The Sahara by Camel

Saturday 4th January 2025

Crossing the High Atlas Mountains

There are three sets of mountains in Morocco. The Middle Atlas, the High Atlas, and the Anti Atlas.  We had driven through the Middle Atlas  yesterday, so our mission today was to cross the snow topped peaks of the High Atlas. 

Of course, we didn’t drive straight over the highest peak, but snaked our way through the gaps. The drought that has aflicted Morocco for most of the past five years was evident in the low rivers and sparing vegetation to be seen along the way.

An oasis in the desert

Our camp for the night was located close to the Algerian border and the sand. Our spacious tents were located at the green tent logo. There were ten four-berth tents with plenty of bedding after Olivia and I rainded the spare beds for blankets. We were toasty warm as long as we stayed under the covers because the room got very cold overnight. We had shared facilities in the block at the end of our row of tents so any need for a midnight wee was avoided.

The edge of the desert is a popular location for camps,  and about 100 are dotted along the line where the sand meets solid land.  An oasis was nearby, and many, many dubes.  Interestingly, the larger dunes never move and are named.  Only the smaller dunes change their outlines after a storm.

Camel Rides

About 45 minutes before sunset, we mounted our camles and headed a little way (very little way) into the Saraha. The view was unique, the camels behaved, the ride used aforeto unused muscles.

Intrepid is everywhere

Intrepid was founded in Melbourne in 1989. It operates small group tours around the world, and because of the focus on vertivsl integration (owning or running associated structure such as hotels) has become a hugh provided, and this is also true in Morocco.  They coordinate and deliver tours on behalf of a range of international tour companies, so many tours booked with other operators will end up being delivered by Intrepid.

We shared the campsite with an 18-35 Intrepid tour (think Contiki), they were fun enough and generally behaved themselves, but the drinking and partying continued into the night.

Earlier in the evening, local elders played the drums and an old violin and put on a show.  We all joined in some dancing and took turns to crank out a tune on the goat skin drums. There was even some singing.