Meng's Travels: The Sahara Desert

On the surface it sounds like there is nothing in the Sahara Desert. On this trip we were exposed to many things that we'd have never experienced if we traveled on our own. OAT has many tours in Morocco, sometimes even multiple trips a week. It has a local team that plan the itinerary so that we can experience what real life is in Morocco and meeting the locals.

One of the misunderstanding of the desert is that there is no water. However, the inhabitants here know where to look for water. The first farmer we visit has a lush farm grown with water that he pumped from underground. How does he find water? By using two sticks and watching it vibrate. I am not 100% sure it works but according to him, that's how he finds water.

A lush field

Our farmer next to his well

A date palm

Water being pumped to his well

After visiting the farm we were taken to the desert to watch the sun set.

Footprints in the sand

Part of the group

Sunset in the desert

The next morning we were treated to an hour-long camel ride in the desert. I have been on a camel before - on the Silk Road in China in 2014. We have to cover most of our face or head because of the blowing sand. It was a wonderful experience riding a camel in the desert.

On a camel

Camelradie

A silhouette of a camel caravan

Saying good-bye and thank you to my camel

Riding a camel in June 2014, near Dunhuang in China

According to Wikipedia, 94% of the camels are single-humped. The two-humped Bactrian camel makes up only 6%. Although I don't remember whether the camel in China had 1 or 2 humps, I was told they have 2 humps. I can't tell from the photograph either.

Next we were treated to some native Moroccan music, performed by darker skin Moroccans. These Moroccans have darker skin and we were told they migrated north from countries south of Morocco, like Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, etc. They were mostly percussion instruments combined with a few string instruments.

Entrance to the local musicians' venue

Singing and Dancing

Music in the family

Location of where we were

We next set out into the desert to look for a Bedouin family. By definition, a bedouin is a nomadic person. Where they move to in the desert depends on where they can find water to feed their animals and grow crops. When that area dries up they move to find another place where they can find water. The family we found is known to our guide. The bedouin family is compensated for sharing their lives and stories with us.

The father

Wife and children

The courtyard

Sleeping Quarters

Mud House

"Living Room"

We are now driving through the Atlas Mountains, heading towards the town of Quarzazate. This area is popular with movie studios because of their unique landscape. Some of the movies that were filmed here include the Indiana Jones movies, Gladiator, and Games of Thrones.

Vendor selling souvenirs

Local Landscape

We next stopped at a village to meet a local family, who showed how their daily lives is like, including cooking Moroccan food.

Making bread, with Aziz, our guide in the background

Donkeys are a popular mode of transportation

A beautiful and tasty Tajine and Couscous

The local women demonstrating how they prepare the dish

Showing us how he makes bricks from mud

We stopped at the Imik Simik Women’s Association for Rural Development, an organization to help the women further their education and employment opportunities. The Grand Circle Foundation, the philanthropy army of OAT, sponsors this organization.

We finally arrived at Quazazate, a small town in the Atlas Mountains, before finally heading to Marrakech. After checking into the beautiful Dar Kamar hotel, our guide Aziz, asked if we wanted to try going to a Hammam. I had no idea what it is! I thought it was a public bath, where you can clean up and soak in warm water, like an onsen. However, when we entered the hammam we were told to strip down to our underwears. Then one of the hammam male employees doused me with water and using a coarse sponge, scrubbed me strongly. He showed me the dead skins that were scrubbed from my body. After scrubbing almost my entire body I rinsed myself with clean water. I felt fully cleansed!