The previous night, Larbi had arranged for five of us to take an early morning excursion to the Erg Chebbi dunes, via land rovers, to see the desert sunrise. This is touted as a most memorable experience for tourists and an opportunity to ride a camel in the desert. Well, it was definitely unforgettable. Larbi was ill and did not accompany us as planned. We left the hotel at 4 am, piled into an uncomfortable land rover, with a guide who spoke no English. We drove off in the midst of a long jeep caravan, into the pitch-black landscape, with no apparent road to follow. The drivers all seemed to be competing in a race, driving much faster in the dark than was comfortable for me. At one point, we narrowly missed hitting a camel that was lying almost directly in our path. The camel was not the only one that was startled! We grew even more apprehensive when our guide turned away from the other tourist-bearing vehicles and headed off alone in a completely different direction. My thoughts ran wild… “Are we being taken out into the barren desert to be robbed, murdered, left alone to the denizens of the Sahara?” The imagination can provoke powerful images even as the rational mind tries to prevail. We finally stopped at an area where many camels and several Bedouin men were milling around. Our driver disappeared into a building, which had suddenly come into view out of the darkness. Each of us slowly descended from the land rover, except for Martha, who literally fell out when she missed the step. So, here we stand, 5 nervous Americans, about to be mounted atop camels and taken to who-knew-where! We began to be afraid in earnest, since we could not communicate with the men. It seemed all they wanted to do was put us up on those camels and trot off into the sunrise, for a fee, of course. Apparently, none of the men spoke much English, although one kept telling us that we had “no confidence” because we declined to go with him. He was right! We were unable to make sense of anything and completely unsure about what happening around us. Just about this time, Martha began feeling very sick, (probably a consequence of the previous night’s dinner), and we asked if there was a toilet. Someone must have finally understood the word “toilet”. We were led, in the dark, to a candle-lit building, and were grateful for even this primitive facility. At last, another group of tourists arrived. They were Chinese, but their guide spoke English. We explained our predicament and asked to join their group. Some of them were going to ride camels to the spot for sunrise viewing, and some were going to walk. We chose to walk. However, the trek was difficult and the five of us decided to only go about half of the way into the dunes, over the protest of the Arab men who had attached themselves to us. We stood around, waiting for the sun to come up. Time passed and somehow, the four Bedouins remembered enough English to hold brief conversations with us! After a rather unremarkable sunrise, we started back to our vehicle, and the men started making their pitch for our dirhams! They all had boxes filled with fossils to sell and were very persistent, although only Lucille ended up buying something. We located our land rover and almost ran back to it. We sat inside until our driver re-appeared to ferry us back to the hotel. Our ordeal was almost at an end. By now, the desert held no charms for us, and the ride back was, sadly, just a lot of sand. SLIDESHOW!
Once back at the hotel, Martha’s illness became “full blown” and she had several violent attacks which kept her in the bathroom most of the morning. The rest of us had breakfast and then we all boarded the bus and drove to Rissani, where we saw yet another beautiful 13th century tiled horseshoe gate. Next, we went to see the Kasbah of Oulad El Halim, built in 1900 by Moulay Rachid. This structure is also part of a UNESCO-funded project for preservation and restoration, and I considered it well worth the effort. We visited another market, back in Erfoud, where we walked the streets and mingled with the crowds, both human and otherwise.
Then back on the bus for the drive to Tinerhir. On the way, we stopped to look at the khanats for the underground water canal system. These are basically cone-shaped manholes in the dirt used for cleaning out the canal system when necessary. We also saw small herds of wild camels and more gypsy tents. Martha was still sick but she managed to get some good photos nonetheless. We arrived at the Hotel Sargho in Tinerhir to rest and then had a late dinner. The hotel had very plain rooms but a nice view. Martha was sick most of the night.