By Eliane
My favourite part of Morocco is the Sahara Desert. We started our tour with an enjoyable eight-hour drive, sometimes stopping to take photos of the magnificent view. As the cars could not drive over the sand, we had to stop and take a ride on some one-humped camels (scientific name “dromedary”). Our tour guides wrapped our heads in turbans before we mounted our camels.
We were pleased to discover that the camels were much more comfortable than horses. The ride was brilliant! I loved the scenery, the big orange sand dunes as far as you could see, everything was so smooth, so serene.
Our hosts at the desert camp greeted us Moroccan style by laying down carpets on the warm sand and providing a silver platter with sweets, nuts, dried fruit and mint tea, complete with teapot and cups.
After we had eaten our fill we went into our tents. The adults had tents to themselves and us kids all shared a tent. The beds were huge and comfortable. The only problem was tents were very hot, but that couldn’t be helped. After dinner we went to the campfire. We played the drums (well, mostly watched) with the staff and then went to bed.
Next day was big. First our guides drove us out to the local school to check it out. The building was tiny, made out of mud bricks and coated with straw to keep it cool. The inside contained a couple of desks and a chalk-board. The students were lucky because they could choose whether they wanted to come to school or not.
Then we visited a nomad camp and after this we went fossil hunting.
Our guides took us to a place where there were heaps of fossils. I found one as soon as we got there and I think it was the best. The drive home was freaky, our driver went right up on the sand dunes and we almost tipped over. It was thrilling!
Our siesta was interrupted by a fun surprise that afternoon. We were playing in the camp when the adults told us there was going to be a sandstorm. Sure enough, when we looked out over the sand dunes, we could see sand flying towards us. We stayed out for a little longer, but had to tighten our turbans for the sand was blowing into our faces. Finally, when the wind started getting to us, we went inside. Unfortunately, we had to put screens all over the windows, so we couldn’t see out, but we did manage to catch a glimpse when my dad came stomping in to bring us some food. You might think that the howl and the rush of wind around the tent is scary, but it is really just another fun experience.
I could come back to the Sahara any day. It’s amazing.
There and back again 