Our regular driver handed us over to a Berber driver who knows the desert like the back of his hand (good thing, because there aren’t any roads) to take us out to a hotel near the dunes in the Sahara Desert, sort of a gathering place for all the tourists wanting to watch the sunset. We got there much earlier than necessary, so after having tea, looking at the view from the roof, having more tea and photographing the sights, finally we were ready to begin our trek out to the dunes on camels. Getting on a camel is easy enough, but you really have to hold on tight when it gets up as they raise their back legs first and throw you forward, and it’s then that you realize just what very tall animals they are.

It wasn’t what I’d call a relaxing ride, especially when going down dunes; they’re very sure-footed, but still, it was rough going. It also was pretty comical, holding on to the saddle handle for dear life with one hand and trying to take pictures with the other, but I managed to get a few. After about 45 minutes we arrived at our dune, which we climbed up (another big challenge) to wait for more than an hour for the sun to set. Then, suddenly a strong wind came up, blowing sand everywhere, including on (and probably in) my camera and lens, which I don’t think will ever be the same. Needless to say, I didn’t take many pictures after that. We saw the sun get close to setting before it was obscured by sand in the air. Despite all this, I enjoyed the camel ride and seeing the dunes close up. I could have done without the long wait for the non-sunset.

After this we rode the camels to our private Berber tent enclosure to spend the night. It was well appointed, with a table and chairs, a sitting (on low pillows) area outside, a campfire with seats and a bedroom tent. They served us dinner and wine, and some Berber musicians and dancers came to entertain us (nice, but another tip we hadn’t counted on). After dinner we retired to our tent, which had a real bed, bathroom and shower (but no hot water), and electricity from a generator until around 11 p.m. The wind blew all night, plus there was a big Berber festival going on not far from the camp, so we were treated to the sound of drums all night long (it was still going on in the morning when we got up). It was beautiful out there, though, because you could quite clearly see stars you never realized existed. All in all, it was quite the unique experience and I’m glad we did it, but I think once was enough. Plus, I’m still trying to get rid of all the sand in my clothes, shoes, purse, camera, iPhone, hair and pretty much everything else.

We are staying at a quaint (one way to put it) dar (house/pension with garden) in Ouarzazate, en route to Marrakech. The Wi-Fi is painfully slow, but I’ll try to catch up with commenting if I can.