We traveled through mountains and plains towards Tinghir and the Todra valley, seeing hundreds of small villages of the Berber people (nomads). We had a great opportunity to visit a women’s carpet cooperative, where they shear sheep, goats and camels, spin the wool, dye it, and then weave them into various rugs.
(Erfoud fossil)
(Desert Hennah Tattoos)
There are amazing cliffs and mountains, several of which house fossils (Erfoud). Our guide, Aziz’s grandfather, was a fossil hunter, so this was a particularly good experience.
We arrived at the Sahara at about 6, just in time to take a camel ride/safari to our dessert camp. What an experience. With sudden gusts of wind spooking my camel, I was bucked off, landing the 7 or 8 feet down on my right wrist, scraping my arms and leg, and banging my head! Undaunted, I climbed back on, and we experienced a rather bumpy, hard ride through the desert.
But, the sun gave a perfect sunset, casting shadows through the dunes as we “floated” along. The camp was still under construction/renovation, but was quite an interesting juxtaposition of modern and nomad. A flushing toilet, but no water in the shower. Meals to be served at 7:30 that started at 9:30 – giving us a sense of the true nature of a nomad’s life! We saw a trillion stars without light pollution, and slept soundly.
Comments (2)