The Sahara

The majority of my spring break this year was spent camping out in the Sahara, and it was incredible. After hours and hours on a bus, we finally arrived in a small town in Morocco on the border of the Sahara. From there, we took jeep 4x4's for about an hour into the desert. I lucked out and the driver for my group was willing to do some off-roading in the dunes while blasting spanish and moroccan music. It was a blast!

Our group with the jeep driver

The next morning we all woke up to watch the sunrise over the desert. I can easily say that this was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. My friend Taylor and I walked out in the dunes with a Berber (a person that lives in the desert), and he lead us directly to what was apparently his favorite dune. I couldn't really tell the difference between the dunes... After the grand event we walked back to camp. Right as we got there, though, our new friend wanted to show us what he did for a living. So we were coaxed into buying some shell fossils from the desert!

Later in the day we had another amazing adventure: this time, RIDING CAMELS! It was so cool, but also very uncomfortable and my camel was crazy. When I walked up to the line of about 80 camels or so, a berber lead me to mine, and it was bucking around and camel-screaming while foaming at the mouth. Perfect. I started to reject my camel, but the berbers forced me on him anyway. He stood up super fast and then was fine the rest of the ride, except for the possible rabies...

Me and Crol the Warrior King

Half-way through our ride we stopped at a HUGE sand dune, and climbed it. It was hard to do but the view was incredible. Also, keep in mind we were in the Sahara. Meaning it was a little toasty. At the end of our camel rides we walked into a nearby town and saw a couple shops. It was interesting to see the way of life there, which was much simpler than any place I've seen.

The rest of the day we had free time, so my friends and I took advantage of the sun and laid out for a little. Soon after though, a big group of berber kids came over to the camp. I was told that they would come and to bring candy, so I went and got a bag and they practically attacked me for it! It was cool seeing how happy they were with the candy.

After watching the sunset over the camp (also beautiful), we we greeted again by more berber kids who kept talking about their "salamanders." My friends and I played along and met they're salamanders, and someone told me they were just fake lizards. WRONG! The second they put one in my hand it started squirming around and I shreiked, so naturally all the little kids ran up to me with their lizards at once. It was fun playing with the kids, but the second lizards were involved I was out of there!

The next morning was our last, so we wandered around in the dunes for awhile, met another berber kid who had found a baby fox, and headed out in our jeeps. I will never forget Morocco, and especially the Sahara. It was gorgeous with orange sand and great people. I am so thankful to have had the experience!