Camel trek across the Erg Chebbi dunes

We'd heard from so many people that a desert camel trek was a highlight of their Morocco visit, and thus we set out for the town of Merzouga near the eastern frontier of Morocco to experience it ourselves. East from there lies the Erg Chebbi, a large "sea" of wind-swept sand dunes. We arrived late in the day, the best time to set out for our camp, several miles across the dunes. There had been a rainstorm, and there was a bit of a back-up at the "camel port", so when we set out, we were part of a large caravan, many long trains of camels marching out into the dunes. It turns out that camels are easier to mount than horses, because you mount the camel while it is lying down with its legs folded under it. There is a brief moment of terror as the camel rises and you lurch forward then backward as it gathers its legs to stand up. The camel's rear legs have two knees, a normal forward-facing set and also a backward-facing set. So you pitch back and forth as it straightens one set of rear knees, then gets onto its front knees, then straightens the other set of rear knees, and then straightens its front legs. It's not quite as broad as a horse, and its hips and haunches are much narrower, but it feels quite steady and it walks smoothly, so once we were up, I felt quite comfortable.

There was a bit of lingering intermittent rain, but not enough to dampen our sense of adventure. The sky was dramatic, with low dark clouds slowly breaking up, and golden late afternoon light breaking through, providing extraordinary illumination for the starkly beautiful dunes. The sand is a striking color, a deep golden hue. It stands out even in satellite photos. The dunes are like great ocean waves, shaped by the winds in ways both large and small. The peaks of the waves trace undulating curves, while the surfaces are etched in wavy parallel lines like the fingerprints of the wind. The stark sandscape is occasionally studded with clumps of grass or low shrubs, mostly of a pale green celadon color that catches the light and stands out against the sand. Before long, we are surrounded by dunes. With golden sand in all directions, nothing else in sight, it feels vast. The light and the lines are truly amazing, and I couldn't stop taking photos that would inevitably fail to fully capture it.

The camps are a few miles into the dunes, and it takes a good hour and a half to get there by camel, plenty long enough to get a serious experience of traveling by camel, but not too long. And fortunately for my non-camping husband, the camp was richly appointed for a bunch of tents in the middle of the desert. Our private tent was larger than most hotel rooms, and not only had a queen size bed, a furnished sitting area, and a couple of lamps, but also an en-suite tent bathroom with toilet, sink, shower, and hot and cold running water. The floors and even the outdoor walkways were covered with Moroccan woven carpets. There was even wifi. A circus-sized tent in the center served as the dining hall, where we were served a thoroughly decent multi-course dinner. Later, the staff made a small campfire, and then performed some traditional Berber music and singing for us, and a bit of dancing around the fire. On some nights in these desert camps, the stars are said to be spectacular, but that aspect was denied us by lingering clouds.

The next morning, we got up before the sun so that we could watch it rise over the dunes, and then enjoy the magical light of dawn on that mesmerizing sandscape. We visited the camels, and I tried a few runs of "sandboarding" (riding a snowboard down the dunes). After breakfast, a guide gave me a quick lesson on how to wrap a turban, and then we mounted camels for our return trek. Most people at camp chose to stay a bit longer, or chose to ride a truck back out. Unlike the mass caravan riding in to camp, it was just us two and the guide going back out with the camels. We had a clear blue sky with golden morning light illuminating the dunes, and quickly became entranced in the seeming infinity of the dunes and the profound quiet of footsteps in the sand with no one else in sight. We took a hundred more photos that we knew would inadequately capture the beauty before being delivered back to the edge of civilization.