My main reason for heading to Morocco, and flying into Marrakech, was so that I could visit the Sahara Desert.
Wherever you go in Marrakech you’ll find hundreds of tour operators offering desert tours ranging from 1 to 3 nights and the abundance of options can be a little overwhelming.
I decided to book through my hostel as the thought of bargaining with Moroccan men scared me the prices they offered were similar to those I found online. I went with the 2 night option and paid $70 in total.
So what’s the difference between the tours?
The one night tour is for people who have a limited amount of time to see the desert. You visit the Zagora sand dunes which, in the words of my hostel owner, is kind of crap with lots of rocks and mountains. The two night tour takes you to the Erg Chebbi dunes – the amazing ones I showcased in my photo post. The three night tour took you to both Zagora and Erg Chebbi, and, well, I didn’t see too much point in wasting a day going to the rubbish dunes when I could see the amazing ones!
However, what I naively didn’t realise when I booked the tour was that the Sahara Desert is really far away.
Like, two days of driving far away.
Like, two days of driving on one of the most dangerous roads in the world.
So, the first couple of days were filled with mostly uninteresting stops and reminded me just how much I dislike being on group tours. When I travel, I love being able to do exactly what I want when I want (which, granted, isn’t an awful lot) and group tours leave me feeling frustrated at being told where to go and what to do.
We visited quite a few Berber villages, the first of which was incredible to see, even though it was very touristy. When we visited five more that were identical to the first, I was beginning to get weary. I just wanted to get to the bloody desert!
We were even allowed to spend two whole hours at the, erm, extremely small cinema museum of Ouarzazate.
After a very long and very tiring day of over 10 hours of driving we finally reached our hotel for the night, where I nearly passed out at the excitement of having wifi in the almost-desert.
And then I actually passed out from exhaustion.
The second day began at a horrifically early hour but today, I wasn’t complaining.
Today, I was finally going to see the Sahara Desert!
However, as always, the day’s driving wouldn’t be complete without visiting even more Berber villages. These ones were slightly more interesting – dry, dusty mountains, massive gorges, spectacular waterfalls, and lush green valleys, which looked wildly out of place in the middle of the desert.
And then it was time for the final drive.
Over the next two hours, I watched the surrounding landscape get flatter and flatter, the rocks get smaller and smaller and the sand get oranger and oranger (is oranger a word? Probably not).
And then, at 6pm, we finally arrived.
I was finally in the Sahara Desert and it was all I could do to keep from crying with happiness.
It was so, so, so magical. I’d never seen sand so orange, never seen so much sand before in my life. I loved it!
We were greeted by our Berber guides for the desert and taken over to meet our camels.
This was the moment I had been dreading.
Knowing the ridiculous things that always seem to happen to me, I knew that there was no way I’d be able to successfully ride a camel without having a near-death experience.
Which is why I was completely astonished to find myself gracefully hopping on top of the camel with perfect poise and courage, and not freaking out.
Hey, I’m good at camel riding!
For the next two hours we rode deeper into the desert. I soon realised that although riding a camel on flat surfaces is a piece of cake, going up and down sand dunes is an absolute nightmare.
I can’t even begin to explain just how uncomfortable it is.
You see, when you’re sat on a camel and start going down the steep edge of a sand dune, every step it takes drops its feet instantly about half a metre into the sand.
And to climb up a sand dune camels do some some sort of strange gallop that had my metal handle bashing into my ribs and camera as I fought to stay upright.
With just a one metre rope connecting the camels together, it meant that we were constantly bumping into each other with camels tripping all over the place and me screaming that I was about to get eaten.
This was a lot harder than it looked.
There were a few moments of relief, however. The first of these when we dismounted to watch the sunset.
Our guides motioned towards the largest sand dune, at least 100 metres high, and we soon realised that we were going to have to climb it! It took at least 15 minutes to reach the top and I quite often felt like I was literally taking one step forward and two steps back!
It was absolutely worth it though, as the view at sunset was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
An hour of more camel riding later and we reached our camp for the night. Our evening was spent eating chicken tagine, listening to our guides play Berber music as we danced around the campfire, and racing each other up the sand dunes until we were too exhausted to move.
Of course, we all wanted to sleep under the stars that night and so we dragged our mattresses out of the tents and onto the desert sand.
Having spent my entire life in polluted London, I always pee myself with excitement when I go somewhere without light pollution and can actually see the stars for once.
And these stars were incredible. With zero light pollution, you could see the Milky Way over the sand dunes and I was completely transfixed.
So. Many. Stars.
Once the campfire had been extinguished, we all settled down into bed and it was at this point when I felt an entirely new and unexpected sensation.
Cold.
It was absolutely freezing and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, with just a thin sheet to cover me. I was not going to be getting much sleep tonight, but for once I didn’t mind.
I lay awake for much of the night and saw more shooting stars than I thought possible, and before I knew it it was 5am and it was time to hike up another sand dune to watch the sunrise.
The sunrise was just as spectacular as the sunset from the night before. There was something so peaceful and relaxing about watching the sun rise over a landscape that had no buildings or people in sight. There was nothing but sand stretching out in every direction, fading out into what seemed like infinity.
We dejectedly traipsed back down the sand dune to our waiting camels and eased ourselves back on, grimacing at our rapidly appearing aches and pains from the previous days riding.
It wasn’t going to be a gentle ride back.
Two hours later and, sadly, it was time to leave.
As I’ve said a million times before, the Sahara Desert has been the highlight of, well, my entire life. It is the best thing I’ve ever done and has kick-started my new-found obsession for deserts.
I can’t wait to return…
Posted by .
In July 2011 I left England for what was supposed to be a one year trip around the world. Within a few months of leaving I knew that a year would never be enough. I now work online and travel permanently, seeking misadventures in unique, beautiful and fascinating places. Read more.
I'm here to show you how not to travel. Since I've been on the road I've been "poked" during a massage in Bangkok, punched a scammer in Shanghai, been attacked by monkeys in Bali, sat next to a dead woman on a boat in Laos and so much more. I call these The Incidents and you can see a full list of them here.
Wow… You were actually able to capture the stars w/ your camera! No easy task. Surprised you had shorts on, was the ride rough on your legs? The camel safari Q & I did through the Thar desert felt just as special, except for the fact that India recently installed power windmills that really was a distraction from the desert.
Gerard ~ GQ trippin recently posted..Our Ryokan Experience at Tanabe
It may have taken me about 382 photos to finally get a decent star shot!
The ride was fine because there were plenty of blankets over the saddle… But yes, it was a stupid decision because it was so bloody cold!
Ah, aren’t deserts the most amazing thing in the world?!
This is SUCH an amazing experience- seriously so jealous! I’d love to do this one day. SOON!
Melissa recently posted..Eurotrip 2012: Naples, Italy
I hope you get to, Melissa! It’s a truly incredible experience :)
Truly amazing !!! Your writing is incredible !! Im so addicted to reading your adventures .. Its the first thing i do in the morning and the last thing i do at night … Seriously !! Better than any book out there ! I cant thank u enough for sharing all of this !! Keep travelling and keep blogging .. You are living millions of ppls dreams :):):
Xxxx
Haha, thanks, Sarah :)
Beautiful pictures! I begged my friends to book a trip, but once we began researching how to spend our short three days, we only go to some of the Berber villages in the mountain. It was my best travel karma – we accepted an offer for tea and squeezed a few nearly free meals and a donkey ride out of it! http://sunshineandsiestas.com/2010/01/19/marrakesh-a-character-study/
Will you be close at all to Seville, or are you even coming to Spain?
Cat recently posted..Postcards from Chicago
Thanks, Cat! That sounds like an awesome experience – I want to ride on a donkey! :)
I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Spain this time around, but hopefully next time I’m in the area :)
This really DOES sound incredible, Lauren! Wow. I really really want to do this someday!
Amanda recently posted..My Love Affair With Clouds
Ah, you’d love it, Amanda! :D
Thank you so much for sharing this. I wanted to see the actual Sahara too. We did see some on our drive from Alexandria to Cairo, but nothing like this. This is awesome. Thanks again. You have a wonderful site and I hope lots of people come to experience the Sahara like you.
Debbie Kelly recently posted..Valley of Fire in Nevada vacation
Thank you so much, Debbie! I believe everyone should get to experience the Sahara in their lifetime :)
Great pictures of the stunning desert! I would love to stay overnight in the desert too.
DebbZie recently posted..Indonesia: A Month of Festive
Thanks Debby! :) I hope you get to soon!
I majorly LOLd at you screaming that you were going to get eaten by the camels hahaha! I assume you meant the camels and not the people in your tour group.
Those stars look amazing. It’s so difficult to see stars here in Korea and it bums me out, as I grew up on a farm and you could always see them!
p.s. I’m in a state of shock that a camel didn’t fling you off with your head getting stuck in the sand. Good job!
Tom @ Waegook Tom recently posted..The Best Bites in Britain
Hahaha, oh my god, Tom! They would run up behind me and touch my legs WITH THEIR MOUTHS! Terrifying.
I know, how amazing is it that nothing dramatic happened?!
Although me and camels don’t get along, I would love to do that tour for the dunes, camping and the amazing view of the stars at night. Almost reminds me of camping out in Rajasthan desert, only the dunes were much less spectacular.
Elle of Solo Female Nomad recently posted..Volunteering in Nepal – Journey With A Purpose
It was definitely worth the crappy and bumpy ride to get to spend so much time in the desert. I’d love to see the Rajasthan desert someday :)
I love spending the night in a desert and do it every chance I get, but I’ve never seen one quite so orange–that looks amazing. I really wish I’d had more than three days when I was in Morocco.
I can definitely do without the camels though and the one time I tried riding one, I lasted a whole ten steps before it tried to kill me. I walked the rest of the way.
Daniel McBane – Funny Travel Stories recently posted..Erawan Waterfall: Swimming With Flesh-Eating Monsters
Amazing! Which company did you use for the tour to Sahara Desert? I’m going to Morocco in January and thinking of going to Sahara as well, just can’t really find a decent tour there
kami recently posted..Warsaw’s sunset
Amazing colors! Can’t wait to go there and see this “orange” in person!
memographer recently posted..Top 10 Shocking Asia Experiences
Welcome to my life! This is what I blogged about the most, but from the Egyptian side of the Sahara desert. You know it stretches all the way to Egypt right?
And although I don’t do the camel rides, I still get much adrenaline and almost pee my pants while riding a 4WD car with some crazy driver :D
And yes, no one believes the amount of shooting stars you can see in the desert!
Well next time you can return to the Sahara from the Egyptian side ;) I’ll show you around and not the tourist way, because it is my friend that is there driving the car, so we actually go exploring places that we haven’t been to before! It’s always good :D
Someday I’ll Be There – Mina recently posted..Is traveling changing me?
Love your post. We just got back from Spain and Morocco, but only spent 2 days in Morocco in Chefchaouen. Loved the town and our time there though the journey from Spain was nuts. I would LOVE to go back someday and go to the Sahara, so I really enjoyed your post.
Whitney Anderson recently posted..Our adventure getting from Spain to Morocco
Hi Lauren,
Just found this and i have to say great post :-)
I have a bit of a love affair with the Sahara myself, i got married in Marrakesh last June and then we took 5 of our friends to the Sahara for a photoshoot! we’ve been back since & hope to go again someday! Where did you stay when you weren’t on the camel safari?
Sacha recently posted..Ayutthaya – Central Plains
We are planning to go to Marrkech in 2013 after Pamplano and the running of the bulls. The Sahara is one of our bucket list items. Thanks for the post.
T Hall recently posted..Bucket List Week: Oktoberfest, Munich
That sounds like an amazing experience but also sounds like not the funnest experience getting there. I’m glad it was all worth it though.
Looks & sounds amazing. We plan on doing a similar trip when we are in Morocco, doing some research here at home and we are seeing prices around 300 Euro for the 3 night trip (only 1 night is in the desert). Saw you paid $70, did you negotiate? What was the name of the hotel/tour operator?
Thanks for any suggestions!
Hannah @ GettingStamped recently posted..Crispy, Cunchy, Salty, Savory, Bugs!
Hi Hannah!
I stayed at Mama Marrakech Hostel (which was great!). I didn’t negotiate, that was the price the hostel quoted me :)