My travelling story
JJ’s Travel Adventure … Sahara Desert - Camel Trek
Rise and shine for my camel trek 7:00 am. I am well prepared to spend a night in the Sahara.
We have a group of 7 great people, which makes the trip all the better. The travel time was long but the panoramic views of the High Atlas and Ait Ben Haddou ,Ouarzazate, the Valley of Rose, and the Berber Villages within the mountains were so striking. We spent the night in a small Auberge in the Dades Gorges, listening to the river. Awoke the next day to a nice breakfast and travelled along to get to the desert, along the way this time we stopped to admire the Todra Gorges, yet another great sight.
Finally, we see the large Sand dunes in the distance as well as a herd of camels along the plains returning from their drink of water for the afternoon, and we knew we were approaching the Desert.
We arrive in Merzouga village and are met by the Nomad family that have the tents in the desert. We have a nice lunch and then we finally meet our camels. I happen to have the tallest one of them all. They are interesting animals that are extremely well behaved, you get up on them and next the Berber guide- Mobarake gives them the order to get up, it’s a bit of a teeter totter and up we go. Once all are up and ready, off we go, the guide leads the head camel and they are all linked together by rope in order to keep them from straying.
The scenery around is mesmerizing, the sand dunes are so high and the sharp edges of the sand were incredible. As we walk along just over the dunes we see the sun set…changing the colour of the sand from the bright coral to the deep brown. We arrive at our camp after an hour and half on the camels, the ride is pretty smooth, when going down hill, it feels like a lot work for the camel and you feel like it will topple over, but they make it.
The camp is just a group of tents and an area in the center for us to sit and relax and then we are served a delicious Moroccan chicken and vegetable Tangine with some bread. Just after we finish our Melon fruit desert, Mobarake and Hassan, our Berber Hosts get the bongo drums out and play for awhile and we get a chance to give it a try.
We let our dinner settle and then we all walked up to one of the dunes and listen to some desert stories from Mobarake, while admiring the clearest sky I have ever seen. You could see the milky way and every possible constellation. I saw 4 shooting stars….absolutely amazing!
Another small trek up to the top of the high dunes and we get comfortable to continue to be captivated by the night sky, I sink my toes into the sand and relax with the silence and breath in the clear fresh air. After such a wonderful day, we all turn into our nomad tents for a nice sleep on the sand and warm blankets.
Good morning Sahara Desert….5:00am, we walk to our camels and get back on for another short trek back to the village and along the way, we witness the sunset ..Wow!
This is truly a ‘must do’ experience while in Africa, and I am so glad that I did.
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Thanks for sharing your trip with us. It is great!!!!!love aunt Nay
Thank you all for your support and hoosts! Let's hope I make it as a finalist. (and for the record, the comments on here from Janene Gaffan is my mother, not me....... :))
Awesome video!
Enjoyed the vid JJ
Morocco looks wicked cool! Good luck and Happy Halloween!
your video was awsome
Was looking forward to seeing your entry. Not disappointed! Liked the pictures. Good luck with the race and hope you have a fun time with your travels.
Happy Thanksgiving! Good luck!
Hope you are still having a great time !!! :)
Hope your having a blast La La! good luck !
Hey La sorry it took so long, we're hooting for you/love aunt Na
Hoosts Hoosts !!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck,,
Nice hat J! GOOD LUCK!!
Good Luck La!
Good Luck La La!
Good Luck LaLa, I'm wagging my tail for you!
Hoosts from Bermuda!! GO JJ GO!! (PS guess who got married on Sat?)
Good Luck Janene
I gave you hoosts :)
You go girl!
you say hoosts, i say hoost, we say hoost hoost - everybody hoosts.....
Go get'em JJ...good luck!
hope I did that right...good luck!
Remember and give JJ your hoosts every day!
Good Luck JJ!!!!!!
Hey La, hope I'm doing this right too
Good Luck JJ! Love your blog and I think you would really be good at this !!!!!!! Cheers! Meeeeeeeesh:)
hope you win
I did john's too
i hope i did that right