Sahara Tour!!
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2009
1
41
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Merzouga, Morocco
Monday, December 14, 2009
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Monday got picked up at 7am for Sahara tour with Bert, Janet, Katherine, Sean and Amanda.
Mustafa our guide was really cool.
Spectacular views as we drove into and through the Atlas Mountains.
Visited Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah where they filmed Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and a bunch of other films. There is still a lot of memorabilia and pieces of the Gladiator set that the town hangs onto and the owner of a house we visited was an extra in the movie and we sat in the cave in his house used as the gladiator cave in the movie whilst he showed us mementos he had and played us the drums and tried to get us to join in.
Stopped in the Valley of Roses and Todgha Valley and stayed overnight in a hotel with no heating where temperature inside the room was about the same as outside. Good preparation for the desert tomorrow night though I guess :)
Tuesday saw Dades Gorge and then rode camels from just outside of Merzouga into the Sahara Desert as the sun was setting behind us.
Stayed overnight in a Berber camp. Freezing cold, but the stars in the sky were amazing.
Literally a blanket of stars across the whole sky with more than than I had ever seen - large bright ones and tiny glowing ones that made the whole night sky luminescent.
This was the highlight of my whole time in Morocco and the last 4 months in total.
Sat around fire in the camp listening to the Berbers drumming and singing whilst they tried to get everyone to dance and drum as well.
Wednesday up at 5:30 to ride the camels back to civilisation and drive the 700km back to Marrakech.
Was and awesome tour. A bit too much time sitting in the van, but with so much ground to cover in the short space of time it was unavoidable I guess. Plus the night in the desert makes it all worth it!
Stayed in Riad Massin 2 for 1 night which is within the souk as Massin 1 was full. Back at Massin 1 tomorrow night
