Frankie's Travels Day 5 - and finally, the Sahara desert

The terrain to the desert was flat and hard and sandy and dark brown.... And bone jarring bumpy.
But in the distance was the red sand dunes of the Sahara desert.

We travelled for about half an hour across the sand after turning off the tar road and arrived right up at the dunes in a place called Merzouga. (40km from the Algerian border)

Then we took cameras and mounted camels and rode off into the dunes to see the sunset.

The desert is a quiet place and our ride was only disturbed by the soft crunchy sound of the camels feet on the sand and the occasional prolonged camel snort.

After 40 minutes of side to side riding camel we stopped and climbed the dunes. While waiting for the sun to sink we took a few leaping in the air shots. (crouch, say go, then Jump!... Don't forget to smile)

The sunset glided below the horizon in blues and purples and yellows and oranges and pinks. And after plenty more group photo's we mounted camels again and turned back to the desert hotel.

We are sleeping in Berber tents tonight on mattresses on the ground under a tent of Berber carpets. It's going to be cold but a very unique experience. (well cold outside of the three thick blankets and the piled on sleeping clothes)

The desert is peaceful and the stars are bright and the spirits in the group are high and this night may go down as one of my high points of the tour.

The friendly Berber people are handing out mint tea and peanuts while we sit around a fire. Buffet dinner later. Mmmmm.

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - the Ziz valley

The grass and shrubs have given up almost completely and the terrain is covered in steep hillsides and huge boulders and sheer cliffs of layered sheets of rock. This is the Ziz valley.

I think this scenery is really beautiful in an earthy kind of way... It is in stark contrast with the clear blue skies and it feels very remote out here.

And then occasional water source location pops up along with the palm trees and castle looking buildings - exactly like how I imagine an oasis.

From the crowded narrow streets of Fes yesterday, this wide open space is a refreshing change and I think any trip to Morocco would not be complete without experiencing both.

And now after all my dramatic poetic speech... We turn a corner and there is a huge dam ahead of us. This dam is used to generate hydropower and irrigated the valley. The rocky steep hillsides with sparse vegetation remain but the dam is a big wet blue contradiction to my "we're in the middle of nowhere" descriptions. The scenery is still pretty good for staring at tho...

After lunch we made our final stop off before the last stretch of driving into the desert where we will be camping. We stopped off at a look out point 250km from the (closed) border with Algeria. The look out point looks over a green date palm rich section of the Ziz valley. There are 1.5 million date trees in the valley And both male and female plants. The Ziz valley is famous for dates. There are many many different kinds of dates from here.

The architecture is Berber style with square windows and minarets and the people are traditional with large extended family groups residing together and the women dressed conservatively with everything covered except one eye. They are garbed in black from head to toe because black is not see through and so preserves modesty however their clothes are not without self expression. The head scarves are embroidered and fringed in multicolours. Different colour trousers peek out above different fashion shoes. The fashion, it seems, is yellow slippers.

Next stop: Desert camp for sunset! (by an amusing co-incidence, the reading book I have with me is Dune)

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - Desert wandering

As our white bus rolls on through these dry places, the passing scenery seems pretty much the same. Scrubby bush, rocky outcrops, sandy hillsides, goats and sheep and donkeys and mules and squat flat houses made from bricks of sand, hay and water (so the tour leader says)

The road route seems to be matched by a winding river grey sand. The desert sand is red and brown but the "river" is filled with grey gravel. How curious...

We have been driving in a southerly direction all morning. I have been sitting on thwarted east facing side of the bus. I am going to have on sunburned side of face... Oh Joy.

We have passed several pointers to caravan holiday resorts. I am sure it is a different style of caravan they refer to but I am struck by the amusing idea of my family having a caravan holiday like old days in the Moroccan desert... Wait a minute That would actually be kinda fun... If we could take the heat.

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - the other side of the mountains.

On the other side of the Middle Atlas it is not green at all. Finally we are at the desert (however not the Sahara yet...) The ground is stoney and dotted with small scrubby bushes and woolly sheep,

Yes I did take photos of the sheep and it is a good shot.

Now I want pictures of some wild camels in the veld. Funny story: when I arrived at the airport in Marrakech and was driving to the hotel I saw some camels "parked" on the side of the road like motorbikes. Haven't seen any camels since. There is however an optional camel ride in our programme. I will start flexing and exercising my thigh muscles in preparation for hanging on for dear life...

The town we passed through has a wide main road through the middle and flat fronted shops and buildings. It reminds me just a little of Western movies... More cactus required methinks... And chaps and cowboy hats instead of head scarves and djellaba's.

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - Snow on the mountains

We must be passing over the top of the Middle Atlas Mountains because there is snow in the hillsides we are passing. Not a lot of snow just enough that the scenery looks like chocolate cake dusted with icing sugar. The road is winding around the hills allowing everyone a good view at times.

The hillsides are rocky and some of the rocks are big enough and scattered in such a way that you can't tell the difference between the sheep and the rocks. (the sheep are also a dirty brown color which aids their camouflage).

Is it an odd contradiction that the only Canadian in the group is the one that is snapping lots of pictures of the snowy slopes?

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - Monkeys in Cedar trees

We stopped off on the side off the road to look at some monkeys in the Cedar trees.

The place where stopped seems to be a popular place for tourists to stop for the monkeys. In typical tourist fashion everyone was feeding the monkeys to get them to come closer for better photos. In my experience of wild animals this is not the best idea because it stops the animals from feeding for themselves and makes them really aggressive. So I did not give any food.

I did however walk a little away and I found two monkeys cleaning each others fur. Pick pick nibble nibble pick pick.

The monkeys have super thick fur and no tails and are kinda cute in a They-look-almost-human way... Until they started climbing on peoples backs. Then you realise they are wild animals.

Back on the road we see a few remaining snow drifts and I realise how cold it is. In true Frankie travelling style, this is the one day when I haven't packed on the layers and my legs and feet are turning Icy... Hopefully the bus driver will be kind and let me retrieve my suitcase to take out some stockings and a warm woolen hat (knitted by my grandmother).

Frankie's Travels Day 5 - Ifrane

This town is called Moroccan Switzerland. I can understand why. It is green and the air is clean and it is up in the mountains. (and it's pretty lettuce-crisp cold) The houses even have the traditional sloped roofs with the gable windows in the roof. Apparently it snows here so this is a popular ski destination too. Many people have summer and winter holiday homes here. Are you getting the Switzerland metaphor yet?

There is a big stone lion in the centre of the town so we stopped off for photos and to stretch our legs. the line for the loo was too long so we're leaving now. Driving out of the town we can see the start of the Cedar forests as we cross the Middle Atlas mountains...