There were adobe houses (rocks covered with Adobe mud perched on craggy out crops in the he mountains, complete with snow were always in the distance. There were people selling water at unlikely spots on the mountain roads. How did they get there and where do they go. We came out at the desert which was endless miles of rocky flat land. The mountains, complete with snow were always in the distance. This is a country of contrasts, in its people, it's laws and it's scenery. We drove past villages that were miles from anywhere and seemingly no vegetation or means of support. What a challenging and difficult life. No electricity, heaven knows where they get water in a flat roofed mud hut.
This drive took a very long time. We were hungry but Abdul assured us we could eat at Efound. We wanted to be at the camp for sunset as that was part of the experience. It was 40 minutes from Efround to the camp and time was fast running out for the sunset. Abdul conceded and drove us to the camp. He was hungry and tired too but neither of us was terribly sympathetic as we felt we should have started out at 8:00. Anyway... We arrived at a Riad in the desert where after mint tea and olives we said goodbye to Abdul and got in a 4 by 4 for our trip to the camp.
As we opted not to ride a camel our driver took us 4 by 4ing in the dunes. Fun! It took about 1/2 hour to 40 minutes to get to the camp. We were greeted and taken to our tent. Oh my what a tent. I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out well. The lining on the walls was gold (sparkly ) and a deep brown. The floor was covered in layers of rugs. We even had a seating area across from the king sized bed. The bathroom had a patterned ceramic sink, the toilet was just a regular toilet and the shower gave lots of hot water and the drain worked (in spite of the nice places we have been staying at the drain has been an issue).
We dumped our bags and went to watch the sunset from the dunes. As we waited a young Berber came and asked if we would like to meet his camels. "Sure" so off we went to where they were resting behind a dune and under some trees. Would we like our pictures taken with the camels, Bob Marley and Jimmy Hendrix (actually their names are Angel and ? Something that starts with "a"). Sure we would. Next thing you know we are on the camels and going into the desert for a ride. Now we can say that we rode camels in the Sahara desert. The ride lasted about 1/2 hour and it was good it ended when it did or I would never have left that camel's back. My hips were tightened right up. Now for the good part. Once we were on the camel it had to rise up from a sitting position. It gets up with it's front legs first, tipping you backward before the back legs come up and you are level. Success, we are up and moving. It isn't long before I'm grinning from ear to ear. Ibrahim the camel man takes our pictures. My camel is in the lead and she is hungry so she keeps stopping to eat the small clumps of desert grass. Angel and I are relegated to the rear and Roy takes the lead. Now Angel discovers Roy and it appears that she has taken a liking to him when she pulls up close to him and nuzzle his leg. We do well on our ride and then we experience the camel sitting down. As you can imagine it is the reverse of standing. Down we go, front legs first, felt like going over the handle bars. Front legs, whoa! Now that was interesting. It was really the most anxious moment but we did it. Then we climbed a dune to watch the sunset. The sun was just at the horizon. After some pictures we are ready to go back to camp. I said that I could just sit on my bum and slide down. Ibraham seized on this and invited me to go desert boarding. He stripped the camel of her bright yellow blanket and had it to the top of the dune in a flash. I sat on it and he gave a tug and down the dune I slid, laughing all the way. We bid the camels a good night and left to have our dinner and to take more sunset pictures as by this time the sky had turned a glorious red. The camels would have their dinner too.
A camp fire was burning inside a ring of chairs now and Moroccan tea and cookies were being served off to one side. We chose to sit on cushions under a hexagon shaped frame with the sky as it's roof. Stars began to pop into view. There were no clouds. How lucky for us. Then it was time for dinner. The sun had set and it was 9:00. We are learning to eat late but it will not be a habit we continue at home.
Dinner was served in a tent. Our table is near the door which actually makes it easier to see. First we are served bread and olives. Pretty standard for any Moroccan meal where it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. Next came soup. It was lovely but we don't know what was in it. Pureed of course. Then we were served a bubbling tagine with tomatoes, zucchini and onions. Delicious! We scarf it down thinking it unusual to have a vegetarian meal but we are happy. The tagine is removed and we await our desser but no! The next course is a big piece of chicken. I got a leg and thigh and Roy a breast accompanied by vegetables. We couldn't finish it. Okay now for dessert. Nope. Next came two small hamburger patties ((camel? We were told it tastes like beef, Roy thinks it was lamb) a big hunk of cauliflower in some kind of coating and green beans. We didn't even try. At last the dessert was served. A plate of melon slices and oranges. A young couple from Hamburg was seated next to us and they made a god job of eating their meal.
We were entertained by a Berber band around the fire after dinner. A few minutes entertainment that lasted until 1:00 in the morning. We left after about 15 minutes and stood behind our tent to look at the stars. The camp has only low lighting so there was nothing to mar the view and what a view. The sky was almost white with stars and the dark spaces were small.
I didn't finish with the Berber boys band (sorry I couldn't resist the alliteration ). There were two drums, one big and the other small and four men playing concave shaped metal instruments that fit in their hands. I called them clackers. They sang as well. The music reminded us a bit of the ethnic music we heard in Kenya. After they warmed their drum skins over the camp fire they commenced to play. Before long the guests were holding hands and dancing round the fire. After a bit of that we snuck off to look at the sky.
I was told sunrise would be 6:35 so we were up and looking east at 6:15. Three other people were out. Eventually one other man would join us. This was presented as a big deal so we were surprised. Guess all the dancing wore them out. They explained that we couldn't ride camels out into the desert for sunrise because to the East of us and behind our tent was the Algerian border. We were behind the tent but didn't get to the border.
The most exciting thing about breakfast was discovering what was under the lids of the casserole dishes. It was fun to sit outside and eat while facing sand dunes. Camel riders or walkers appeared every now and then.
As soon as we ate it was back in the four wheel drive and back to the hotel to meet Abdul for a very long day of driving through very dramatic scenery.
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