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Morocco 5 October 2009 Merzouga
Our plan was to take advantage of the hiking trails into the Middle Atlas Mountains next to Azrou. We did take a small walk beside a mountain stream the afternoon we arrived but decided to move on the next day. We planned to take the bus to either Er Rachidia and if we made good time, continue on to Erfoud, stay overnight, then complete the trip to Merzouga, on the Sahara, the next day. We got on a second class bus right after breakfast the next morning and climbed up and over mountain ranges. The temperature dropped enough for us to put on our fleeces on the way to the high point of over 1700 M. The rain last week dropped snow on the high Jebel Arachi range visible from the bus. We started talking to a young Moroccan man, Mohammed, the most popular name in Morocco, who was going to Merzouga. He recommended we go all the way rather than break the trip in a less interesting town. We decided to take his advice and got off the bus with him in Er Rachidia. We shared a Grand Taxi with him the rest of the way. In fact we took two Grand taxis as each town has limits as to how far one taxi can take passengers. Luckily there is a system to connect with a taxi from the next town if you want to go farther than usual. Once again we hired the entire taxi which allowed us to stop for photos along the way. The Ziz Valley is a must see. It has gorges, red rocks like Sedona Arizona, and lush Palmaraie (a palm grove oasis). Mohammed took us to the hotel owned by his friends in Merzouga and it turned out to be a winner. Auberge Vallée des Dunes is run for just one year by Moha (short for Mohammed) and his Spanish girlfriend Maria. There are just five rooms around a small courtyard, and a large sitting room. We had a pleasant, simple room with attached toilet and shower. Most of the hotels in Merzouga offer half-board, which includes breakfast and dinner. The food was plentiful and excellent.
Out the front door of the auberge was a picture postcard view of Erg Chebbi, 190 M at its peak, the highest sand dune in Morocco. The erg sits in the middle of a sand dune area 35 km across and 50 km wide. The Sahara is not just one big sand dune. The sand dune areas are like lakes scattered over a flat base of hard packed sand covered with a blanket of black volcanic pebbles. Algeria has the 300 km long dune areas but Merzouga is on the edge of the largest in Morocco. That is what we and all the other tourists come to see. We were not in a rush so we took the next day off to explore the area and relax. Merzouga is on the Southeast edge of the Sahara desert in Morocco, with the Algerian border on the other side of Erg Chebbi. The village of 50 families is merely a collection of mud and straw adobe style houses and hotels. Up until five years ago the only way to get to Merzouga from Rissani, the nearest town 25 km away, was by 4WD. Finally the paved road was extended but it ends right at the village of Merzouga. There are no paved roads in the village. 4WD vehicles, motor scooters, bicycles and donkeys are the mode of transportation in this sleepy village. Hilary Clinton visited the village with her daughter Chelsea when Bill Clinton was president. A local told me there was military presence every 100 M but the positive outcome of this visit was that electricity and running water was installed for the village. Between Erg Chebbi and the village is a lush palmaraie full of date palms and small vegetable plots. It is date harvest time in September and October. A family harvesting their trees offered us a taste and they were delicious. Merzouga has one of the largest water supplies in the desert. It has been channelled along concrete aquaducts to provide water for the palmaraie. There are several Riads, the luxury level of hotel, in Merzouga. We asked if we could visit one that is just being built. It was very nice with a large restaurant next to a shallow swimming pool and nicely decorated rooms. Since they are just being finished, the rates were only Dh 300 (Dh 7 = 1 CAD) per person per day. Our simpler auberge cost Dh 200 each so I suspect rates will rise if it is a success. Having rested for one day, it was time to explore more of the area. A 4 hour circular tour of the Erg Chebbi sand dune area in a 4WD vehicle is the way to go. Our first stop was a shallow lake outside the town where pink flamingos gather. There was a flock of long-haired goat, an egret and a few ducks but no flamingos. Noone told them we were coming.
We drove to the back side of the Erg area to climb a small hill with an abandoned coal mine. It is no longer a commercial operation but locals search the area for fossils, found all over the area. The fossils are turned into souvenirs for tourists. From the top of the hill we could see the Algerian border with border posts scattered throughout the desert. The Algerian border has been closed for many years. We were told no one attempts the crossing if they value their life. We passed the tents of several nomad families who support themselves with herds of sheep and goats. Our picnic lunch was under a shelter made of berber carpets next to a small farm house. I think our driver Omar, likes the last section of the circuit best. He gets to put his 4WD through its paces surfing up and over small dunes. I thought we might get stuck in the sand at one point but we made it safely out.
We looked out our tent before 6 AM to see other camel trekkers climbing the tallest dune around to see the sun rise over the desert. It was already light but we quickly dressed and started climbing. It was hard work and neither of us bothered reaching the peak but we got far enough up to see several small nomadic tents in nearby valleys and to see the sun before it got over the dune peaks. There was nothing left to do but pack up, mount our camels again and amble back to Merzouga. Breakfast was waiting for us at the auberge. We left after breakfast, once again in our own Grand Taxi (this is becoming a habit) and are over-nighting in Erfoud where we have time to relax again and write this blog. |
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We changed our transportation mode leaving Fez. We
planned to take a bus to Azrou, a small town in the
mountains farther south but the first class bus only ran at
night. The alternative was a Grand taxi. These are old
Mercedes cars imported from Germany when their useful German
life has ended. In Morocco these become shared taxis. Two
passengers sit in front with the driver and four more
passengers squeeze into the backseat. You hire a Grand taxi
at a Grand Taxi stand in one of many official locations or
you hail one from the street. It is cheap but not very
comfortable for a longer trip. We splurged and reserved the
whole taxi for ourselves. That way we could direct the
driver to stop in Ifrane, a Swiss style vacation town
popular with Moroccans. There is not very much to do there
except relax so we just took the requisite tourist photo of
a large rock in a small square. The rock was carved with the
head of a lion by a German prisoner of war while he was
interned there during WWII. Now it is the symbol of the
town.
A
few km away is what the locals call a Black Village
populated by people from sub-Sahara countries such
as Senegal, Mali, Sudan and other countries. Some
were brought as slaves years ago and others came
north to as agricultural workers. There are no
longer many jobs in agriculture so the village has
been transformed into a musical performance stop for
tour groups. We were ushered into a small house
where one of the best known groups, the Gnawa were
performing. They play drums, a Moroccan lute and
brass hand symbols and sing in a language that is a
combination of Berber, Arabic and other native
languages. Their songs are both mystical and
ceremonial and sometimes accompanied by dancing. It
was an unusual and entertaining performance.
That
evening we got to explore some of the center of the
dunes, this time riding a camel. Ray and I took a
sunset to sunrise camel trek riding Jimmy and Asou
following behing our guide, Mohammed (another one).
We left before 5 PM and joined several other groups
all heading for the same spot. We stopped about 6 PM
to see the colours of the sand change as the sun
sank below the dunes. It took about 1 ½ hours to
reach our bed for the night. Tents made of the same
Berber blankets that created our lunch shelter were
set up permanently in a square in the dunes. There
were just the two of us at this location. Other
groups were on the other side of a dune. Mohammed
set out rugs and a small low table in the center of
the tents and made a bed for us in a tent with
mattresses, sheets and blankets. It was very
comfortable. We enjoyed a tasty chicken tagine
prepared by Mohammed in the small attached kitchen.
The moon has been full or almost full for the last
three nights so we almost didn’t need a flashlight
to see.