Sahara Sunsets and Awkward Experiences
Making our way to Merzouga was making our way to another world - surreal sienna waves of living sand crashing right onto the steps of our oasis hotel.
After a full day trapped on the bus, we burst out of our room door and ran out into the dunes to watch the sun set on the sand. Without life saving water, without a flashlight and with little idea of where we were going... worth it!
Surprisingly, even on top of a dune we couldn't entirely get solitude. As we were heading back, out of nowhere popped a new friend eager to walk us back. He was even so kind to show Ang a shortcut down the dunes. I could not stop laughing. Of course, we then had the exclusive opportunity to look at his wares and buy for a "democratic price".
The next morning we willingly got back in a small vehicle for a 4x4 (aka SUV) drive through the area surrounding the edge of the Sahara.
Riding through and over a few, smaller dunes the first stop was a fossil bed along a small pond. During the Palaeozoic Era, the deserts of eastern Morocco were actually a sea. We saw trilobites, turtle shells, ammonites, orthoceras, sea stars and many others. There are hundreds of types of fossils spread over more than 100 sq kilometres, and maybe as many fossil shops and peddlers.
Over-mining and the unregulated sale of fossils is putting the resource at risk. Erfoud is part of a UNESCO biosphere reserve in which the sale and trade of cultural artifacts is forbidden and illegal under Moroccan law, but fossils are not specifically mentioned.
Our next chance to hop out of the 4x4 was at a traditional nomadic family's camp. It was interesting to see the different tents, mud shelters and the weaving loom. One of the family's three wives was making medfouna aka "Berber pizza" - a bread containing sheep fat, onions, potatoes and spices cooked in a sand/mud oven. We sat in the large dining tent for some mint tea and a helping of the fresh baked medfouna, which was very oniony and sheep fatty as well as surprisingly filling.
I know that these tourists visits are the primary source of income for this previously nomadic family, but I couldn't help but feel awkward and invasive as 10 of us pulled up, piled out and immediately started taking pictures of people going about their lives. We were told they were fine with having their photo taken, but none of the women or children looked up at the cameras or really interacted with the gaggle of gawkers. Also awkward was the fact I had to pee and there is no toilet tent at a nomad camp. I ran across the plain to a mud half wall keeping the goats contained and ducked down to do my business, hoping I hadn't pissed on anything important or pissed off anyone local.
After our snack, we headed over to a former quartz mine operated by the French during occupation. Nothing much to see here except a nice view of the dunes rising over the plains and a bunch of camels also enjoying an afternoon snack.
Onwards to enjoy a performance of Gnawa - Berber music, which combines rich rhythms and poetry, and dance.
The last song in the repertoire involved *gasp* audience participation. Noooo! Pulled out of my seat and included in a dance circle, I was soon forced to face one of my worst nightmares - dancing in public. One by one, we were pushed into the middle of the circle to show off our moves (or embarrassing lack thereof in my case). Not even my good ol' standby of standing off to the side and holding up my camera got me out of this one.
Flooring it, we raced back around the dunes to our oasis hotel for a quick lunch before saddling up for another ride through the desert.
Stay tuned for camels and desert camping! And apparently a ninja fight between me and myself?
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