Why the sahara desert should be on the top of your places to visit list
This winter holiday, I went to the amazing country of Morocco! At the time when i boarded the flight from Shanghai, I didn’t really have that much information about this country, all i know is that Jack Morris and Lauren Bullen 2 of my favourite instagrammer took some of the most amazing picture here! #notreallyagoodreason #iknow (Check them out on @doyoutravel and @gypsea_lust).
So my journey started at the city of Fes which is the former capital city of Morocco, then I went on to travel to Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Merzouga, Assilah, Tangier, Ouarzazette, Ait Ben Haddou, Ifrane, and Chefchaouen! Those cities are amazing especially the blue city of Chefchaouen and the winter wonderland city of Ifrane, but I’ll keep that for another post as now I’m going to talk about the majestic SAHARA DESERT!
How to get to Sahara
The Sahara desert of Morocco (a.k.a the Merzouga Desert) is located at the Eastern part of Morocco, and the closest city from the desert is called Merzouga. As there are no airport or train station in Merzouga, tourists usually join a tour group starting from Marrakesh or Fez, there are numerous of tours that you can choose from from 3 days 2 nights Marrakech – Sahara – Fez, to a day trip back and forth on the same day to Marrakech, and so much more other package. The tour usually includez a camp under the stars and also a camel ride to the middle of Sahara, the camp varies from the super glamorous ones with hot water inside the room to a super simple budget traveler style camp.
As I’m together with AIESEC, I didn’t join the tour group like other travelers. Instead Anas an AIESECer organized a trip for all exchange participants. After 2 days of stay in Marrakech, we began our journey in his sedan. While Sahara is indeed the highlights of this trip, the journey on the way was nonetheless magnificent as we passed through the “Atlas Mountains”
After 2.5 hours full of ups and downs through the atlas mountains, we finally arrived #notatsaharabut at the beautiful city of Ait Ben Haddou. Ait Ben Haddou is one of the most odd, unique yet spectacular looking city on Earth. The whole city is located on a mountain, with houses, stores, and restaurants build on top of one another. This city looks like something not from the 20th century but more like an old Roman style city, that’s why it’s the shooting place of the movies and TV shows that I mentioned above. There’s also a dinosaur museum and movie studios that you can visit but we didn’t have a chance as we arrived late in the day.
Sahara
The city of Merzouga which is the entrance to the Sahara desert is 4.5 hours away from Ait Ben Haddou. We arrived at the Sahara at 4.30 pm just in time to catch the sunset!
So it took an hour camel ride from Merzouga to our camp in the middle of the desert. Beware the camel ride is kinda bumpy and not really as comfortable as a horse, but well it’s a unique experience to ride a camel in the sahara !
What can you do in the Sahara ?
Stargazing
The Saharans who run the desert camp cooked the dinner for us and afterwards we gather around a campfire as the Sahara got really cold at night (about 0 to -5 degrees celcius). But the highlight of the sahara night is the stars, it is the perfect place for stargazing with millions of beautiful clear stars above you.
Sandboarding
Taking pictures with the miraculously soft sand
As the morning came, sahara turns to its usual hot temperatue (around 30 degrees during winter). By this time, I recommend you to take a walk back to Merzouga instead of the camel ride, as the sands around the camp are full of footprints of camels, cars, and people, while the sands in the middle of the sahara are pure with no prints which is much better for photography.
Me, Larissa, Aryo, and Hamza really had a great time taking pictures during our way back! It was blazing hot and we almost got sunburnt and we also got lost but well, where’s the fun if everything goes smoothly!
So there goes my post about the sahara desert! Its awesome stars at night combined with its soft sand and its stunning view took our breathe away! Don’t hesitate to put this place on your places to go list people!
