A night in the Sahara

Well my last real post was way back and I was in Fes, Morocco just trying to figure out how to get to the Sahara.  I guess people dont normally show up in Morocco and ask around town "Ah oui, bonjour, comment ca vas, ou est la Sahara s'il vous plait?".  You get these great blank stares from people!  Since I knew nothing about the Sahara I had to start somewhere, I asked people around Fes and no one had even been to the Sahara.  A few people even told me they hated the desert and they had no idea why I even wanted to go there.  Undeterred I headed for the injernets!  Found myself a web cafe and hit google to see if I could find a tour to the Sahara.  Found one company called berber tours and they had exactly what I wanted!  Camel rides into the desert!  Awesome!  So I emailed them hoping I could go on a trip in the next couple days.  I got this reply from them:

    We cannot organize a camel trek THAT QUICKLY as camel trek are TIME CONSUMING in planning, preparation, and execution.  You DO NOT just arrive and "jump on your camel and ride off into the sunset".

    If you had given us even as little as TWO WEEKS notice, we could have arranged something for you, but as it is, I'm afraid we will not be able to help you.

Ok, thanks there berber tours, and theres no need to bust out the caps lock on my ass!  I dont even plan what I'm doing in the next two days let alone the next two weeks!  So screw berber tours, I'm going to make my own way to the sahara!   So I went to a travel agent and asked once again "I would like to go to the Sahara, can I get a ticket there".  Oh man, the looks you get from the local arabs when you ask something completely retarded!   So the closest flight u can get to the Sahara is to a town called Ouarzazate, but of course there were no flights that day or even the next day out of Fes.   However, there was a flight that day to Marrakesh...and that was sort of the in the right direction I needed to head.  So I got the flight to Marrakech, the captain came on the p.a. and told us that the it was a balmy 45 degrees in Marrakech!  I got off the plane and it was like a furnace blast of heat in your face!  Got a taxi to my hotel and asked at the reception desk again "Hi, I'd like to go to the Sahara please."  More blank stares from the reception people.  "Sir you want tour of city?"  This was going to be more difficult than I imagined......so, I went for lunch.  Went to the restaurant in the hotel, had some great moroccan tajine - lamb meat in a stew with a fried egg on top, pretty tasty actually.  I started talking with the host of the restaurant and once again asked about tours to the Sahara. 

"Sir, vy u vant to go to sahara now???  Eez summer!  Marrakech so nice, i can get u a good guide for tour of city!".  Umm, no thanks maybe later.

So I decided to walk around town in the oh so pleasant 45 degree sun!  I walked for 3 hours in the scorching heat trying to find anything that looked remotely like a tour operator, finally coming across a regular travel agent.  I went in and there was just a young guy sitting behind the desk, he was probably 20 years old.  I asked if they had tours to the sahara, and he said OUI OUI MONSIEUR DES TOURS!!!  Hmm...somehow I didnt think he understood.  Then he told me they have a southern tour through Ourarzazate and zagora!  Perfect!  I asked if I could book it.  He said he was just the phone operator and all the regular travel agents were on siesta, yes, they have a sort of siesta in Morocco.  He said to come back at 8 pm.  So I left and tried to find a taxi but none were to be found, so I walked the hour back to my hotel.  I had a nap for a few hours and awoke suddenly!  Oh shit!  I had slept too long it was 9 pm!  Oh nooooo!!!!  I was able to grab a taxi back to the travel agent and it was closed!  Noooo!  Went back to my hotel, went to sleep, woke up early the next day and was stoked to go to the travel agent and book my trip to the sahara!  Couldnt find a taxi so I had to walk again in the unbearable heat.  It was 8 am and already 40 degrees!  Got to the travel agent, spoke with one of the actual travel agents, yes they had sahara tours, and how many people was I with?  I'm just by myself I told them.  Oh sorry she said, our tours are for 4 people or more.  You've got to be kidding me!  I asked if I could pay more and she said it might be possible.  She said I probably could have gone on the tour that left this morning!  Oh no!  Please dont tell me that!!!  She said the next tour was leaving 4 days from now....just great!  What am I supposed to do in Marrakech for 4 days???  Oh and the tour wasnt even assured of going since at that moment there were exactly zero people booked for the tour.  She said the tour wouldnt go unless 4 or more were to be booked.  Basically I was shit outta luck!  Oh man I was bummed out.  I went outside and some random weirdo approached me about him taking me on a tour and was all in my face and he smelled so horrible...and he wouldnt leave me alone!!!!  I walked for a good 10 minutes with him following me...  Ah yes, another Morocco low point had been reached.

  I didnt want to waste the rest of the day so I went back to my hotel and asked if they had reliable guides for city tours.  They said they did and my guide showed up about an hour later, off the bat, I told him, this tour is not about me buying anything, I'm not interested in buying carpets or trinkets or souvenirs, and is this ok?  He looked pissed!  He said how can I come to Morocco without buying anything?  He said I definitely need something to bring back to my family.  Oh here we go..so we went on the tour and pretty much the entire tour through the medina he took me to all his buddies little shops at which point they tried to convince me to buy SOMETHING.







 

There were lots of amazing crafts but honestly I just dont buy stuff when I'm backpacking because, umm, I ONLY HAVE A BACKPACK!  I wish this would translate into arabic properly.  I tried telling them I had no home, no apartment, I had no girlfriend, no place to put things, no way to transport things.  They have answers for EVERYTHING.  We can ship.  Youll get a girlfriend one day.  Youll have a home.  Youll get married.  Youll need this trinket for your home.  Yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah. 

Anyways, went back to my hotel room and tried to figure out a way to get to the Sahara.....  Then I looked out my window and saw what looked like somewhat of a fancy hotel.  Ah hell, maybe someone in there knows about tours to the Sahara.  So I walked across the street and went into the Sofitel, it was actually a very nice 5 star hotel.  I walked up to the concierce desk and once again...asked about tours to the sahara, through ouarzazate and zagora.  He asked how many people I was with, I told him I was alone and he said, Sorry sir, not possible with one person.  Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh well, I tried...I guess I'll try somewhere else.....  I asked if he knew of someone I could ask about the Sahara.  He asked, WHY YOU WANT TO GO TO SAHARA?  Here we go again...I told him that I really enjoy scorching heat, scropions and would like to hang out with some camels.  He laughed at that, then he said he might be able to organize something.  Alright!  He got on the phone for about 5 minutes, then he said, ok, I can organize a trip from Marrakesh to Ouarazazate then to Zagora then a camel ride into the desert, stay overnight with the berber tribesman in a tent, return the next day to Marrakesh.  How does that sound?  That sounds f*ckin fantastic!  Awesome!  So in about 5 minutes, Sharif, the concierce had accomplished what I had been trying to accomplish for 2 days.  If only I spoke arabic!!!!!!!! 

Woke up early the next day, paid for my hotel, went outside and my guide Sayeet was waiting for me in a grey 4x4 Land cruiser.  Sick!  We had a spectacular drive through the Atlas mountains.  This is me not holding the camera straight, again.



Ate lunch in a funky little restaurant, had a great salad, and tajine, this time it was lemon chicken tajine.  After lunch Sayeet said I should walk around and check out a bit of the medina.  I snapped these shots:

Just outside of Ouarzazate, we stopped at a famous Kasbah that had been used in a number of movies including lawrence of arabia and gladiator!





Then we drove for hours and hours...I kept wondering...like a dumb tourist...when am I going to see the big sand dunes???  It was looking very desert-like but I wanted dunes!  I asked Sayeet and he said, yes, you will see some dunes.  Uh oh...why did he say SOME dunes????  I spent the next few hours thinking about that.  You see, Sayeet didnt speak very much english and my arabic isnt all that hot so we didnt have much conversation for the hours and hours we spent driving to Zagora.  Over every hill, around every corner, I was hoping for DUNES!  Then I saw a sign for Zagora...60km...ok cool...the sand dunes are probably around there.  We kept getting closer and closer to Zagora and I was seeing more and more PALM TREES!  I started hating palm trees!  I wanted less palm trees!   I want desert!  I wanted sand!  I didnt want palm trees!!!!  hahahahah.  Its funny what you want when you travel.  So we arrived in Zagora and we got out at a look out point and Sayeet told me that Zagora was in fact in a valley with the largest Date Palm plantation in MOROCCO!!!!!!!  NOOOOO!!!!  Ok...well maybe when I go on my camel ride I'll get to see desert! 

We arrived at the camel tours location and I talked with one of the workers about what was planned for the camel ride, he said, you will travel for a few hours into the desert, where you will stay overnight with some berber tribesman, you will have dinner, then you will return in the morning.  huh?  Only a few hours, but how far is the Sahara?  Sir you are on the edge of the Sahara now.  Ohhhhhh ok.  Then I was treated to another tour through a gift shop!  Yippee!  Then I was treated to a viewing of every carpet they were selling!  Then once again...why dont u want carpet?  They are so nice.  You can hang them on your wall.  You give to your girlfriend.  Oh, no girlfriend?  How come?  Yah I dont really know...

Waited around for 2 hours because it was still too hot to take the camels out.  What?  Too hot for camels?????  I thought camels were the desert animal!  They can survive for days without eating or drinking they can go for hundreds of kilometeres without stopping!  Ummm, apparently these camels were not those sort of camels.  Finally my camel showed up with my sahara guide!  It was a big white nasty lookin animal!  Right away the guide grabbed my bag, chucked it into the sachels on the side of the camel, then he shook my hand very forcefully said JE SUIS ADDIS, then he made a motion for me to get on...whoa, after all this time, I was finally going on a camel ride into the desert!  The guide made a click click sound and the camel stood up really quickly..I almost bailed off the side!  I had no idea how camels stood up, its quite an awkward movement, you get jerked forward, then you get jerked backward, and then the camel is standing up and all of a sudden youre 7 feet in the air.  We started walking out of town, just my camel, my guide and me.  I decided to name my camel the most un-arabic name I could think of...so I called him STEVE.  Steve the camel was a smelly bastard who made wretched noises every 15 minutes or so.

STEVE THE CAMEL.

We walked for about an hour and I started to calm down.  It was cooling down, probably only about 38 degrees, and there was a gentle breeze blowing now, the sun was going down and it was very peaceful.  The only noise that could be heard was the crunch crunch of the camels feet on the sand.  We walked for another hour and stopped at a small black tent and Addis who up til this point had said 2 things to me "CA VAS?" to which I responded. "OUI".  He made the click click sound and I was again jerked forward and backward and then the camel was sitting down.  My guide pointed at the black tent and said "MES AMIS".





We sat down with them and one of them asked "berber whiskey?"  I said ok....they poured me a glass, and I had a sip and they all laughed, as I realized, that it was just mint tea, you see, the berbers are also muslim, which means they dont drink alcohol.  We had a chat in broken french, I told them I was from canada to which I got the response "tres froids!".  Oui, tres froids!  We sat and watched the sun go down and we laughed at their goofy cat and I felt at ease with these berber tribesmen.  For the first time since arriving in Morocco I felt peaceful.  We had a few more cups of tea then we took some photos and said our goodbyes.

I got back on my camel and we continued walking into the desert.  We walked for a few more hours and I saw my first dune!  It was rather small but it was a dune in the sahara!!!  Fantastic!!!!

 

Way off into the distance I could see small dark tents, which I assumed was the camp.  A little while later we arrived at the tents and another berber tribesman came out to greet us.  Addis grabbed my bag and walked me to my tent, basically a large open area with carpets and pillows and covered areas off to the sides.  Then Addis left to prepare dinner while the other berber tribesman had tea with me.

   

After having tea I went and sat on the top of a dune and watched the stars come out.

An hour went by and a  full moon appeared from behind the mountains.  I was feeling as peaceful as I've ever been in my life.....

Then all of a sudden I started feeling dizzy and my stomach started to hurt...and then I puked up that berber whiskey all over the sand dune!!!!!!!!!!!!  HAHAHAHAHAH 

After puking I felt a little better.  I wiped my mouth and let out a fantastic roaring laugh, this is what travelling is all about!!!!!!!!!!!  I went back to my tent, drank a bunch of water at which point I realized, oh shit, I better save this water, I only brought one large bottle!  Idiot tourist!  Who brings one bottle of water to the desert?????

Another hour went by and Addis returned with a huge salad made up of green and red peppers, olives and TONS of onions and there was nothing to drink!!!!  Aaahhh!  Must ration water must ration water!  Then Addis brought out a huge plate of chicken tajine with potatoes and carrots that was extremely salty!!!!  Uh oh.  I could only make it half way through the plate of tajine before having two huge gulps of water which now left just one third of the bottle of water for the night and trip back the next day!

After dinner it was time for some berber entertainment.  Addis and the other berber brought out drums and a couple small pieces of metal which they clacked together and started singing and chanting in berber.  It was fantastic.  They sang and laughed until late into the night.

Then I went to sleep under a full a moon and the brightest stars I've ever seen in my life...

I woke up very early, and took a seat on a different sand dune and watched the sun rise over the Sahara...

Had a breakfast of bread and jams and a small amount of berber whiskey then we were off headed back to Zagora.

Then I got in the land cruiser with Sayeet and headed back to Marrakesh.

And yes, half the fun is just getting there.

Comments

[JON]

I deleted all the comments...

Hey, it's my blog.

[Moniqua]

Hey Joniqua

Sorry I'm kinda delayed in reading your stuff. Been quite busy. Just wanted to say... livin' it through you man! What a great trip so far! I've always wanted to travel the desert, and I guess now I have!

Stay safe! We miss you! :)

[Moniqua]

Oh.. and fantastic photos!!! As usual ;)

[sharon]

HI just read your review of the sarah desert..I am planning a trip in January..Would you recomend the trip to the desert? Also how much did that private trip cost to the desert?...thanks ....any info is appreciated

[Mimi]

Have to say this is the funniest blog I've ever read. Dreaming of my trip to Sahara in November while I'm sitting in office at central London.
Was planning to join a group tour but now...maybe better to make my own way there?
BTW. how much did u pay for that tour?
Cheers!
Happy travelling.
Mimi