5th
Feb 2016
Serene Oasis,
desert, and a night in the sand dunes of the Sahara !
We woke up in our
private little oasis camping ground in Tazzerine, had a hot shower (not always
possible), breakfasted, and went on our way.
Aus $8 for the night – A bargain for a night in a private and tranquil
oasis, I reckon ! Driving out through
the village, we first passed some big local houses set back from the road, and
the narrow mud brick walls along the road.
Once in the town we passed some very good murals they had painted on the
town walls, and then saw some good vegetable stalls, so stopped and stocked up
on tomatoes and mandarins, and found some good looking beans – And then we
found the bread stall ! So by the time
we left Tazzarine, we had everything we needed !
The road from
Tazzerine across to the Saharan sand dunes at Erg Chebbi is basically a flat
road across desert – Some rocky, some hilly, and some sandy, especially as we
got closer to Rissani where we turned south.
We passed the now common picturesque rocky outcrops that seem to be
endless in this country, and when one sees these one can only wonder at how
they were formed, and what they looked like 10,000 or even a million years
ago. Endlessly fascinating.
There weren’t
even many villages to pass through on this road – although we did pass an
interesting hotel where they had raised an old Renault R5 (quite common over
here still) up onto a concrete stand in order to advertise their Trophy Roses
(like sand roses), desert tours, and meteorites ! Normally when people put a car on a stand
like this, they remove the engine and innards to make it lighter – I noticed
that this one seemed to have everything intact, engine and all !
Shortly
afterwards we came over a brow and there was a Hummer (a full size army H1) in
the middle of the road, waving us to pull over – several big army trucks with
construction equipment we coming down the road and taking up most of it ! So we pulled over and waited till they had
all gone past. We have seen quite a few
army Hummers here – And from where we are tonight the Algerian border is only
about 15 kms east of us !
We eventually arrived
in Rissani, where, after entering the narrow city archway and gates and passing
the mosque just as everyone was heading in that direction, we wandered through
the narrow and very rough streets of town for a while before we found the right
road south down to Merzouga and the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi. Shortly after we got on the right road, we
stopped for lunch beside the road so that we didn’t end up arriving in Merzouga
just down the road needing to stop in the middle of town. We really were in the middle of nowhere, and
had driven on tracks maybe 100 metres or more off the road, and while we are
making our sandwiches, we hear an engine, and an older SWB Toyota Landcruiser
pulls up beside us !! He introduces
himself as Omar and his wife Soued and their tow children and a dog in the
back. He says he is in School
administration in Taouz, a little town at the end of the road, but as it is
school holidays he is on his way to his home town of Ar-Rachidia (a little way
north). It turns out his Toyota is overheating
and when we look at the engine (an old 4 cyl) the problem is obvious – The
radiator cap has a hole in the top and is spewing rusty water everywhere ! After a long chat in which we explain we do
not have that spare part, they invite us to their home in Ae-Rachidia tomorrow,
we agree ad swap phone numbers, and they head off north ! It all happens in the desert – It always
used to in Dubai, and it still does today in Morocco !
After lunch we
continue on towards Merzouga – The Erg Chebbi sand dunes here are famous, and
although they are a bit touristy, I want to see them. We read of an interesting campsite – Auberge
Camping La Tradition – which is supposedly closest of any camp site to the
dunes – Sounded good, since that s what we had come for. Having met Omar we decided to head down to
the end of the road in Taouz just to see what was there, and we passed the
turning to the campsite. So we went in
for a look, finding it tucked away down some lane ways – And there it was –
Right at the foot of some enormous sand dunes !
Perfect.
Having found our
campsite we headed down to Taouz, and there really is very little there – The
road really does end in a brick wall !
You can go round it and head on towards the Algerian border, but an Army
officer came out and said we couldn’t go down there. So we didn’t ! And headed back towards Merzouga. On the way we passed the Morocco National
Motor Museum (Why would a National motor museum be out here at the end of the
world in the Sahara ?!), but unfortunately it appeared to be closed – Or to be
more precise, it appeared to be still under construction ! Will have to google it once I have decent
wifi and find out what the story is.
We went into
Merzouga for a look, and sure enough, we were waved down by Omar the Tuareg who
told us about his wonderful camp site and excellent camel tours into the
desert, etc etc. We eventually escaped
from him and on driving up to (yet another ) end of the road, got propositioned
by a couple more Tuaregs, with similar patter, and ironically also all called
Omar ! But very nice, nevertheless
! One ended up taking Janet up to the
top of a sand dune for a photo, and then taking photos of us with some of the
camels, and after many promises of “Bukhra Inshallah”, (“tomorrow, God
willing”) we finally made our escape !
We wandered through the dusty dirt back streets of Merzouga trying to
find a way out whereby we could avoid Omar the First, the Toureg ! Unfortunately there was some kind of school
girls’ procession going on in the street we chose, so we had to double back and
run the Omar gauntlet – But he must have been watching the school girls’
procession because we escaped.
It was then back
to the campsite under the dunes, and after setting up and chatting with Mubarek
the owner, he offered us a trip around Erg Chebbi tomorrow in the car. I am loathe to head into the desert on my own
without another car in case of problems, but he is taking some Italians around
the dunes tomorrow, and said we could tag along, which sounds perfect. So that planned, we were back at the van and
Janet was getting supper organized when she said that while camping at the
foothills of the Saharan sand dunes was fun, she would rather go out on a camel
and spend the night in a Bedouin tent in the desert. Well, I had noticed that Mubarrek hadn’t
unsaddled all of his camels, just some of them, so I went and asked him if he
ever did evening rides in the desert – This is all about 5.30 pm. He says yes, we have a group of 9 people
heading out for an overnight stay in the desert in about 20 minutes – And when
I asked if there was room for one more (hey, I have my limits !), he said
yes. So I ran back to the van and told
Janet to stop preparing supper and be ready to mount her camel in 20 minutes !
Long story short,
19 minutes later she had her pj’s in a back back along with her toothbrush, a
sleeping bag under her arm, and was mounting her designated camel and heading out into the desert in the
sunset. She gets dinner out there around
a camp fire, sleeps in a Bedouin tent, gets breakfast at 6 am, and will be back
in camp by 8 am. Then at 9 am we head
off in the car around Erg Chebbi, so it is going to be close in the morning
! Meanwhile, I have cooked and eaten
supper, and will need to be up early so I can pack the car up so that when she
gets back all she will need to do is have a quick shower before we head out
around the dunes.
As for poor old
Omar in Ar-Rachidia for lunch tomorrow, I have texted him and told him we won’t
make it there until the next day ! And
that is exactly why I make few firm plans / commitments when on the road –
Unexpected things like this tend to happen, and while we are out here, we may
as well do them.
The report on
Janet’s night in the desert and how we go out in the desert in the car tomorrow
will be posted tomorrow – Stay tuned to this channel !!
Photos are finally here - Will annotate them later https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0414TazzerineToMerzouga?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLm5I6epbaUyQE
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