Into the Sahara
It is an easy drive from Dades Canyon to Todgha Canyon (the next canyon along) and just before reaching Todgha Gorge itself you pass a large oasis covered by date palms and the town of Tinghir.
Once into the gorge, after passing through a number of villages, you reach the most famous part which is only around 500m long but has high narrow walls and a spring from which the river starts.
This is a very touristy area with a lot of day-trippers and consequently vendors selling items such as clothing and souvenirs along the walls of the narrow gorge, all of which lends itself to a fairly unpleasant driving experience, but we edged our way through and parked up on the other side where we stopped for lunch and jumped out to explore the area.
It seems that all the day-tripper coaches and minibuses turn around immediately after this narrow section so as we carried on driving through the canyon it became a much more peaceful and enjoyable experience. The condition of the road definitely deteriorates but the scenery makes it all worthwhile as the gorge continues, albeit not as dramatically, for quite a way.
We stopped off in one section as we couldn’t resist saying hello to a family of very cute and friendly little donkeys who came straight up to us as soon as we got out.
After reaching the end of the gorge we turned round and drove back out the way we came. We were planning on staying at one of the campsites along the canyon but they were either a bit grotty looking or so busy that they looked more like a car park than a campsite, so we decided to keep driving knowing that we’d find something else along the way.
We were ultimately heading for the Sahara, so we kept driving and around sunset happened upon a small quiet campsite by the side of the road. As we arrived and went to reception for our welcome tea we were joined by two other Brits, Mick and Sarah and of course their lovely dog Luna the Collie from TwoVansTravel, who we hit it off with immediately. We were all heading in the same direction so we agreed to meet up at a campsite on the edge of the Sahara the next evening.
The next morning we got back on the road heading toward Erg Chebbi and the town of Merzouga. However, following a recommendation from TwoVansTravel, we did stop off on the way to visit the Khettara Irrigation System.
This is an ancient man-made waterway system that channelled water 20m underground from the Atlas mountains at a gradient of 1-2% to ensure the water flowed. Every 40 meters or so there is a mound (made from excavated earth from the tunnel) and a well to allow the farmers to access the water. When this was in operation there were very strict rules about how much water each user could have per day to ensure everyone on the path of the system had access. The system was built in the 15th century.
We negotiated a price with one of the local tour guides who first showed us how the foot powered windlasses on the wells were used to raise water.
He then took us down into the tunnel itself, which has dried up, and explained how it was common to sleep down there in the summer because it is so cool.
At the end of the tour and after the customary tea he asked whether we had any chocolate or cake (Moroccans definitely have a sweet tooth). As it happened, we still had some chocolates left over from Christmas, so we gave him a handful of ‘Celebrations’ which put a big smile on his face as we said goodbye and headed on our way.
We eventually arrived at our destination, Haven La Chance Camping, in Hassilabied which is just North of Merzouga. The campsite itself leads right onto the dunes of Erg Chebbi.
Erg Chebbi is an area of large Sand Dunes that abuts the Algerian border. It is 28 Km long and about 8km deep and the dunes reach heights of up to 150m.
The campsite had a lovely looking swimming pool and a wonderfully cool lounge area inside but the outside temperature wasn’t quite warm enough to brave the cold pool while we were there.
Walking out into the dunes for sunset was an amazing experience. There is a lot of activity on the dunes with 4×4 tours, camel trains and ATV’s all moving around the dunes. It is not hard however to find a dune to yourself to watch the goings on from above.
A few Km’s from Hassilabied is Merzouga Lake, which grows and shrinks with the amount of rainfall each year. We had a fun morning cycling across gravel tracks to the lake with Mick and Sarah and made a mental note for future reference that it would be possible to drive there (slowly) and wild camp in our motorhome.
At the lake we saw flamingos – although they weren’t very pink – and some camels that had been brought down to drink by their owner.
Given that we were staying right next to the dunes we thought it would be a good opportunity to try a camel ride, so we booked a sunset ride into the dunes, and Mick and Sarah decided to join us too.
The camel man came right to the campsite and loaded each of us onto our camels. If you haven’t been on a camel before getting on and off is very disconcerting and it feels like you are about to be thrown off!
We set off into the dunes. To be honest we didn’t go very far but if you’ve ever been on a camel you’ll know its not a very comfortable experience and although it was a fun experience we were quite glad to get off by the end of it. Part way through we stopped off at the foot of a big dune and climbed up it to watch the sunset.
After the spectacular sunset was over Mick and I raced down the dune while the two Sarah’s made a more elegant decent and then it was back on the camels to return to camp.
We had a really fun evening, rounded off by drinks and nibbles with Mick and Sarah around the campfire but I’m not sure any of us would hurry to get back on a camel!
La Chance Haven Camping is the sort of place you could settle into and never leave but after five days (which is a long time for us), we decided we’d better get moving and waved goodbye to Mick, Sarah and lovely Luna who were heading in the opposite direction.
We were heading towards Morocco’s biggest dune – Erg Chigaga and the town of M’hamid but stopped overnight at the town of Zagora to resupply and break up the long journey.
Zagora was our first proper taste of Moroccan grocery shopping as there is no proper supermarket in this part of the country. There are lots of butchers, each one a hole in the wall with meat hanging outside. Each butcher only serves one type of meat and there is usually a head or other recognisable body part to let you know what they are selling. We were after chicken and minced beef. The mince was made by hacking a big chunk from a leg and mincing it in front of us (it was delicious).
Fruit and vegetables are great quality, cheap and easily obtained from greengrocers. Other sundries are a little harder and you might have to visit a few bodega like shops to get what you are looking for.
Fully supplied we headed to M’hamid, a really dusty frontier town, from which run a number of sandy tracks to the edge of the desert where we found Camp Bivouac Hassis Smara.
This is a really basic but beautiful campsite, there is no power but they did have toilets and showers, with hot water provided by a wood burner.
We parked up looking out into the desert surrounded by large yellow desert flowers. We rolled out a big Moroccan carpet provided by the campsite as a patio and in the evenings they came around and lit candles around our patio. It is absolutely lovely in this region at this time of year because the days are warm (approx 25c) but because the nights are still cold you can sit outside at sunset without fear of being bitten to death by mosquitos! The campsite also have a campfire every night and the owner will cook you a meal if you request it in advance, in fact the tagine here was probably the best we had in Morocco.
It was such a perfect little place that we settled in for a few nights of total relaxation. However we also wanted to visit Erg Chigaga and that’s only possible by 4 wheel drive, so we needed to book a tour to get there. Fortunately the owner of the campsite was more than happy to arrange this for us.
We started out early in the morning when our driver collected us from the campsite. We made our way down a sandy track towards the Erg which is about 50km from the campsite.
It wasn’t long before we stopped off to see some Moroccan Ostriches. This was a complete surprise to us as we had no idea ostriches lived in Morocco. We had managed to stumble across quite a big herd of them though.
We carried on heading towards the Erg with the track varying between pretty sandy and then patches of hardpack. Our next stop was at a Nomad camp in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.
This was only a five minute leg stretching stop before we were back in the car heading towards a proper break at an oasis. Crumbling walls of an old farming community surrounded an unexpected pool of water, filled with frogs, in the middle of the desert.
This wasn’t our destination though and it wasn’t long until we saw the massive dunes of the Erg ahead of us. Just before reaching them, our driver stopped and jumped out of the car. He had spotted a little desert lizard, a Sandfish Skink. These little lizards can actually swim through the sand.
We pulled in at a small desert camp right next to the start of the dunes. After they fed and watered us – tea and tagine of course, we had some free time to walk into the dunes.
The previous night at the camp we had met Phil and Caroline, a British couple and their black Labrador, Izzy. They were on the same 4×4 trip as us albeit in a different vehicle. So after lunch Phil and I set out to climb the biggest dune in the Erg at 300m high while Sarah, Caroline and Izzy took a less arduous route. It was really hard work as every step forward you sunk into the sand and slid back half a step. We eventually made it to the top though and the view was spectacular as you looked out over a real sea of sand as far as the eye could see.
We got a little lost on the way back and before arriving back at the camp we both felt beat up by the sun but were very grateful for the water when we arrived back.
All in all it was a really great daytrip out to Erg Chigaga and if you don’t have your own four wheel drive vehicle I would highly recommend it. This area is much less busy than Erg Chebbi and therefore feels a little more authentic. An overnight trip might be even better.