Morocco 2/16/2024 - 3/2/2024 |
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Friday 2/23/2024 - Exploring the Desert: Sunrise, Camel Ride, Mining, Gnawa, Oasis, Nomads, Fireside DrummingWe were comfortable all night; it wasn't as cold in the tent as we had anticipated. We had a duvet and were even too hot at times, though the air temperature was cool. We realized that we had packed too many cold-weather clothes; if this was the extent of the "cold" on this trip, I wouldn't be needing the sweaters and long underwear I had brought.We woke up at 6 a.m in the hopes of seeing more stars, but the sky was still too light to see any more than we had seen last night. The moon was still up. So we went back to bed, waking up again at 7:15, as the sky was already starting to lighten in the east. I saw a low red moon on the western horizon and it went down within minutes. The sunrise was gorgeous. There were clouds in the sky today which really looked beautiful (yellow, orange, and red). It was so quiet and still, like we were the only people in the world. The camp had a bunch of sandboards available for guest use, but, having never even snowboarded before in our lives, we thought it best not to try now. The sandboards had bindings but no boots, and I was afraid that I would easily break an ankle. Craig knew that with his balance issues from his MS, he wouldn't be able to do it, either. If they had sleds where you could sit and sled down the dunes, we definitely would have tried that, but the sandboards were a no-go. We went to breakfast at our appointed time of 8:30. Omar and Ismail appeared as if out of nowhere, greeting us and bearing trays of fresh, hot food. We had bread, fruit, cake, crepes, msemen (square Moroccan pancakes), cucumber and tomatoes, cheese, fresh orange juice, and coffee. Omar placed a tajine on the table and said that it was chicken tajine. He asked if that was something that we normally eat that in the morning. Then he laughed, "Baby chicken!", as he opened the tajine to reveal eggs in tomato sauce. Omar has a great sense of humor, and we enjoyed his company very much. At 9:30, we went for a short camel ride with Zaid. My camel was Bakfif, a 15-year-old male. Craig's was Adkhoni, a 9-year-old male. Zaid walked and led the camels as we rode. The camels were quite docile and good natured. We rode through sand undisturbed by human footprints, which undulated based on wind movement. We saw mouse tracks and desert fox tracks in the sand. After we dismounted the camels, we pet them. Bakfif had straight fur on his head, whereas Adkhoni's fur was curly. We got back just around 10 o'clock and met our day guide Mohammed Marroush. We got into his Toyota Prado and we drove through the dunes. Marroush was very friendly and put on lots of desert music for us, including the Malian band Tinariwen. He told us that our first stop on our day tour would be a mining operation. We didn't know what to expect, but he drove us to a rocky outcrop where a handful of men were mining. It was a relatively small-scale operation. There was no heavy equipment, shy of some small motorized cranes. A 50-100 foot chasm had been dug, and men were down below with shovels, digging up minerals. They would then place these minerals into metal buckets, which would be hoisted up to the top of the chasm by the small cranes. Then they would be dumped into wheelbarrows. The minerals mined here are quartz as well as kohl. The latter is used in the production of traditional mascara. We kept thinking that Marroush was saying "coal", but the mineral in question didn't look like any coal that we knew! The workers waved to us and showed us examples of the kohl (which looked like micah and left behind black dust) and white quartz. You had to wonder how, in the vastness of the Sahara dunes, this vein of quartz and kohl had been discovered. The mining operation wasn't even really visible from a distance, save for a few earthen buildings where the workers stay. After observing the miners, we got back into the car and Marroush drove us through the sand until the dunes parted and we found ourselves in a small village of earthen buildings. This was Khamlia village, where there is a population of Gnawa musicians. The Gnawa are an ethnic group in North Africa who are the descendants of sub-Saharan Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Maghreb region. This enslavement can be traced back to at least 1591, but may in fact have been happening as early as the 11th century. Gnawa instruments include a 3-stringed guinbri, drums, and finger cymbals called krakeb which evoke the sound of chains from when the Gnawa ancestors were enslaved and taken out of sub- Saharan Africa. The music mixes Sufism with pre-Islamic African folk traditions. It is entrancing and is known for being able to treat various maladies. We arrived at the Dar Gnawa, a compound where a group of Gnawa musicians play for tourists. We entered a courtyard and then into a large room where other tourists were seated watching the Gnawa group play a song on the guinbri, krakeb, and drum. They poured us mint tea with the proper flourish. The Gnawa, dressed in white robes and turbans, performed one more song, which featured the krakeb, drums, and dancing. It was very rhythmic and cool. But then they were done, leaving us wanting more. Dar Gnawa We entered their courtyard and proceeded into a room which had benches along the front wall. We took a seat and were once again served mint tea with a flourish. The musicians played drums and krakeb and sang and danced. An Indian couple and their young daughter were seated next to us. It was fun to watch the little girl's reaction to the music, and the group's interactions with her. Then they got out an electrified guinbri and played that alongside the drum and krakeb. They got everyone up to dance in a circle. The rhythm of the songs sped up and slowed down, and they sang along with the instrumentation. Pigeons du Sable Groupe Zaid We got back into the car and left Khamlia, soon finding ourselves back in the dunes. We got out of the car for a short walk in the dunes before driving to the village oasis. Marroush took us to his family's property/garden where they grow dates, carrots, turnips, onions, and garlic. The contrast to the surrounding dunes was stark. Here we were, standing amidst shade-bearing date palm trees, with vegetables growing in their shade. It was so green and lush! And yet in the distance you could see the barrenness of the dunes. We were grateful for the shade of the date palms, as the midday sun was very strong. There were concrete irrigation channels which can be dammed up with the local clay soil to divert the water or to prevent it from going to some of the channels. We walked along the irrigation channels until we reached the place where they are fed by an aqueduct. Here there was a parking lot, and a group of tourists were gathered, entering the oasis. Marroush offered to go get the car and pick us up here, so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back the way we had come in the midday heat. We appreciated this. After that we went to Sahara Time restaurant which is nestled in the dunes. We were the only ones there for the majority of our meal (this is becoming a theme!) We had a pre-fixe meal starting with a salad of cheese, avocado, and tomato in olive oil. Craig isn't supposed to eat olive oil as his skil reacts to it, but he couldn't help himself. It was just so delicious! Next was an eggplant tajine with cheese and tomatoes. We thought that this was adequate for lunch, but that wasn't all! Next came a fish tajine with tomatoes, onions, and lemon. For dessert we had strawberries, oranges, and dates stuffed with almonds. The food was phenomenal! Craig said he would drive a good distance to eat there if it were near our home! There were two cats on the premises which had a cat food bowl and a fountain from which they could drink. They sat on a chair at the table next to us until a group from Spain arrived. Then the cats sat in the shade under some low tables on a carpet. We relaxed for a while after eating. I climbed a dune and sat at a table at its peak, for a photo op. Marroush finished his mid-day prayers, and then were on our way. We did some crazy driving in the dunes and Marroush got stuck once, but had us get out of the car and quickly got unstuck. We stopped for a photo op at the largest sand dune. It was stunning. Then we went to a nomad Amazigh settlement where a woman and little boy hosted us in a tent for tea. Well, they provided tea and peanuts and then made themselves scarce. It could be a cultural thing because the woman's husband wasn't at home, so it wasn't proper for her to entertain us. Marroush poured us tea and we relaxed in the tent. There were other more square shaped tents and there were sheep goats and chickens. A baby goat was looking for anything it could climb on even if it was the side of a tent itself. The woman and young (4 year old?) son wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt didn't want to be photographed, and didn't spend any time with us. It would have been nice to be able to have a conversation about the modern Amazigh nomadic lifestyle, but I guess that's not how things work here. It's more touristic. Many rally cars drove by while we were there. They must be available for rent in Merzouga. Another couple arrived as we were leaving. I guess if this family gets a constant influx like this, I can see why they just go through the motions. Still, we admit to being a bit disappointed that we didn't get to interact with the family. It was the only activity on the day's itinerary which didn't live up to our expectations. After this, we came back to the camp, arriving just before 5 p.m. We said goodbye to our day guide Marroush and thanked him for a wonderful day of desert exploration. We were no longer the only people at camp; there was one other woman here. She had previously been staying in the other larger sister camp, but found it too bustling. She was using her phone and I asked if she had a local SIM card. She said that she had AT&T travel pass, and that it was working intermittently via local carrier Inwi. We sat in the shade, and I tried to get my Verizon travel pass to work. I am fine with being unplugged in general, but I was getting behind in my Facebook / Instagram updates from the trip. While we were relaxing at camp, I figured it was a good time to get caught up. Verizon travel pass should have allowed me to connect to Inwi for $10/day. I was connected to Inwi (with 5 bars of 3G), but could not get Travel Pass to work. I was able to make a call to Verizon's customer service, and they texted me a one-time code to verify my identity. They told me to enter it and then press pound. I did so, and it didn't take. It asked me again to enter it. And it continued like that for about two minutes. Then I couldn't even hang up the call and needed to reboot my phone. It was quite frustrating, and I eventually gave up. Craig and I each took a shower before sunset, and I typed up some notes. Then we returned to the dunes for a short walk and watched the sunset. Tonight's sunset was not as spectuacular as last night's had been. There was such a nice breeze this evening. A group (Shay, Jason, and Tony) from Ogden, Utah arrived and checked into their tent. Omar asked what time we wanted dinner. We knew that there was supposed to be a campfire and music tonight, so we didn't want to interfere with that timing-wise. We asked Omar what time that would be starting, and he said "After dinner." We laughed. Things are really relaxed here. We decided on 8 o'clock for dinner, which was in just 30 minutes. All 6 of us staying at the camp had dinner at 8 o'clock. We had eggplant, tomato, and cheese tajine, beef and prune tajine, and a plate of veggies and chicken. We really like tajine as a cooking method; everything comes out so tender! We had a fruit plate for dessert. While eating, two other men arrived with firewood. After dinner Omar lit the fire in the fire pit, and they brought out drums. Omar, Ismail, and the two other guys played drums and sang. The single woman wasn't there; it was us, Shay, Jason, and Tony. Now we understood why the timing was so loose...it was our camp staff doing the campfire and music, so they would just do it whenever dinner was over. We danced around the fire, and then Omar asked us to sing "our song". Nobody knew a song that they could play on a drum, so we let them teach us rhythms and sang a bit of things like "Three Little Birds," "Buffalo Soldier," and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It was a good time, and we had a lot of laughs. Drumming by the fire at Desert Luxury Camp We retired to our tents to go to bed. It was very windy overnight, and you could hear the tent rustling in the wind. Dar Gnawa, Khamlia Sahara Time Restaurant |
 Sunrise over Desert Luxury Camp  Zaid leading Bakfif through the dunes  Camel ride  Quartz / kohl mine  Pigeons du Sable Groupe Zaid, Khamlia  Oasis (Photo courtesy of Marroush)  Steph with Marroush  Craig at Sahara Time restaurant  Craig in front of the largest sand dune  Tea in a nomadic Amazigh camp  Steph in the dunes at Desert Luxury Camp  Drumming around the campfire See all photos from February 23 |
 Sunrise at Desert Luxury Camp  Sahara Time restaurant |
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