The Morocco Trip: Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The majority of the day was spent lounging around the pool until 7pm, as it was deemed just too hot for us to go straight into the Sahara in the midday or even day sun. Anyway, I woke up to find several guys had slept by the pool and hundreds of bottles littered the floor. It looked like some big party had hit the hotel. 

This was Unis, one of our guides who either took a liking or hating to me, I'm still not sure which, as he repeatedly hit me round the ear...

The sun was HOT today, and many of us got burnt shoulders, resulting in T-Shirts to be worn for the pool. This however, was a bad idea for those wearing white because the chlorine-sun cream mixture the water had become had a habit of turning things a yellowy-green colour. I thought smart and wore a green top. ;)

A shower and I was ready for the desert. Covering fully up to avoid the intense sun, which included wearing a neat head scarf around the face.

The entire Saharan trek is after this link, so read more for them! You won't want to miss it! 100+ photos!

Before we left, this abandoned kitty turned up, and while people "awwed" at its cuteness and loneliness, I just took pictures of it getting angry.

And then there were the 35 or so camels waiting for us around the back of the hotel. 

The second forward camel with it's bum sticking out was actually detected as a face by my camera...

And yep, that is a dude, or camel penis to the lest street smart. So welcome to Camel Penis Meister Blogs!

The Big Mac, one of 3 of our teachers. Well, he's just the school's financial adviser...

As you might be able to tell, Joe here wasn't feeling so good before the trek and ended up missing out the camels. He did however get to go on a quad across the dunes so it's all good. 

So I saddled up onto "Malcolm" here, who came complete with a comfy blue rug and handle bars. And I was the second person in the lead.

Ready to roll.

I tired to go for some shadow play in a few photos.

See, shadow play!

Malcolm begins the march.

35 camels made for one big trekking party.

The dunes were just spectacular and like I mentioned in part 3, things felt like they were paintings. I often found myself double taking at the views! 

One guy to lead us all, one guy to bind us. One guy to find us all and in the darkness guide us.

Unfortunately, one Andrew Bloomfield was behind me, who you may recognise as 14 time winner of MOANER OF THE YEAR. But his persistent complaining didn't manage to wipe the smile off my face, as I tried to counter his gripes with a pleasant STFU! No, I just ignored him in the end...

One funny thing about these dunes were that when the camels pooped, it would roll down in little clumps and looked like they were racing! Immaturity FTW!

Malcolm really rocked the mohawk look.

The setting sun was breathtakingly beautiful.

Camel riding across the Sahara: POV Style.

Onward. Wait, looking back on this image, I have no idea how I could have taken it!?

After about 1 hour and 15 minutes of sheer Saharan awesomeness, we approached camp.

Me and Malcolm - what a lovely chap.

Is it just me, or does it look like he's smiling?

Even out in the desert cats roamed.

We were greeted by the berbers with this hot, honey-tea drink designed to help relax and sooth dry throats.  

I don't even know what was going on here.

Or here, to be honest.

Now this one, I know about. 

Sitting at this knee high table meant some awkward kneeling and shuffling. It certainly was an experience though.

Starters was a soup. Normal enough.

Well, I'll be! A tagine for dinner! How exotically different!

And assorted fruits, which was nice as most places we'd been to only did one of these. Plus there was no cinnamon which was good, because I hate the stuff!

The desert was home to plenty of big bugs.

And this was our sleeping arrangements for the night - a refugee style outdoor abundance of mattresses. Some complained, but I was much happier with this atmospherical set-up as opposed to tents. And sleeping under the stars was incredible. Seriously, the entire sky was filled with gleaming lights, an open view to the stars like none of us had ever witnessed. I think it was about 4 shooting stars I saw that night! Just a shame that this glimpse into space couldn't be picked up by cameras. But, seriously, just WOW.

Then it was the traditional berber entertainment, which comprised of 4 drumming dudes and some dancing. We all got stuck in on this one.

Waking up that morning was a bit hectic, as we all had to rush onto that dune to watch the sunrise. The night, although a little chilly, was smooth and I only awoke once to find several thousand galaxies staring down to me at 4am. I dide however rise a couple of minutes before everyone else, giving me a chance to see the peaceful surroundings of a 6am Sahara. The smells on the other hand weren't so great, because, (how should I put this) let's just say someone had a little "accident" involving the d word... 'Nuff said.

Dune climbing: POV style.

The morning camp.

The camels stayed with us all night too, slumbering silently on their little sandy reserve.

Here it comes...

Almost...

Come on...

Peeking slightly...

So close..

And boom; desert sunrise.

Spectacular, ain't it?

I don't know why, but I was kind of expecting the baby face from Teletubbies to appear on it.

It didn't, by the way.

And that would be me.

Anyway, once that was over it was a quick breakfast of bread and.. Well that was it.  Then the camels were preparing for the way back.

No time was wasted and we were right away, into the morning sun.

There's quad bike Joe.

Now that is a photo.

Spindly legged camels.

One of the herders decided to walk epically away into the desert. No clue why.

Hey!

Not at the front this time, this gang overtook us and cut us up! Right on the free-way!

Me on Malcolm.. One of my favourite pictures from the trip.

Another hour and a quarter and we were fast approaching the hotel once more...

After the disembark, I said my final farewells to Malcolm and bid him a fond adieu. Actually, all the camels were very well behaved with no instances of biting or spitting, pinching, hair pulling or name calling!

So there is your epic desert trekking part 4! Definitely the lengthiest of all of them, but hopefully the best. The Sahara adventure was my highlight of the trip and a highlight of life as a whole, so I hope my enjoyment came out in the post. Anyway, don't forget part five tomorrow, which "should" be the finale. Thanks for sticking with it viewers!