Sahara Desert

Image: Sahara Desert

26 September 2023

Post 2 of 4.

I was super keen to see the Sahara Desert and I was not disappointed. The colours and lines were just magic. It was vast and surreal and vivid and oppressive. It was hot and bright and sandy and pretty. It was thoroughly uncomfortable and totally enjoyable at the same time.

Did you know the Sahara Desert has an area of 9.2 million square kilometres and reaches right across the top of the continent, accounting for 31% of Africa? It covers large parts of 11 countries: Morocco, Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. My googling efforts taught me that the desert is not just sand dunes, but includes gravel plains, stone plateaus, salt flats, dry valleys and lakes, and sand seas and dune fields. Some sand dunes can be 150m high!

Apparently the Sahara has bright sunshine 82%-98% of its annual daylight hours. That is almost a permanent absence of clouds making much of the Sahara the hottest place on earth during its summer. The temperature of the sand can reach 80 degrees Celsius. Ouch!

We were visiting the area called Erg Chebbi in southern Morocco, about 10kms from the Algerian border. The air temperature was 39 degrees at 4pm but with a hot ferocious wind. I was expecting to have my legs whipped by the sand, but the sand was so fine I could hardly feel it on my skin.

We donned our nomad head scarf to protect our faces from the wind, sun and sand for our sunset camel ride. It was quite fun. We went up and down medium sized sand dunes with the camels sliding and grumbling as the sand moved underfoot.

Camel-less, we climbed a huge sand dune to watch the sunset. We could see huddles of tourists across the sand dunes in the distance. Sunset was mostly underwhelming. A thick layer of dust and pollution stuck to the horizon which unfortunately didn’t add any pizzazz to the sunset. But it was great to be there and a wonderful experience.

The desert is a world of its own and not really a place for humans – particularly those humans used to the conveniences of modern life. However, the tourist dollar can make anything comfortable. So much so that our tent had an ensuite! Picture 19^th century British aristocrats pretending to be explorers forcing their staff to recreate white man comforts far from home. That was us! We had a window I could fit one foot through, but layers of soft pink silk drapes covering the walls and ceiling, plush cushions on the beds, traditional Moroccan carpet on the floor and a lounge for reclining (if you were <1.3m tall). Fancy!

I was hoping to be dazzled by a stunning star show that night but, similar to sunset, the dust, light and general pollution stifled the dazzle. The temperature was still 36 degrees at 11pm so we slept like star fish.

The morning light showed what animals had been busy during the night around our tent. We could see tracks of scarab beetles, scorpions, desert rats, tourists and cats (cause there are cats EVERYWHERE in Morocco). The temperature at sunrise was a delightful 25 degrees and we took our time enjoying the change in colours around us as the sun welcomed us to the new day.