Day 13 - Sahara Desert

At 5am our alarm went off as we needed to leave camp at 5.30am for a camel ride into the dunes to watch the sunrise. An early start but worth it in the end I was sure. It was pitch-pitch black with only the moon and stars allowing us to make out our camel silhouettes as we hopped on and made our way deeper into the desert.

We reached our designated target and our guide let us sit on a rug on top of the dune to wait for the sun as he returned to our camels and went back to sleep for a bit. It was probably one of the best experiences of our lives. We watched the dark desert light up as we saw the huge orange sun break the horizon. The silence was back and we watched as the sun got further in the sky.

It was only 7am when we arrived back to camp and instead of returning to bed, we made use of our pool once again and dried in the desert heat before breakfast. Anna and I were convinced they did their research on us - breakfast consisted of crepes and nutella, pancakes, yogurt, bread, cake, cucumber and even an egg and tomato tagine to be safe.

We were well and truly stuffed but we wanted to go sand-boarding along the dunes before it got hotter. Unfortunately, they don’t have button lifts or gondolas in the desert so we had to test our hill sprints after each run. Eventually, our legs were giving up and if was time to cool off and say goodbye to our new friends before we were on the road again.

Due to the early start, Anna and I both fell asleep during the car ride so no amazing artistic descriptions of the landscape this time. I was awake enough to see the huge number of police again today. On literally every other road, they have a checkpoint waiting to hear from a policeman who was further up the road recording your speed. No speeding in this country that’s for sure!

Today was all about being a local berber person; we received a tour of Todra Gorge and learnt how they grow food and live. Basically an insight into basic agricultural farming with irrigation ditches and big stones and water barriers. The only machinery here is a Moroccan 4x4, which at home is what we call a donkey. Basic stuff.

As we walked through the valley and up through the gorge, our guide picked us a few fresh almonds from the tree, which Anna and I threw away but pretended we loved. This just led to him picking more almonds as the day went on. We finally finished our tour at a local berber house, watching the women make rugs as we sipped tea and listened to the husband explain the processes.

We were staying in Hotel Xaluca Dades tonight in the valley and soon realised we were back to being tourists and no longer locals. A tour bus of American’s made sure they were seen and heard, that’s for sure.

Our berber experience and an early start took its toll on us today so we revelled in the fact that we could lie by the pool, use the jacuzzi and even have a few gins at the bar after dinner. I even managed to catch the end of the Tour de France!