Orange sand dunes, berber in beautiful blue tuniques, caravans of camels… we are now entering the colorful Sahara desert. Discover my experience riding a camel and spending the night surrounded by mesmerizing sand dunes.
INFO & PLANNING TIPS - Night in the Sahara
TIPS FOR TRAVEL PLANNING ADDICTS - Night in Erg Chebbi
Getting to Erg Chebbi
From Marrakech, many companies offer overnight tours or multi day tours including a Sahara camel ride to a camp in the desert's and dunes - find out more on my article including the best Marrakech Desert tours.
Personally it was part of my 8 day tour with Nomadic tours and we were using l'Auberge La Caravane.
Preparing for the camel ride
- Take something (scarves are best) to cover your face and protect you from the sand
- They do not stop during the hour ride
- If you want to take photos you have to use a small camera. It would be too much rick to keep an expensive one around the neck. The ride is definitively not smooth
- The camp does not have running water but this one had toilets
- Nights can get cold but they have many blankets
Arriving at Erg Chabbi
First I was really amazed at our arrival to the dunes. I have been to other sand dunes desert and this was the first time I saw such a flat area and the dunes raising far away. A very intense time during which I kept watching the dunes approaching. I really could not believe my eyes that such an abrupt transition exists.
We stopped at Auberge La Caravane, which would be our host at their camp in the desert. And I opened the doors to the Sahara:
Riding a camel
And our dromedaries (that I will call camels in the rest of my posts as they all do) were waiting for us:
Holding on very firmly for the camel to get on his feet I realized that it ended up much higher than expected. And a scene from Se- in the City 2 came to mind where Charlotte fell from the camel… this is high, I really do not want to fall… I am not trying to get a signal but I really want to take pictures! How do I hold on tight and take photos? But after relaxing and getting the hang of it, I freed one of my hands to get you those shots:
This was later afternoon and the sun was going down, giving us some great shadows allowing me to take a "selfie"
Our Berber guides and their blue tuniques
I loved the blue colors of the Berbers’ clothing. This is so striking in the dunes!
Camel caravans Peak hour
This was a little bit peak-hour and all the Auberges were leading guests to their camp.
Arriving at the camp and sandboarding
And we finally arrived and we took a moment to realize where we were (and recover from a one hour ride on the back of a camel lol)
We then went sand-boarding... for which some were better than others! I personally stayed a bit further away to take good shots of people on the group (no, i was not avoiding trying... I actually already did that in Australia)
And then we walked back to camp for a hearty diner and a relaxing night user the stars before experiencing a magical sunrise in the desert.
Wanderlust Chloe also had a great experience in the Sahara desert on her Moroccan Adventures. Check out her article!
And have a read ofKate and Jeremy discussion about the pros and cons of joining an organized Sahara desert tour in Morocco.
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