the sahara!

a berber pancake again for breakfast and we were off from the berber moutain enclave of midelt for points south. outside of town, the drive south revealed a horizon of snow packed moutains to the south and west, as the road winds up a brown, rocky plqin peppered with foot tall green brush. after the mountain pass, a flat, dusty plain emerged interrupted by a handful of identical berber market towns. eventually the road pulled along side, then above the ziz river valley. here the stark, barren landscape surrounds the lush greenery of farms and palm trees alongside the river. the kasbahs - both ancient, crumling ones and the occasional group of lively, thriving ones and the always present town mosque.



a few hours before sunset, we stopped for berber pizza, a kind of meat and vegetable pie, then transferred to 4 X 4 for the journey to the ksour at the foot of Erg Chebbi.



there i was introduced to my camel man, hamid, then whisked aboard the camel and was off for a night under the saharan sky, just me, hamid and camel. the mysterious shades and colours of the dunes mystified me as i slowly adjusted to the rythmic pattern atop the camel. just past sunset we arrived at a berber tent, where a half moon bright enough to cast a full shadow hung above the dunes we just crossed. hamid, speaking a smattering of spanish, arabic and french catered my meat tajine for dinner, and i slept under stars so many God alone could count, to borrow a local expression.

hamid awoke me early, and after a grueling climb on foot in the saharan sand, i watched the sun rise to again give color to the orange, peach, yellows and browns of the erg. after a short breakfast i was again on the camel, and a fez hours later back beside the erg, sore and very grateful for having spent the night in the sahara.

tonight, i shall sleep early for i plan to rise before dawn en route to the todra gorge.