouac (not long before dark), our guides pointed to the largest dune around and told us to climb it so we could watch the sunset. “No problem,” we thought. After all, we have climbed more stairs than I can count, hiked up some ridiculously steep hills, walked hundreds of miles, and have challenged ourselves physically numerous times on this trip. Ha! This one kicked our butts. And not just mine (although by far mine the most). Even Luke, who ran a 10k completely UPHILL last summer, thought it was tough. The sand makes moving up tough, and this thing went on forever. I persevered more than I thought I could however (one of my proudest moments on the trip), and made it just in time to have the sun already set behind us. But my kids cheered and that was pretty cool, too.
We started our descent down the dune, where we were met at the bottom by our camel wrangling guide, Mustafa, because it was already really dark and getting darker by the second, to make sure we made it back to the bivouac safely. Once we arrived, we realized we weren’t alone – there were about 10 other tourists there as well. And amazingly, a few were Americans! We haven’t seen/talked to other American tourists pretty much our whole trip – so we were excited (and one guy had heard of San Mateo because his friend lived nearby – super thrilling for the kids!). There was also a woman who works in the London office of Willis (Brian’s employer) – we loved the “small worldness” that we hadn’t experienced in a while.
After a delicious, overly generous dinner, we all headed outside while the Berber guides lit a fire and played the drums for us.
The kids pulled out the soccer ball that goes everywhere with us, and some of the guides played soccer for a while the others kept us entertained with the music. It was a terrific evening – and we had no trouble passing out early in our tents. Waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I was astounded by the complete silence and darkness out there.
The kids pulled out the soccer ball that goes everywhere with us, and some of the guides played soccer for a while the others kept us entertained with the music. It was a terrific evening – and we had no trouble passing out early in our tents. Waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I was astounded by the complete silence and darkness out there.
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