كتاب ألف ليلة وليل 2

On the third day we rose early in anticipation of our Sahara expedition. This was what we (or at least I) had travelled to Morocco for - The Sahara! We joined 13 other like-minded adventurers and we all sat groggy eyed in a minibus full of anticipation, expectation and puzzlement as it sped off towards the unknown. How would the next 3 days turn out to be?

the blue line traces our 3D2N Sahara trip

Not surprisingly, the combination of the early hour and the soothing hum of the bus engine lulled all of us to sleep. When we woke up, it was 2 hours later, and we were already mid-way up the High Atlas mountains! Not only was it cold up at that altitude, it was also very windy and it was no surprise that no one wanted to linger. As for me, I thought that I was back in Grenoble with the snow capped mountains and all. Indeed, Morocco struck me as a place full of contrasts. Snow, sand, hot, cold, high mountains, flat deserts: You name it, they have it. What was more amazing was the amount of this diversity located in such relative closeness to each other. In the morning we could be traversing the mountains, but at night we could be in the desert! Although it was a long bus ride, I was never bored with the ever changing scenery and all. In fact, the bus ride was already an adventure in itself.

the high atlas mountains

she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes..

treacherous roads lining the mountains

The first highlight of the day was when we stopped at a quaint little town. We did not know it at that time, but many films were actually shot at the Kasbah opposite it! A Kasbah is an unique kind of fortress/dwelling for a ruling chief in Islamic cities, and we had the chance to go to one of the most famous ones: Ait Benhaddou. It was a pity because we did not have a guide to explain to us the significance of the Kasbah as all of us decided not to head into the Kasbah for want of better and proper knowledge of the area. =(

sparse tundra after passing the mountains

Ait Benhaddou

forming a congo line to the kasbah

Anyway, from there we proceeded on to the Dades valley where we would spend the night. The serpentine roads led us slowly though community after community, villages set apart by dramatic twirls in the mountains, or by the fresh river meandering through the middle. It was difficult not to be mesmerised by the beauty of the Moroccan countryside.

lush forest now!

When we arrived at our hotel, it was - as forewarned by Hassan - freaking cold. We were situated at the bottom of a gorge which meant that no sunlight could reach us to offer any respite from the cold, and the liberal use of ceramic tiles trapped the cold indoors, making the inside of hotel even colder than outdoors (it felt like we had the air conditioning on at full blast)! It didn't help that there was no central heating system as well. =/ Well at least dinner was great and after that I tried to sleep through the cold.

dades valley

sunset

after dinner shot (notice we are all still in our coats)

Next morning was another long drive towards our ultimate destination. To break the monotony, we visited a kasbah, sort of to make up for the disappointment the day before. We were first treated to a traditional Berber (the indigenous nomadic tribes of Morocco) welcome and given an insight into their daily life. It was really interesting to observe society functioning inside, and I felt that we had entered a city within a city. One could really be self sufficient inside a kasbah as it has almost everything required for survival, and I guess it was designed to be so as in the olden days sieges were pretty common. However one bad thing about the kasbahs is that they are made of clay and mud, so every time it rains, pieces of the kasbah will get washed away and there will be a lot of repair works to be done. But I guess all these gives a kasbah its charm and character.

inside the kasbah

hole in the sky

electrical repairs

traditional Berber hospitality

plethora of Berber carpets

After some more driving, we finally arrived at where we had all been waiting for - The Sahara! At this point of the trip our minibus left the road and we had a super bumpy ride through the dirt tracks. Somehow, it really reminded me of my days in Mongolia, where everyday we would drive at least 8 hours through the same bumpy dirt tracks. Anyway, luckily none of the wheels of our bus broke off and we managed to reach the edge of the desert where we had to change our mode of transportation to camel!

first contact

camelba(c)k

sensual curves

guess who? =P

moi encore!

trekking through the sahara

more dunes

I love camel rides! Unlike horses, they are very gentle and hence I did not have much problems this time! Haha.. The feeling is just like sailing through the desert! We reached base camp in a little less than hour, and by then, the sun was already setting. Wanting to maximise out time in the desert, many of us went sand-surfing or sand-luge-ing. Haha.. We were all a little delirious already from the many hours on the bus and we were glad to be able to move about, sand-in-hair or not. =)

sand surfing!

what was the jedi doing to the camels?

sunset

Dinner was once again tagine and couscous (no surprises there), and after dinner we had a campfire where we gathered around to sing songs. Moroccan karaoke! Anyway I was not so much interested in singing than in getting some warmth from the fire. For the second consecutive night, I had a major brain freeze! Damn.. It was still rather promising in the day when it got rather warm! In the end I had another sleepless night shivering in my full battle order (jacket, jeans, shoes and even a thick blanket) in the tent.

Anyway I managed to survive yet another night in the cold and we cameled back in the morning to our bus and it was a 12 hour bus ride back from the Sahara. I remember drifting in and out of consciousness during the bus ride because it was mile after mile of the same scenery (we took another faster route back). In testimony to the harshness of the terrain, our bus broke down and we had to change buses, and the one which we changed to broke down as well.

Finally reached back to Marrakech about 13 hours after we first set off in the morning. Did some shopping, then I reluctantly had my last meal at Djemaa al Fnae. It had really been a great time in Africa: The conviviality, the hospitality and the vibrancy of the place is something which I guess is missing in more developed and industrialised countries. That is why I always like to travel to third world countries as compared to the so-called first world countries.

Morocco, vous me manquerez surement! =)

got hump?