We left at 7:30 am bound for Erford and a sunset camel ride in the Sahara.

We travelled through the plains south of Fes and gradually climbed into the Atlas Mountains foot hills. As we travelled along we saw many large orchards of citrus and apples. Where ever water touches the ground it seems to sprout greenness.  The ground must be very fertile.

As we climbed into the lower Atlas Mountains we began to see Oak and Cedar trees. The cedar trees were imported from Lebanon in the 1500’s and have done very well here in the higher, colder regions. There are monkeys living in these forests. The same monkeys were taken to the Island of Gibraltar by the British, and they have thrived there. As we drove closer to Ifrane, our first stop for the morning ( we seem to stop every 2 hrs ) the climate changed and it got a fair bit cooler. There are 2 or 3 Ski Resorts in the mountains in this area, all set up by the French during their occupation/ colonisation of the country. They looked fairly basic in amenities, but the slopes looked pretty challenging. Along the way we saw many nomadic tribes  living in tents in the country side by the road. They roam the plains with their herds of sheep and goats following the grass lands. They live in tents made of a combination of camel hides, canvas and plastic.

Ifrane  is a small town centred around its University. It seemed a peaceful place and had a mild climate. At the entrance to the town was a Lion statue carved from rock, it symbolised/memorialised  the lions that used to inhabit the area, but were hunted to extinction by the French.

Next we moved into the Middle Atlas Mountains, they have an altitude of approximately 1500m and are an area of very flat rocky plains. There are forests on the surrounding hills but the plains have little or no vegetation or agriculture. There is some sparse grazing by some very hardy nomads and their flocks. The nomadic Sheppard’s don’t always have their own stock, but sometime are employed to look after herds for others. They may get paid a flat rate or by a type of profit sharing where they get a lower flat rate  and then a share in the profits for every head of sheep or goat above 50 that they get to market.

We had lunch in a town called Midlet, a fairly insignificant and forgettable town. After lunch we climbed into the High Atlas mountains, they have a maximum height of about 4100m. They are steep rocky mountains and very remarkable appearance. You can see every layer of the strata and every  fold and fault in the mountains. They are also known for their fossil content. We have been told that this is one of the richest areas for fossils in the world, the fossils date back to the times of ancient sea some many 100’s of millions of years ago.

We drove through an Oasis town called Errachidia, the town is home to a university and an army base (Tank division). The surrounds of the town was very green due to the availability of water.

Just out of the town we passed along the lake of a dam. It was a large lake and it appeared to be held by at least 4 of 5 dam walls. The water in the lake was an amazing blue colour and made a dramatic foreground against the grey twisted geology of the mountains surrounding it.

Further along we were driving along a huge fault plain when all of a sudden the land to our right seemed to disappear into a huge river canyon, the canyon was the home to a huge oasis filled full of date palms. It went for many kms and was about 1 to 2 km wide. So lush and fertile. Each palm yields approximately 60kg’s of dates.

We then drove to our hotel in Erford. The rooms are all in small buildings house 4 rooms each, and made of rammed straw and mud/earth. They were reasonably spacious and fairly basic in amenities. We had heard/read that this was the worst of the hotels we stay at, so not too bad at all.

At 6pm we got into a land cruiser and headed off into the desert for our Camel ride to see a Sahara sunset. The drive took about 45mins and was lots of fun (even though it was pretty warm in the car). We went over mild corrugations in the roads/tracks (mild compared to some of the tracks we have done in central Australia) and through the desert sand. We finally stopped on the edge of the desert, next to a resort spa. There we boarded our camel, two to a camel. After throwing our legs over we managed to get on the camel’s back and then came the interesting part, getting comfortable!!! It just doesn’t happen, I quickly came to the conclusion that the saddles aren’t built for the comfort of the riders. Next the camel had to stand, we were asked to lean back and the camel first got onto its front legs , then with a jerking motion stood to full height. After a couple of pictures and waiting for the others to mount their camels, we set off into the dunes. The motion of the camel is undulating, very much like a sea swell, maybe that’s where they get their title of “Ships of the desert”! The motion encourages you to relax and if you can manage that it is a reasonable smooth ride. Just go with the flow. The riding technique seems to be based on trying to keep relaxed and upright, so we were asked to lean back when going downhill, and you automatically try to keep upright going uphill. After about 20 minutes we stopped and dismounted, now this would seem to be an easy process, just do what was done when you got on, but in reverse. Mmmmmm Not quite that easy, it may be all in the reverse order but it all happens at a much faster rate, seems like the camel just wants to get down the quickest way possible. Any way, we achieved the dismount with no problems and took a short walk up to the top of the nearest dune. The view was awesome. Dunes going on for as far as the eye could see and not a human mark on them. As the sun began to set, the shadows of the dunes continuously changed and the colours of the desert with them. The wind picked up a little and the desert grasses swayed and the wind formed “shadows on the sand as it swirled its way through and past the dunes. We sat and just took it all in. The moon was visible above us, a half moon over the desert. As we sat and watched the sunset, our camel guide, a Bedouin , tied Deb’s scarf around her head in a traditional manner. She became ”Deb of the Desert”.  At sunset the wind really started to pickup, and we were ushered down off the dunes and back onto our camel for the ride back to the 4WD. We took a route partly in the shadows of the dunes and out of most of the wind. The windblown sand was much worse at ground level than it was up on top of the camels. When we got back to the cars we dismounted like we’d being riding camels for what seemed like years, mmm no, let’s make that minutes !!  The Bedouin guide then sat us down next to the camel and tried to get us to buy some fossils. We eventually had to leave, but we left a tip for the guide and camel handler.

The drive back in the 4WD wasn’t quite as exciting as the trip out, but the journey at dusk had its own bumps and slides!!

A little more about Morocco. Morocco has a population of about 30 million, as I have meantioned before. Approximately 50% are <15 years old and approximately 15% are >60 years old.  There are 4.5 million children in primary school and about 400thousand in university( they have 15 universities).

We travel to Ouarzazate tomorrow. Lots of love us xox