The adrenaline of the jeep trip, the sand, unique colors and a sunrise never seen before: here are some of the reasons to visit the sandy desert of Erg Chebbi.
Our Moroccan journey continues, after the stop in Midèlt, towards the magical Erg Chebbi desert which has as a must Merzouga.
Where is Merzouga located
Merzouga is a tourist resort located in aoasis in the desert, in the province of al-Rashidiyya, was once a stopping point along the tracks that crossed the desert, now it is the departure and arrival place for tourists visiting the sandy desert, as the huge dunes are within a short distance.
Our guide, as always, picks us up early in the jeep, thus starting us first towards the city closest to Merzouga, which is Erfoud and is more or less 270 km from Midèlt.
The journey is not short but the places you cross are splendid:
Errachidia, the province of the region from where you can see the large artificial basin that supplies water to the south of the country.
The Ziz valley, wonderful: the road runs in the upper part of the valley whose bottom is literally covered by palm groves of date palms, thus creating an image reminiscent of a huge green river. The contrast with the dry, rocky and red terrain of the landscape creates a confusion in the eyes that leave you speechless.
Along the way, when you get closer to the palm groves, you realize that if from above it looks like a dense and threatening forest, in reality it is an environment that hosts fertile villages well hidden inside, complete with colorful schools and houses lively.
We arrive in Merzouga, a sort of small village / camp, structured to give tourists the opportunity to cool off and refresh themselves upon departure or return from the desert. Our guide takes us to a cottage all built with red clay which maintains an incredibly cool temperature inside. They welcome us as usual, with a splendid one Mint tea. Time to change and we will immediately leave for the tented camp.
How to reach the desert
There are two options for achieving it: through i dromedaries and in that case the journey will be an hour and a half, or through the jeep reducing the journey to half an hour. We opt for this second solution as we prefer to take full advantage of the time to enjoy the desert from the tented camp, or walking around it, rather than on the hump of a dromedary.
The jeep trip is already something exciting for him: a Berber guide at the wheel, another attached externally to the passenger side window (not figuratively!) A reckless and adrenaline-pumping drive on the very high dunes, cut, straight, backwards , we took those dunes in every way imaginable and possible, and it was an exhilarating experience!
At the last dune, this spectacle opens up in front of us, a clear sky of a pastel blue, which beats violently against the fire red of the desert. The white tented field that stands out on the horizon, the tents, large and placed in a circle. A sight to take your breath away.
We immediately set out to discover the surroundings because the emotion is too much, walking on the dunes and getting lost on the horizon cannot be described with words. The silence is deafening, the view cannot reach any fixed point on the horizon, ten, twenty, thirty shades of red stand out in front of it. The sun as it sets more and more catches fire, becomes a blinding red that covers everything it finds, until it disappears, in an instant.
Dinner time has come, the refreshment tent is adorned with candelabra and ancient Persian carpets. Everything is ready made with tajin, meat, vegetables, mint tea and sweets so sweet as to be addictive. The guides, all dressed in traditional Berber costumes, animate the tent by playing drums and singing typical songs. Funny but too touristy for my tastes, I prefer to go out and be amazed to see how the same sky that was previously fiery red, has now become black like oil but is machine-gunned by stars, stars so bright that it is possible, with the naked eye, to identify them all.
Sunrise in the desert
The morning comes fast and at 5 we are awake and active, straight on the dunes so as not to miss thedawn which obviously is one of a kind. The colors have changed from the previous evening. The sky is a cold, pastel blue, the sun begins to peek but is shy compared to the evening, but it does not spare itself in size. It is a huge sun that we see being born. In a second it radiates us with a heat that enters our skin up to our bones. Not that it's cold, but the heat it sends us is radiant and charges us for another day ahead. We return to the camp, time for a nap, a shower and off to the next stage!
Absolutely, the night in the desert was the greatest emotion of this trip.
