Day 35 - Merzouga, Sarah Desert, Algerian Border, Morocco

My tummy is still a little tender but I'm moving on. An absolutely amazing day. The environment constantly changes as do the people. I don't know how people live in the villages as they are close to third world conditions. Each village are packed with people on the streets. Morocco has more satellite dishes than houses as they receive 4000 stations for free. 

It was a big day with a ten hour drive. Merzouga is near the Algerian border but this has been closed since 1994 due to accusations of terrorism on Algeria's part. Hence there is many army bases to be seen. On the way we saw a woman injured and bleeding on the road and were told that she attempted suicide by falling in front of a car. She was moving so hopefully will be ok.

Again we saw many nomads and in fact visited one in their makeshift accomodation. We are having to buy so much water as it is very, very hot.

We drove through the Atlas Mountains and arrived in the Sahara at about 6pm. It was quite windy so it was overcast with sand. It was difficult to ride the camel and try to use the camera and protect it from wind blown sand. We rode camels from the kasbah for an hour and a half through the dunes during sunset and K was ready to get off about half an hour prior to reaching our campsite but she put up with a sore bum for a little longer. We climbed a sand hill to take pics of our campsite at dusk and were fed and entertained by the camel herders. K got a chance to play the drums with the herders. It was lamb tagine for dinner followed by fruit.

The tents were far too hot to sleep in so we all dragged our mattresses out and slept under the few stars we could see. About 3am I awoke to a view of the moon, stars and clear skies. This was one day that we will never forget.