~ Midelt to Sahara Desert ~
This morning we were super excited!! It had finally arrived – the day we were going to the dessert! Now I’m not going to lie, a few of us were not feeling our best (to say the least – Moroccan belly was starting to catch up with us) however we were still keen. Most of the morning was spent driving to our lunch destination. We drove to a hotel where we were designated to while away a few hours of the afternoon while we waited for the sun/heat to go down a little bit. The hotel itself was lovely – a great pool and a room where we could relax as well as a cute dining room. The food did look delicious, however not many of us ate much because of our tummies. I had about two spoonfuls and poor old Max had none. Those of us who could enjoyed some time in the pool, while the others tried to stay cool and feel less sick before jumping on a camel…. 

We left the hotel about 5 o’clock and drove the rest of the distance to where we were meeting our camels and our guides. Part of the journey wells very weird, we drove over rocks and bumps on what didn’t seem very road like at all before we the got back on a smooth road. This repeated itself over a few times, not helping anyone’s tummies. There was also fruit and vegetable stalls sporadically along the way, with nothing else around them. 

Finally we arrived at Merzouga – the base where we were going to swap Stan the Van for the camels! It was almost surreal with the sand dunes extending into the distance. We were introduced to our camels and our Berber guides helped us climb aboard (one of the strangest experiences I have had!). We had about an hour trek into the desert to make it to our Berber camp – it was a weird, wonderful, uncomfortable, hilarious and magical experience. The camel behind me had the snottiness nose I had ever seen and kept trying to wipe it on my leg (gross). Poor Max was moving all over the shop – really too sick to keep herself up on the camel. We went up and down dunes as our Berber guide led the camels further into the desert. Mohamed had joked that we better make sure we have our passports on us invade one of the camels took off and we ended up in Algeria… 

The camp itself was really quite good – a series of tents, as well as two toilets and a table with a few stools nestled in a small valley created by the dunes. Mohamed said we had a few hours before dinner and gave us some boards so we could go sand surfing. It was so fun! Some of the slopes were much slower than anticipated and some were much faster! 
It was dark when we sat down for dinner. Mohamed and our Berber guides had cooked us a feast! We had a mix of salad things, rice and veggies and meat skewers. It was delicious. We lounged around for a while, eating and talking and then lying down on the mattresses that we had dragged out of the tents and stared up at the incredible stars. 
A few of us dragged our mattresses, blankets and pillows (with the help of the guides) up to the top of a sand dune to truly sleep under the Saharan stars. It was amazing. Breathtaking. We were lucky enough to see shooting stars. Truly an indescribable experience. 

The only glitch in the night was when I got up to go to the bathroom. I headed in the direction that I thought I needed to go and ended up stumbling and sliding down a sand dune that was much steeper than I remember. I tried to correct my course but I could not make out where I was going and it seemed to be making it worse. I had a fear that I would be lost in the desert. I decided the only real option was to head back the way I came, only it was far too steep for me to walk back up! So I had to crawl on my hands and knees back up to where our mattresses were. All the while there was a mini sand storm going on – whirling around me. It was quite an experience looking back! Thankfully when I made it back up to our mattresses one of the other girls woke up (I scared her coming of the ridge – she thought I looked like a lion) and we went together – much easier to navigate as a group! The next morning when we told Mohamed about our escapades he could not stop laughing.