Everyone has a special somewhere, a spot they’ve wanted to go to forever.
For me it was the Sahara Desert – all I’ve ever wanted to do was squish my toes into the dry hot sands, raise my hands to the sky and watch the sun rise. Blame it on the English Patient, and all those B grade movies watched as a teenager.
Imagine a clear 360°horizon, overwhelming peace and a silence that can only come from being totally alone – not withstanding my travel companion, guide and a few straggly camels resting in the shadows.
Silence – well maybe not! The early morning wind plays upon the red orange sand dunes, teasing out a constantly shifting paper-thin veil of sand.
As the sunrays slowly burst across the horizon the sands glow. It is 5am and already there is a palpable sense of heat building up, gathering its searing midday strength. I breath! I pinch myself! And my heart sings with joy at having experienced a truly perfect moment.
We’re at Erg Chebbi, a region of the Sahara on the south-eastern border of Morocco, almost at the Algerian border. In places the dunes reach a height of 150 metres. It has taken days to get here. The closest town is Erfoud about 60 kilometres away. It has that edge of the wilderness feel, its dusty street little changed from when it was on the salt trading caravan route generations ago.
Today the local souk still thrives. Where once they auctioned slaves they now sell dates and scrawny chickens. We find a coffee shop and watch a parade of people going to market, a mixture of Berbers, Arabs and Haratin, the people descended from the West Sudanese slaves who were bought to Morocco along this route.
Keen to spend a couple of days in Marrakesh and Essaouira before returning home we embark on a scenic 506 kilometres drive there, through sleepy Berber villages and the achingly beautiful Dadès Valley, where harsh desert rubs shoulder with extraordinary mountain gorges winding down to a green ribbon of oasis towns. The passing parade of kasbahs makes for a photographers dream. Some are crumbling away, others as big and orange as the hills upon which they are perched. The area is also becoming known for sweet smelling roses whose petals are distilled into rose water and ultimately rose oil, a key ingredient in may of the world’s top perfumes.
Upon arrival we retreat to our elegant Riad hotel in the heart of the medina. Sipping a glass of mint team in the small but exquisite palm and citrus treed courtyard my adventure seems all but a dream …. And yet all I have to do is close my eyes, raise my face to the sun and even now I am whisked back to the majestic dunes of Erg Chebbi.
