Morocco Camel Trekking
Posted Jul 7, 06:07 PM
<< Return to Articles & Press Releases
The first time I visited the Erg Chebbi at Merzouga it could only be reached by piste (off road) from Rissani or Erfoud. Late one afternoon I drove into the desert town of Rissani to meet my Berber guide and, together, we set off; Hamid skillfully driving my small rent-a-car over the sand drifts that blew across the flat black desert (hammada).
After the sun set we continued in the dark and, when Hamid stopped and told me to get out and enjoy the view, I remember thinking I was crazy: here I was in the middle of nowhere, with a man that I did not know and in the pitch black he was telling me to get out and enjoy the view!
The view was amazing and the African night sky was filled with more stars than I could ever have imagined.
Some hours later we arrived at a dingy looking building with steamed-up windows and, inside, were robed and turbaned men drumming, singing and dancing. I was, by this stage, convinced that I had walked out of the world as I knew it. The next morning, Christmas Day, I tumbled out of my barely furnished room and found myself faced with the dunes of the Erg Chebbi. There were sand dunes ahead, sand dunes to the left, sand dunes to the right and sand dunes behind the sand dunes in each direction.
It took hours of negotiation for a camel trek into the Erg Chebbi and I paid way too much for an experience that whetted my appetite for a desert adventure. I returned, one year later with 4 friends, for a 5 day camel trek; we decided to camel trek in Erg Chigaga from Mhamid.
Our preparations finalized, our Sahara Desert Camel Trek began from the centre of Mhamid with 3 nomad guides and several camels; panniers over-brimming with water and food to feed 8 of us over 5 days.
It was a truly amazing experience to camel trek across a desert wilderness with sandy dunes, rocky plains, knarled trees, oases, nomad wells, military outposts, vast herds of camels and nomads; it took 2 days and nights to reach the tall dunes of the Erg Chigaga where we camped for a night before we turned our camels back towards Mhamid.
During our camel trek in the desert we walked, rode our camels until riding them became uncomfortable, and walked again; we rested during the hottest hours of the day under the shade of a lone tree, an oasis or nomad tent; danced in a sandstorm; watered our camels at nomad wells; told stories around a camp fire and drank Tea in the Sahara with bedouins.
My personal best highlight of our 5 day camel trek in Erg Chigaga was stopping for lunch at oasis of the Sacred Heart. As I gazed out across the shimmering hammada I saw a vast herd of camels walking towards me through the watery haze of a mirage and watched for hours as water was raised, bucket by bucket, for thousands of camels whose bellies visibly expanded as they drank from a stone trough. Satiated, the herd was lead back into the desert and vanished on the horizon.
