I only say “kind of” because this is really considered part of the “Pre-Sahara”. The actual Sahara lies quite a ways further south, but this will do for us (and for many tourists). And as for our camels - ours are “Dromedary” or one-hump camels. The “two-humpers” are called “Bactrian” camels.

The Erg Chebbi is a sea of sand dunes - about 15-16 miles north to south and about 3-4 miles across. The dunes reach heights of 500 feet in places. The town of Merzouga is about 30 miles west of the border with Algeria, and this area has been dubbed the “desert theme park” of Morocco. Merzouga also has the largest underground natural body of water in Morocco. It is amazing for sure - when we were riding camels, our guide told us they only have to go down about 15 ft to get their water supply for the camps.

OK - we arrived in Merzouga around 6:30 PM, and pretty much everyone else was arriving at the same time. There are dozens of camps in the desert, and recently they have come under more scrutiny from the government. Some have been shut down and dismantled, and many (like ours) had to move from the middle of the dunes out to an area closer to the eastern side. Much has been said and published on all of this - the locals of course earn a living from this tourist activity, and the country also has “goals” to increase tourism. However, there is a need for better control over how this is all done, both from an environmental standpoint, and security as well - i.e. - many of the camps are unlicensed ones. But enough already - it’s time for us to climb aboard the original desert 4x4!

After boarding “Joe” and “Little Joe” (our names for them), we head across the dunes with two other guests. Others would follow, but they try to break the groups down into manageable sizes. Our guide, Hassim walked - leading us across the desert. I thought maybe we were just going a couple hundred yards into the dunes (I had read online about moving all the camps closer to the edge), but no - we went all the way across - about 3 miles - to the eastern side of the dunes. Poor Hassim - but, he does this twice a day (in and back), and he had a smile on his face all the way. In fact, he would stop to take pictures anytime anyone asked (the two girls with us liked to take selfies - a lot!). Anyway, he was a wonderful young man, and enjoyed his work.

The views and the colors are unbelievable. I realize this is a relatively small piece of desert, but after about 20 minutes (of a 1.5 hour ride), all you could see was sand dunes. Bright orange and pink, and the shadows were amazing. and as you looked back, toward the sun, it looked more like snow than sand, just because of the light. The view in every direction was just breathtaking. Of course since there are many camps and this journey is on many travelers “bucket list”, we occasionally ran into the rush hour traffic jam. Looks a little bit like pictures you see of climbers waiting in line to get to the top of Mt. Everest. But no worries - about 2/3rds of the way in, different groups headed off on the route to find their individual camps.

The wind was blowing a bit - not bad, but having a scarf was a very good thing. After about an hour and a half (and one very sore bottom side), we near the camps. Our camels kneel down to let us off (my legs totally asleep by now), and we walk up a dune to enjoy the sunset before heading down into our camp. A few people try “sand-boarding” and some have a little success. (not from our trip, but I added a YouTube video that gets it pretty close)

The camp is very nice and well laid out. Semi-permanent tents, each with a shower, toilet and sink, and a larger mess-tent where meals were served. We had a total of 19 guests in our camp, and although other camps were close by, we were situated down between a couple of dunes, so you felt at least a bit like it was your own private camp. After a nice (huge) dinner, and some desert drums by the fire, it’s time for bed, so we can get up early for the ride back, before it gets too warm.

Some people get up early to see the sunrise - I missed it. But as we say in Japan, I will catch it “next time”. (I’m pretty sure the sun rises each day...). Anyway, a cup of coffee and a little breakfast (dinner was huge), and it’s time to get back on top of “Joe Camel”. He is the #1 Off Grid Crew “dude” for sure!

The views heading back west in the morning are fabulous, and many people (I would guess more than half) opted to take the car back in the morning, so there was very little “traffic” (in fact none), and a very peaceful ride. At one point we could see in the distance a couple of ATV’s having fun - this would be a great place for it for sure, and from the looks of it, they try to keep this activity to a specific area of the dunes, just as they do with the camels.

We arrive back to the Merzouga side of the dunes, and it’s time to say goodbye and thank you to Joe and Little Joe, as well as Hassim. This was a great adventure - a little touristy, but that should be expected for something that so many people want to do - and one we will not soon forget.

Now it’s time for a very long day in the car (about 7 hours) as we make our way to Fez.

Check out the rest of the photos in the album, and the video of sand-boarding as well.

All the best,

Tim & Eileen