Morocco 2/16/2024 - 3/2/2024 |
|
Thursday 2/22/2024 - Fes to Ifrane to Merzouga Desert Luxury CampWe woke up at 6:15 a.m., and Craig made a cup of coffee in the room. We went downstairs at 7:15, and the riad staff gave us a to-go breakfast of water bottles, apples, bananas, and cake. Jamal arrived at 7:25, and someone from the hotel helped to carry our baggage to the car. Most of the city still seemed to be asleep, but various shops were stocking their shelves and baking khobz bread, getting ready for the day. We left Fes in the dark at 7:30 a.m. The sun started to rise just before 8 o'clock while we were on the road.We stopped in Ifrane at around 8:45 to use the ATM and to get a cup of coffee. It is a Swiss-style village built by the French in the 1920's as a respite from the heat in summer and a ski destination in winter. It is located in the Middle Atlas mountains. The fact that it is a little taste of Europe outside the European continent reminded us of SaPa, the hill station in Vietnam. Ifrane's population is almost 100% Amazigh (Berber). Its economy is fueled by tourism (local and international) as well as animal husbandry (raising sheep). Ifrane is at an altitude of 1600 meters and the temperature this morning was -1 degree Celsius. We enjoyed the crisp air, knowing that we would be in the hot desert sun by the time the day ended. We didn't even bother putting on our coats, though Jamal and Majid were bundles up. We sat with Jamal at a restaurant called Green Coffee and enjoyed a cup of coffee. We took a short walk around town, walking through a hilltop park and then getting our photo taken with the statue of the last wild Atlas lion, which was shot and killed in this area in the 1920's. The story goes that the statue was carved by a German prisoner of war during WWII in exchange for his freedom. After stretching our legs in Ifrane and admiring all of the stork nests perched atop people's chimneys and mosque minarets, we resumed our long drive which would eventually land us in the Sahara Desert. This region of Morocco had much more greenery. We drove through the Azrou Cedar Forest. 25% of the world's barbary macaques live here. They live in groups of 30 led by the females. Females live to be 30 years old while males live to 25. They can be thieves.We saw one monkey sitting by the side of the road, but I wasn't quick enough with my phone to get a photo from the car. We didn't really want to stop, as many of these monkeys come to rely on tourists feeding them. They tend to congregate at the road, and this learned behavior is detrimental to their survival. We didn't want to contribute to the problem. Still, we were glad that we had at least spotted a monkey from the car while driving through. As we descended in altitude, the climate became drier again. We passed a motto written on the side of a mountain which reads in Arabic "Allah, Homeland, King". At 11:45, we stopped for lunch in Midelt, a town known for its apple crops. We ate at the Hotel Taddart, which means big house. They had a huge restaurant where tour buses stop for lunch. Most of the patrons were huddled in the warmth of the sunshine coming in through the windows, but we preferred it cool and ate in the center of the dining room, away from the windows. As an appetizer, we had khobz (bread) served with a really tasty and spicy Moroccan chili paste. I was finally feeling like myself again today and had a good appetite. When I saw pasta bolognese on the menu, this was exactly the kind of comfort food that I was looking for. Craig got a trout filet with veggies, the local specialty. We had Coke to drink. By 1:00, we were back on the road. We stopped in Karrandou at around 2:30. The town was having its small Thursday market where the Amazigh (Berbers) of the High Atlas mountains come to trade with one another. Everyone was very friendly, many kids smiled and said a tentative bonjour or gave us a wave. There were lots of things for sale including dates, vegetables, clothing, cell phone chargers, mechanical parts, etc. Jamal pointed out a donkey "parking lot", where donkeys were tied up. We were glad that we got to make this impromptu stop to see a slice of Amazigh life. From the locals' reactions to us, it was obvious that this is not a common tourist stop. We got back into the car and continued our journey. Jamal and I both like to read, and we discussed our favorite books, many of which are in common. He had not read my favorite book, "Catch-22", and given the other books that he mentioned, I thought that he would like it. I would go on to send him a copy once we returned home. At around 3 p.m., we went through the Ziz tunnel and saw the Ziz River gorge. The river was quite low; there has been a 6 year drought in Morroco. Half an hour later, in Errachidia, we saw the Hassan Addakhil dam, which holds 347 million square meters of Ziz River water when full, but at this point the water didn't even reach the base of the dam. At 4:40 p.m., we started to see sand dunes in the distance, and there were small fences to hold sand back from encroaching on the road. We reached Merzouga, which is obviously a gateway to the Saharan dunes. We could see the orange sand dunes shining in the late afternoon light in the distance. There were many tourist companies here was well as fossil shops. Jamal told us that we would be visiting a reputable fossil showroom the day after tomorrow. At 5:30, we reached a hotel where we stopped to use the facilities. The staff offered us a bottle of water, and we told them that we weren't staying there. They smiled and said that they knew we were on our way to the desert camp, and handed us each a bottle of water. This surprised us, but we soon realized that this hotel had a relationship with the desert camp. This is where we said goodbye to Jamal and Majid for the next two nights (we hadn't realized this, but they would be staying in Merzouga town while we were in the desert camp, and we would have local guides while in the desert). Jamal asked if there was any luggage that we wanted to leave with them for the next two nights so that we wouldn't have to bring it all with us. But we didn't have much luggage to begin with, and we hadn't sorted it in such a way that we could make due with just one bag, so we each brought our two bags with us. We (and our bags) transferred to an SUV with a man named Saied who drove us about 15 minutes to Desert Luxury Camp. We drove on sandy tracks through dunes and rocky ground. When we arrived at camp around 15 minutes later we found that we were at a small satellite camp (Superior Camp) a few minutes from the larger main camp in the Erg-Chebbi region. This is because the main camp had been sold out. This small satellite camp only has 4 guest tents and a dining tent. Another couple was supposed to arrive but their plans changed, so we actually had the entire camp to ourselves tonight! We were welcomed by Omar, who provided us with lemonade, chips, cookies, peanuts and raisins. We sat on low couches under a tarp in front of the dining tent, and there were Berber rugs on the sand. After enjoying our snack, we were brought to our tent, which was gorgeous. It was on a wooden platform and was fully furnished with exquisite Berber style furnishings and rugs. It even had a toilet, shower, and freestanding bathtub. There was a heating/air conditioning unit which could be used when the generators were running at night. There was no wi-fi, though. This is not a problem, but we wish we had known beforehand so that we could have told folks we would be incommunicado for a couple of days. But I guess that is to be expected when you are in the Sahara Desert. We would be able to unplug for two nights. We arranged to have dinner at 8:30. One funny misunderstanding was that, whenfirst booking the trip, we had asked Experience Morocco about the moon phase when we would be in the desert. We had told them that we preferred not to have a full moon so that we would have better visibility to the stars.As it happened, we were actually there during the full moon, due to the dates of the trip and the arrangement of the itinerary. Not ideal, but unavoidable. Experience Morocco apparently wrote about our moon inquiry in our profile, so both Jamal and Omar asked whether we have some kind of problem going outside during the full moon. Jamal had wondered if it might have something to do with Craig's MS. We laughed and explained that it was simply an inquiry about astronomical visibility. When we explained this to Omar, he suggested that we get up around 6 a.m. to see the best stars in the morning, which is a good idea. We walked barefoot in the soft dunes (the Sahara sand is not full of ouchy burrs here like it was in Mali) and then sat on poufs on outdoor carpets to watch the sun set around 7 p.m. Later, we went into the dining tent. Once again, we had a private dining experience. Omar joked that if we don't eat everything, we would have to sleep outside, and it would be cold. He then said that we were having camel meat for dinner. We remarked that we had never had camel meat before, but were willing to try it. He was amused and said that he had only been kidding. Ismael brought in the food. Dinner consisted of barley soup, lemon chicken tajine, eggplant, cheese, and tomato tajine, potatoes, pasta, carrots, and khobz bread. There was so much food that it was a good thing that Omar was kidding about finishing it all! We felt like they fed us everything they had on hand for the other guests who hadn't shown up! And that wasn't al. There was dessert, too. They called it a flan, but it was more of a milk pudding with cookies mixed into it. Everything was delicious! Omar asked us what time we would like to have breakfast in the morning. Sunrise is at 8 a.m., so we arranged to have breakfast at 8:30. Omar asked if we wanted to do a camel ride prior to our day tour. We hadn't signed up for it ahead of time, but he said that it is included and we could do it after breakfast if we wanted to. This sounded good to us. Omar asked if we wanted help with the heater in the room, but we were certain that we wouldn't need it. We had plenty of layers if we were chilly. We were back in our tent by 9:45 p.m. We went outside to look at the stars. We wore our new puffy coats but still just our linen pants, as it was cool but not super cold. Although we were so any miles from home, the stars and constellations were actually quite familiar, as Morocco is in the northern hemisphere and not too much different in latitude than Boston. The light of the full moon prevented us from seeing as many stars as we would have been able to otherwise, but it was still quite peaceful and romantic. The whole camp was dark and we realized that we didn't even know how to contact the staff if we needed/wanted to. It was truly like being alone in the desert. And with no wi-fi or cell phone coverage, I coudn't even get a message to Jamal if needed. This was the only time that it would have been handy to have accepted the loaner cell phone that they had offered. Luckily, everything was fine and there was no need to contact anyone. I typed up my notes from today on my laptop and then we went to bed. We got the best sleep of our trip so far in the solitude of the desert! Ifrane Hotel Taddart Desert Luxury Camp |
 Jamal and Craig at Green Coffee in Ifrane  Last Atlas Lion statue in Ifrane  Snow-capped High Atlas Mountains  Karrandou Thursday market  Omar welcomes us to Desert Luxury Camp  Craig in front of our tent  Interior of our tent  Steph at the dunes at sunset  Sahara sunset  Dinner for two See all photos from February 22 |
 Sunset over Desert Luxury Camp |
|
|
 |
|
 |
