We will wake early and have breakfast at the base camp before setting off on our adventure. The camels will also have breakfast before they patiently sit while the nomad guides load up everything we need for our 3 day desert trek. Then, only when everybody is happy – off we go.
Our destination today is Sidi Naji and we will head towards the dunes and after a few hours walking, we will stop for a break under the shade of a tamarisk tree.
The nomad guides will prepare a small feast for you on the picnic blanket and you will have time to journal, meditate or sleep. Then, after the midday sun has passed, we will continue on. After a while you will suddenly notice in the distance, the illusion of a wall in the middle of a plateau of earth.
This is a marabout, a holy shrine of an ancient desert tribal institution that is respected by nomads at large.
Close to here, we will set camp between the dunes and the camels will be unloaded. You can enjoy the sunset from the top while a tasty Moroccan dinner is prepared and served on a Moroccan rug in the sands. After dinner we will sit around the fire like one nomad family and share stories under the stars until you retire to your tents to sleep like babies in the silence of the Sahara.
When you wake up this morning, you might find the camels munching on their breakfast in the first early morning shards of light. Then slowly, the whole camp will come to life and breakfast will be rustled up, as if by magic, before camp is struck and the camels are re-loaded ready for day two.
Today the scenery is more iconic but the going is tougher and the dream of reaching the remote dunes will start to come true. The illusionary style of the desert shows us that it is near, but all is trickery because all the dunes in the desert look close by, when actually they are far and to reach Erg Zahar takes a nomad’s patience.
We will stop many times to eat fruits and dates and rest our legs and you will likely be torn between finding the determination to keep going, admiring the stunning beauty of your surroundings and wanting to just be in the moment. But once we arrive at the camping spot for today, you will have plenty of time to absorb, photograph and smile because we will have lunch here and be able to relax all afternoon.
This morning we will wake up in the desert dawn and breakfast will be laid out on a rug in the sands around a small fire. After breakfast we will pack away the camp once more and once the camels are loaded, we will start our walk.
Today, we cross the bed of the Draa River, to its northern banks. A journey of desert life, as for nomads, the Draa has provided M’hamid desert with water for centuries. While you are walking inside it and noticing its huge size, you will understand that the valley was a paradise on earth and probably still is one even if the sand dunes are eating its side.
We will be trekking to the abandoned settlement of Erg Smar (where there was once a settlement of more than 35 families living and farming). We can visit the area and have an idea of how it once was to be existing as farmers in this harsh climate.
We will stop for lunch under the shade of a desert tree and there is a rare well here too so we can give our camels a drink. The dunes of Smar are a combination of two colours making them very unique. We then continue onto Erg Sedra which is one of the cleanest and most beautiful places in Mhamid desert.
By now you will be used to living according to the rhythm of the Sahara. In the morning after breakfast, we gather the camels who have been feeding on desert shrubs overnight and as usual, we continue our trekking through the stunning landscape.
Today’s goal is the dunes of Bougarn, passing through an area where it may be possible to see tracks of gazelle (as the shrub that they feed on grows just here). The remainder of the day’s trekking will be done on earthen hills and rocky plains before reaching Bougarn which means the dunes of the horn. This is the name given to the dune due to the fact that it actually looks like a horn when you stare at it from a distance.
This morning the routine starts once again, by now this will have become lovingly familiar to you. In this day’s trekking we will see more vegetation and also have the chance to encounter wildlife and nomadic people.
Wake up to your last trekking day today and after a big breakfast, camp is struck and the camels are loaded one final time. We will then set out on the walk back to M’hamid. We walk through extraordinarily landscape and back to this iconic town on the edge of the Sahara to complete the circuit where we will say an emotional goodbye.
We aim to reach M’hamid by lunch time (earlier if required) so that you have time to transfer back to Marrakech the same day or you can stay in a static camp or local guesthouse for your final night. Alternatively, you may wish to break your journey and stay enroute overnight.
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