Moroccan Adventure: Riding Camels in the Sahara Desert

Hi chums!

This is one of my favourite posts ever because never have I ever taken so many pictures. This was the most insane trip ever and the Sahara desert was definitely my favourite part. So, now that I have bigged this up so much, without further ado here is my adventure in the Sahara desert!


After driving all day from Marrakech and stopping at various places along the way, we made it to the Sahara desert. The roads to the Sahara are endless straight roads past sand/dirt and you start to wonder if you'll ever get to the place where the hundreds of pictures you have looked at were taken. But eventually you get a glimpse of the orangey sand and you know you are almost there!


When we arrived at the edge of the desert, we could see our camels saddled and ready to go. After taking the essentials out of our suitcase to last us until we returned the next day, we prepared to get on our camels.


Before actually seeing the camels I hadn't thought much about how I was actually meant to get on it/ how comfortable the ride would be. Let's just say I was in for quite a surprise - exhibit A:


Sitting on a camel whilst it stands up and sits down is the hardest thing ever. It's literally like being on a Bucking Bull but in real deal life. 


Once you're actually up, it doesn't get much easier! After seeing pictures online, I assumed it would be easy to ride a camel and take some shots but wooow was I wrong! The camels are tied together in groups of seven/eight max and they love to slip and slide in the sand. It was the bumpiest ride ever and I was so sure I was going to drop my phone it was unreal.


However, after getting over the shock of the ride, I became more confident with my camera and managed to get some pics. I put my phone and camera away for most of it though because I wanted to be in the moment and enjoy this amazing experience!




We rode the camels about 45 mins and then went sand boarding. This is literally sitting on a snowboard and sliding down the sandy hills. It was really fun but such hard work dragging the snowboard back up the sandy hill!



As the sun started to set it got quite windy and sand started blowing in everyone's eyes, but the sunset was so amazing it didn't matter!




We sat on the top of a sandy hill watching the sun disappear and could not believe we were lucky enough to be there.



After the sun set we wandered down the hill to our camp for the night. Camping is seriously not the word to use. It was more like a serious case of glamping and I was 10000% ok with that.


After dinner, we sat outside whilst our guides lit a fire and played us some Moroccan music on drums.


This was a seriously late night. Music was playing for hours after our guides had finished their drumming and my friends and I lay outside on mattresses, looking at the starry African sky. There is honestly nothing like it. We watched for shooting stars and spent hours chatting and chilling - it was so magical!

We ended up going to bed at like 2:30 which was interesting, considering we had to be up at 5 so that we had time to see the sunrise.


Surprisingly, we didn't feel that tired when our alarms went off - we were probably high on excitement!


The sunrise was beautiful, but it happened so quickly and before we knew it our guides were shouting for us to come and get breakfast and then we were back on our camels in a flash!



It was another inelegant mount and we were off! The sky was completely blue, without a cloud in the sky!




The guides were so amazing at taking pictures of us all as we held on for dear life so as not to fall off our camels - I guess the sand would make a soft landing but I'm glad I didn't have to find it out for myself!



So that was the end of the Sahara desert adventure! Before I wrap up this blog post I thought I would give you a bit of info on the camp. I was nervous before going because I couldn't find any blog posts that talked about the camp itself and I am admittedly not the biggest fan of roughing it - sue me!


So, the camp we stayed in was just randomly in the middle of some sandy hills. I have no idea how the guides found it because the sand makes everywhere look the same!


The picture above shows the outside tents where everyone hung out before dinner and then in the evening. We pulled the mattresses out from under the tent when we were star-gazing.

The picture below is the loo - not the most pleasant topic but it's something I wanted to know before I went, so I thought I'd include it. I don't know how but there was a fully functioning toilet and sink which was HEAVEN. The only thing you have to remember is to throw your loo roll in the bin instead of flushing it, but that's the same with every loo in Morocco. It's so hard to remember not to chuck it in the loo but it is so important to put it in the bin otherwise the toilets get all clogged and majorly grim!


The picture below shows the tents we slept in. We were a group of 8 and we were all in the same tent. There was plenty of room and they give you mattresses, pillows and blankets - not that it mattered too much because we didn't sleep much! I wasn't cold at all at night, but it was May so that's probs why. I've heard it gets super chilly in Jan/Feb so beware if you go then!


I seem to have forgotten to take a pic of the main tent, but basically it was filled with tables and chairs and the guides brought us pasta and other yummy food for dinner. 

When we arrived back to where our bus was waiting we bought some souvenirs - did someone say sand from the Sahara desert??

Our bus left to go back to Marrakech at 7:30 and we were so shattered but it was so worth it - and a 9 hour bus trip was more than enough time to catch those z's.

I know I said it before but I cannot believe how lucky I was to get to go on this trip. It was the most unusual thing I've ever done but I cannot recommend it enough! Our guides were so nice and friendly and we had the best time!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx


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