Swap bike for Camel

17-18/06/2019: Merzouga
Km travelled today/sum: 96km / 6330km
Sun shine, 32 degrees, country road

We both didn’t sleep too well this night. Both of us were up really early, in anticipation of what would happen today. Here is the view from the roof top terrace at sunrise.

Some people on the way to work, on vehicles that work well in the heat..

 

My theory worked! Lower temperatures and the bike started. We arrived in Merzouga really early and relived, not getting stranded in the desert was fantastic. The bike worked without any problems. Our hosts were extremly nice and didn’t say a word about the fact that we were there that early (around 9AM), they just gave us the room. When we were sitting by the pool, Mohamed approached Sigrid. Via the intenet we had enquired about the desert camp with camel ride but mentioned that we had problems with the bike and didn’t know if we would make it. So when 2 bikes arived very early Mohamed assumed rightly that this must be us. We agreed on the price and paid for the camp. I took a picture of Mohamed and Sigrid. Looked like everything was working like a charm today!

The temperature during the day did go up to 41 degrees, so we were apprehensive about sleeping in the desert. Oh well, already booked now!

We were picked up around 6PM, when the temperature had cooled down a bit. Surprisingly as soon we were in the desert, there was a slight breeze, which made the whole experience quite nice. Some pictures from the camel ride in the desert.

 

Here our guide took a picture of us at sun set.

We were blown away when we arrive at our camp. Luxury pure! We had a double bed and our own bathroom with a toilet and shower. This was a better accommodation then we had in some cities!

We met a nice couple from Argentina, Yasminka & Rod. They were on a short holiday in Morocco before visiting their son in Switzerland. During the evening we talked a lot about their and our travel experiences. And after dinner there was a bonfire with Berber music, which included us dancing! We really enjoyed the day.

Next morning we had a look at the sunrise, which was not as pretty as our sunset, but the dunes with their shades still looked impressive.

After a great breakfast, we hopped into a 4WD and our driver showed us how driving in the desert is REALLY done J. Back at the accommodation, we were lingering around the pool the whole day, oh so nice. After dinner we had a last dip in the pool.

Tomorrow we would start really early again. We figured that we had until lunch time before the temperature would be over 30 degrees and we would need to cover a bit of over 200 km.

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