Zagora - Sahara by Camel

To contrast the craziness of Marrakech, Krista and I headed for the peace of the desert.  Our first stop was the town of Ourzazate.  Our expectations were pretty high as we climbed up and over the High Atlas and dropped into the arid fringes of the Sahara desert.  After not laying eyes on snow for over two years, I was in awe as the bus made its way over a snowy pass before descending into the bleak landscapes of the Sahara.  On the map, Ourzazate seems to sit in an extraordinary location between the snowy mountains and the desert.  However, Ourzazate did not provide the peace and proximity to nature that we were looking for.  Turns out, Ourzazate is a big sprawling city and we quickly learned that it is difficult to escape from.  With rented bicycles, we figured we could easily get beyond the reach of the busy streets, fancy hotels, and concrete buildings.  But, a flat tire along with inadequate time kept us in the sterile urban environment longer than we pleased.  After one night in Ourzazate we merrily hopped a predawn bus further into the Sahara.  

What Ourzazate did have was an impressive kasbah.  From what I gather, a kasbah is an old mud fortress of a building in which several families used to or still do live.

By day break we reached the much calmer and smaller town of Zagora.  The calm of Zagora is apparently contagious and we were both instantly at ease knowing that we had found the type of place that we were looking for.  With its large palm oasis, encroaching desert, and low mountains, Zagora would become our base for organizing adventure further into the desert and away from civilization.  And of course, there is no better way to achieve this than by mounting a camel and bobbing with the rythmic steps of the ugly desert beast.

 

With a little time before loading on the camels, might as well hike to the top of a mountain.

The Zagora area is home to some very impressive desert landscapes.

From Zagora we were shoved into a dilapitated Mercedes mini-bus and whisked through typical desert landscapes of eroded ridges, mesas, and canyons.  After a couple of hours we reached the small village of M'Hamid where we would meet our camels, guides, and Irish family who would be accompanying us for the first night.  From there, it was down to business.  Although not my first encounter with camels, I still couldn't help but stare at the beasts and ponder their strange behaviors.  Camels have got to be one of the most entertaining animals to be around with their dopey behavior, short temper, slobbering mouth, strange noises out one end and foul smells out the other, and a tongue that appears to inflate followed by a long string of drool that mystically drifts away with the Saharan wind.  They are certainly not the most elegant of creatures, but given the circumstances, the most practical.

Silly brutes.

Our first night in the desert was spent at the base of idyllic dunes, not more than 10kms from M'Hamid but with a sense of peace and isolation as if we had just traversed the Sahara halfway to Timbuktu.  After a delicious dinner we all crowded around the fire where our guides serenated us with traditional Berber singing and drumming followed by a restful night's sleep in a tent.

Wandering the old ruined kasbah in M'Hamid.

Our camels and guide Rashid leading the way through the deep sand.

Camp at the base of the dunes.

 

Berber entertainment complete with turbans.

The following day our guide Rashid, Krista, I, and 2 camels continued further into the desert.  It was a day filled with more open desert, frigid wind, and sand penetrating every conceivable place.  Over the course of the day we essentially made a loop in the desert leading to nowhere in particular, ending up at a camp site closer to M'Hamid than we had been the previous night.  That evening as Rashid prepared dinner, I thought it a good idea that Krista and I help him out by herding the camels back to camp who had wandered off grazing.  A helpful idea, but not necessarily a good idea since both of us know next to nothing about camel handling.  As we struggled to move the stubborn brutes away from their grazing Krista was inflicted with a big slobbery chomp on the hand leaving her bleeding and in pain.  Luckily the wound did not necessitate an evacuation from the desert.  The next morning, Krista with a swollen hand, but no serious damage, we made a quick ride back to M'Hamid refreshed from a few days in the calm of the Sahara.

Sand dunes have got to be nature's greatest artwork.

Rashid and Krista joyous that camels do not carry infectious diseases.