after marrakech, we drove seven hours to the edge of the sahara desert! first, we had to cross the atlas mountain range, which is snow covered year round! there is even a ski resort near marrakech. east of the atlas range, we stopped at a famous deserted town called ait ben haddou, which has been abandoned by locals for over a century but has recently been a movie set for many films including the jesus movie and gladiator. it is composed of mud-built houses built on a hill, and is a very fun place to explore for an hour or so.
our destination on the edge of the sahara was a small town called merzouga, which sits beside an area of massive sand dunes. contrary to what i had thought, much of the sahara desert – at least the northwest part of it – is more rocks and mountains than sand. but there are areas of sand that develop where the wind blows right. we stayed at a desert hotel called ksar bicha, which while being rustic was actually really nice and great value. after one night there, we headed out into the dunes on camels for a night in the desert! definitely the highlight of the trip. it was about an hour-long camel ride to a desert camp they had set up; we had a berber guide and were with one other couple from germany. once we got to the camp, we hiked up the largest dune (which took about 45 minutes), and watched the sunset. amazing. then the guide made us dinner and played some traditional berber songs on the drums while i danced, and the rest of the group watched, lol! it was fun. we then played some cards games which didn’t require any verbal communication before sleeping in some little tents and riding the camels back to the hotel in the morning. an amazing experience in the sahara!
