Things to do in Morocco, Merzouga

Trip to the desert, one night in a tent in the Merzouga desert

Merzouga

I went to Morocco in February 2019 with a friend, we visited several places, and after Marrakesh, we did 3 days organised tour to Merzouga, thanks to our host in Marrakesh we found, for a nice price, the possibility of seeing the desert.

Usually, I try to avoid these organised tours because I prefer the experience to do it by myself, I think it's more authentic and also I can know better the reality of the place.

In this case, we decided to do it because the host suggested that is the safest way to go to the desert. 

Atlas mountains

The first part of the trip was on the Atlas mountains because it separates the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara desert, our destination. The word mountain in some Berber languages is Adrar or Adras, these terms are believed to be cognates of the atlas.

I was lucky to find this fog that gave a strange atmosphere to the picture: it was sunny but with the fog, there was the snow but my destination was the desert.

The highest peak of the Atlas is 4167 m tall, and it stretches around 2500 km through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The picture was taken at 2000 m elevation, and this is one of the most famous picture places in the Atlas, the street is following the shape of the mountain to allow you to cross it.

Ouarzazate

Ait Benhaddou

It is a historic fortified village between the Sahara and Marrakesh, it is considered an example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and for this, since 1987, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is considered also Moroccan Hollywood because a lot of famous movies (The Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, for example) and TV series (Games of Thrones) were shot here. I discovered this when I took this picture and, for your information, on the right, there is the big gate used for GOT.

February is "winter" also in Morocco, so this is the season the river should be full of water and in its a bigger extension, but as you can see in the picture it almost disappeared.

What I like the most is the virtual bridge: people are jumping on the stones, like kids, to cross the river, really nice to see. 

Today it is only sparsely inhabited by several families. Most local inhabitants now live in modern dwellings in the village on the other side of the river. In the picture, you can see the bridge and the village on the other side, and on the left a small shop at the bottom of the fortress, I like these shops because they are colourful. 

Dades valley

The most common thing to buy in Morocco and, especially, on the way to the desert is a keffiyeh. There are shops everywhere, also on the streets and especially in the most famous photo spots on the way to the desert. I like them because the keffiyeh is exposed outside and the wind moves them empathising with their beautiful colours.

During this trip, we spent a lot of time on the bus, and looking outside the window was a surprise every second. The landscapes were amazing, especially crossing the atlas. In the picture you can see my friend enjoying the view, I like the light from outside and the dark inside, a nice balance.

Tinghir

The morning after we continue the trip to Merzouga stopping in Tinghir, where we visited a place where carpets were made and sold, of course, this stop was mainly a tentative to sell us carpets, but anyway, it was interesting because of the hospitality of the people, I had the opportunity to learn something, and also because seeing these colourful carpets was a pleasure.

The route to the desert is amazing because of these landscapes: first, the mountains, then km after km the colours pass from the green of the plant life to the red/yellow of the desert.

In this picture I think is nice to see the village cut in half by the street, and the difference between left and right: forest/desert.

Todra Gorge

The Todra Gorges are a series of wadi near Tinerhir, the height of the canyon walls can vary, but in some places can be up to 400 m high. The last 600 m of the Todra gorge are the most spectacular, here the canyon narrows to a flat stony track, in places as little as 10 m wide, with sheer and smooth rock walls up to 160 m high on each side.

 Merzouga desert

Finally, we were at the beginning of the desert, ready to ride a camel and reach our tent where we spent the night. I was there watching the sand, dunes, and camel waiting for us and I decided to watch behind me to see how is the border, and how the desert finishes I took this picture. There was this guy with a bike, the village and this beautiful sky that I forgot, I remember it only when I saw again this picture.

We slept one night in the desert, camping in the place in the picture. It was a comfortable situation because we had tap water and a proper toilet, and tajin for dinner.

The most beautiful part was laying on the sand and watching the stars during the night, I can't describe it, it was simply wonderful, I had never seen such amount of stars, I will remember it forever. But it was impossible to stay out for long, it was really cold even inside the tent.

To reach the camp we did like 20 min camel ride, it was an experience but I regret it a bit, I felt sorry for them, probably they were going the same path, many times, every day.

I have to admit that seeing the camel's convoy walking in the desert and also seeing the traces left on the sand was romantic, like a symbol of what you left behind in your life.

Walking to the camp I heard someone screaming, I looked to my left and I saw the girls in the pictures rolling on the dune and having fun, I had to take a picture, and when I watch it again for this blog it reminds me of a nice moment, but I enjoyed also the contrast sky/sand, in a nice proportion, and the colours of the clothes.

The first thing we did after we left our stuff in the tent was to find the highest dune and climb it on the way to find the perfect spot for the sunset. When we were up we understood that wearing shoes was not a clever idea, so this picture of my friend, waiting for the sunset with her shoes on the side, makes me smile. Anyway, later when the temperature went down wearing shoes became important.

I will never forget this sunset, step by step we followed the changing of the colours: the sky from blue to yellow, pink and red, the dunes with different shades of yellow, and the clouds from white to yellow and pink. 

Funny story: when it was time to come back to the camp we tried to slide down the dune with a scarf or keffiyeh, but it didn't work, so I decided to roll down the dune and it was wonderful, but there is no documentation about it because nobody took pictures or videos.

In general, the situation there was nice, we were a nice group of people enjoying the opportunity we had, and I became friends with a Japanese guy, Shinji, living in Germany, and the amazing story about this is that we had the opportunity to meet again each other in Tokyo, and he offered me a nice dinner.