Desert Adventure
We've now moved south, staying af Erfoud, on the edge of the desert. The journey down along dirt roads was not without incident, having a puncture after hitting one of the many potholes. The next day we set off for our desert adventure travelling on the sandy piste trail to Merzouga in an enormous palmeraie. From here we had an incredible panorama of the sea of sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi. At about 5pm we set off on our camel train into the Sahara desert. The colours of the dunes (forever changing) were incredible and it was so beautiful. We reached our Berber tent camp in a small oasis about 2hrs. later and had a short walk up a dune to witness the sunset, whilst our tagine dinner was being prepared. The night was cold, but I slept quite well, getting up in the middle of the night to witness a beautiful clear star studdied sky and sleeping camels! Sunrise was equally impressive, as was our breakfast of 'sand' bread, jam and cheese. At about 8.30am we set off back across the plain to the Auberge Du Sud, where we were able to take a shower before returning to Erfoud. I really enjoyed this adventure, I never thought I'd be saying how beautiful the desert is!
After taking lunch at our hotel in Erfoud, we drove to Tineghir in the afternoon. The next morning we had a short drive to the amazing Todra Gorge, along a palm lined valley. The magnificent gorge is a massive fault in the plateau, the walls at one point rising almost vertically to 300m at its narrowist point. The morning sun penetrated the bottom of the gorge, turning the rock from rose pink to a deep ochre. We then walked up the gorge to the Petite Gorge before returning to the car and driving onto the Dades Valley.
The drive up the Dades Valley and Gorge is also interesting, taking you past almond and fig trees, and some fabulous rock formations. The road also passes several kasbahs, before returning and moving onto Ouarzazate and onto our lovely guest house at 'Kasbah I Roccha'. We did make a detour to see Ait Benhaddou, one of the best preserved kasbahs that was used in the filming of 'Lawrence of Arabia'- but by then my companions were all 'kasbah-ed off'! Tomorrow is our last day with the car, driving over the Tizi n'Tichka pass to Marrakech and then onto Imlil for our trek
