From Tinghir we embarked on our final leg into the desert to Merzouga on a route only serviced by Supratour Bus, run by Moroccan Railways with the same not-so-punctual schedule. Our bus was one and half hours behind! We'll stick with CTM.
Other people come to Merzouga for camel rides, desert camping, and jeep tours; plus motorcycle, ATV and 4WD Mad Max madness. Our sole ambition was to climb the 100 meter high dune right outside town. Do I need to mention that it is the site of various movies?
Climbing the Grande Dune turned out to be much harder than it looked. It's a good thing it was not higher. I might have given up without reaching the top. At the same time, we had to struggle with the loud "humming" of motorcycles, ATVs, and 4x4s, more mentally than physically. What's the point of burning fossil fuel and generating pollution to disturb the peace of the desert?! By comparison, the camel tours seem harmless. If it were not for the tourist trade, what would be the fate of the domestic camel?!
The view from the bus window on our way to Merzouga. Reminds one of rural China.
Our room in Merzouga was on the rooftop of an old inn overlooking a "working" courtyard. It seemed as if we were "sleeping in the desert"
Breakfast.
Camels awaiting tourists.
We were surprised to see beetle tracks all over the dunes.
And it's just another kilometer to the top of the Grande Dune across the orange sand.
Then almost straight up to the top ridge. Our GPS reported a 30% grade for the final 500 meters.
The top! Woohoo! Behind me is Algeria.
4WDrivers shatter the peace and pollute the air.
Coming down is easier; like floating.
We can't leave Merzouga without walking back out to the dunes to catch the sunset and have some fun with the pano function on SL's phone.
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Recent Post
Uzbekistan: Bukhara
Bukhara was a major city on the Silk Road. It had been the capital of various dynasties. Many of the buildings we see today originated duri...
Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days
-
Tashkent, Uzbekistan is our entry into Central Asia. The Silk Road had been a destination for us for decades. Besides the usual concerns for...
-
Last week we hauled our canoe and tent over to Merchants Millpond State Park and enjoyed some very fine camping and paddling. One day we p...
-
Khiva is really the first stop on our upstream tour of the Silk Road. An important post on the Silk Road, Khiva was razed and rebuilt many t...
-
From TashKent, we took a flight west to Nukus, located in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan. Nukus itself is a city establi...
-
Bukhara was a major city on the Silk Road. It had been the capital of various dynasties. Many of the buildings we see today originated duri...
-
Polonnaruwa is an archeological site in north central Sri Lanka. Between the 11th and 13th century Polonnaruwa was the capital of the island...
-
Abus Dhabi seems more familiar than Dubai. There is a recognizable downtown. There are city parks connecting downtown to the sea. There are ...
3 comments:
Yes, trekkingup sand dunes is seriously hard work! Congratulations.
Wow, that looks amazing to be hiking up the dunes!
@kathy and @ Dayle - Yes a bit harder than Jockey's Ridge. ;-)
Post a Comment