- Marrakech, Morocco — starting of the Morocco segment of our 2026 adventure
- Essaouira, Morocco
- Ourika Valley and the Atlas Mountains, Morocco
- Errachidia and the Merzouga Luxury Desert Camp
- Fes, Morocco
- Volubilis and Meknes, Morocco
- Chefchaouen, Morocco
- Tangier, Morocco
- Casablanca, Morocco
- Rabat, Morocco
After staying in Marrakech for 5 nights, we headed out to Merzouga, a village in southeastern Morocco at the start of the Sahara Desert. In fact, it’s only about 30 miles to Algeria from here. We came to stay at one of the many desert camps that puts you in the Erg Chebbi dunes, among the tallest in the Sahara Desert. Getting here was pretty exciting. We wanted to avoid the 8+ hour drive from Marrakech, so we decided to fly (it’s only about an hour). Unfortunately, there have been storms in the Atlas Mountains that cranked up the very unseasonable winds. On the flight, we hit some severe clear air turbulence that had things flying around the cabin and made for a white knuckle flight. Arriving at the airport in Errachidia, we still had a 2-hour drive, getting to the camp after midnight. We settled into our “tent,” and were down for the night. In the morning, we again met our driver, Hamid, to took us around the area in his 4-wheel drive (an absolute necessity here). To understand Merzouga, you have to understand its history — between 4-7 million years ago, this area was at the bottom of the sea that later was a tropical jungle. This was true of much of what is today the Sahara Desert. Consequently, the area is rich in fossils. In fact, we spent an hour or so, just wandering around and randomly picking of fossils including ammonites and orthicones. Deb was in heaven. Then we drove around between the dunes to see the ruins of some of the old French settlements. While the French Foreign Legion was here for defense, the largest concentration of settlements was to support mining and mineral extraction. Today, there is still some small-time mining of barium, copper, hematite, etc., and with the price of gold going through the roof, gold. Some of the local miners are trying to restore some of the old French ruins.
We then drove through a number of nomadic camps. While small as a percentage of the population, the local Berber nomads seasonally travel to find grazing land for their livestock, and water. We were in the middle of a wind storm and some of the shelters (often priced together “tents” of carpets, blankets, and textiles) had collapsed. That has to be a seriously challenging life. We then visited the musicians at Dar (House) Gnaoua in the village of Khamlia to listen to them play. The most amazing instrument was the guembri, a 3-stringed skin-covered bass lute. The guembri was accompanied by drummers and musicians that play these double metal “castanets.” Deb even learned how to play them. You may recall the Gnaoua name from the World Music Festival we discussed in the post on Essaouira. From there, we went out to visit Lake Dayet Srji, a seasonal lake that is dry much of the year. There were birds everywhere including including flamingos (I would have missed that one on the test) and ruddy shelducks — in the Sahara Desert! We stopped for lunch for some “Berber Pizza” and then went shopping for jellabas (essentially Moroccan robes with a lot of Berber symbols.
To wrap up a great day, we went on a camel ride to see sunset over the dunes. Sadly, this was a short visit. We actually had to leave the camp at 3 am, to get back to Errachidia to catch our flight to Casablanca, then switching to the train to go to Fes.
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
