Adventures in the Sand

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Yesterday we drove from Fez down to a Bivovac at the edge of the Sahara desert with our guide, Mark. Mark is a Briton who moved to Morocco ten years ago. His east manner and Enlish wit have made the long drive easier to manage. It was quite a drive. It took us over nine hours to get there.
Along the way we had to take a rather extended detour because the police has closed the main road for the King, who was going to drive through with his entourage later in the day. Since the King can sometimes take his time about eating his breakfast, the road might have been closed for hours. We took a road that dipped further to the south and added about an hour to the trip, but it was better than waiting two hours for the main road to open. We drove through the middle and lower Atlas mountains. They are rocky, rugged, and quite beautiful. The scenery was nice.

We arrived at the bivovac at about 7:30 in the evening, with just enough light left to get settled in to our tent. A bivovac, by the way, is essentially a desert camp consisting of several tents made out of camel hair blankets. There was a large central tent for meals, and about ten separate ones for rooms. The propriator was very proud to show us the last tent- real toilets with running water! We later learned that he carries a huge water tank back and forth to town to create the convenience for his guests. There were several shiny copper kettles hung on wrought iron mirror stands to serve as vanities. All the walkways were laid with thick blankets, and the low tabels were set with comfy pillow chairs. The light was entirely from a campfire and many ornate brass lanterns.
Unfortunately, we were not able to see the sunset because it was a bit cloudy and dusty on the horizon. Later, we found out why. We had some wine and tagine, a local dish, for dinner and got ready for bed. The quality of the food was surprising - the propriator goes to great legths to provide gourmet meals.
Just as we were about to settle in, the wind picked up, and a sandstorm blew in that lasted the entire night. The sandstorms in the desert are just as bad as you see in the movies. The dust gets in your eyes and you can't see. Anna was returning from the bathroom tents when it came in and she got turned around on the way back. If I hadn't come out of our tent just then with a flashlight, she may not have found the tent. The wind blew all night, and even though the tent was held up by thick wooden beams, there were several times when we thought that the entire tent might come down around us. Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.

(Above is the tent in the morning after the storm, notice the huge drift)

We got up at at around 4:30 am for a sunrise camel ride into the desert. The wind had died down a bit, but it was still blowing. We rode out with a guide for about a half hour and climbed a sand dune for the sunrise. It was still hazy, but it was nice to sit and take the desert in.

(Perspective is from on the camel's back)
It is a beautiful place. I've always thought of the desert as a giant sandbox, but the reality is much more majestic. In the picture above, the dunes off in the distance are over 900 feet high. They are some of the largest in the world. The smaller dunes in the forgeound look much like waves in the ocean. Mark likened the walking motion of a camel to the bobbing of a ship on waves, adding to the metaphor of an ocean of sand. When you consider that you would be able to fit all the other deserts in the world into the Sahara, with room to spare, you begin to understand the scale of this place.


(By the way, that metal saddle is exactly as comfortable as it looks).
We returned to the tents for breakfast. Nearby we saw several dung beetles, also known as scarabs. You see them often in ancient Egyptian art. They are quite industrious with no lack of material to use with all the camels around.

We are now on our way to Marrakesh, and then on to Rome Italy. Morocco was good to us. We had a bit of a rough start in Fez, but it was worth it for the chance to walk barefoot in the Sahara. - Scott