From the Palms to the Desert

9^th March

So the sad fairwells started at dawn! More gifts and hugs came to the van as M'hamed accepted the inevitable. We are on the move again. He's very sweet but quite as to why he sees us as his parents no 2 is a mystery! I think he likes his new mum a little more than ' the new dad ' ! We manage to pry him off mummy and head south to the awaiting desert.

The Ziz gorge soon becomes the flat plains of the south. Quite eery really, so barren and as yet no sign of the dunes. Flat red turns into the huge palmery around Arfoud, miles and miles of dates and agriculture, all fed by the Ziz river. As we approach Rissani, the desert turns black and even more intimidating. Mirages are on the horizon and naked dark women beckon me to drive straight towards them! These seductive nymphs are of course all part of a very vivid imagination, they are fully clothed of course! But I stick to the main road and can only imagine what it would be like to wander off into this wilderness. As far as the eye can see, flat, black hamada.

We arrive at Rassini needing to get a few supplies ( fat chance ) and are swiftly manoeuvred into the hands of an expert 'not' guide who definitely is not going to try and sell us anything in his friends shop! Like! What are they like these guys, We only wanted a cover for our small gas bottle ( so sweet ) and some veg but are magically transported somehow into a fossil shop and then a carpet shop! They are so persuasive. It really is an art they have mastered or are we just a pair of gullible old fools? I'll leave you answer that. We buy: 2 roses of the desert ( incredible formed rose like stone things ), a cover for our gas bottle, a moroccan tea pot and 4 plain glasses and only then do we materialize in the carpet shop! Talk about beautiful carpets, we've not seen a collection like this before! One after another is laid out on the floor until we are flying high but no, we will not part with any money today thank you! But wow they are lovely carpets? Do I want a carpet? I really don't know, its time to get to the dunes! And after a brochete and salad in town, we head into the black hamada and Lawrence awaits us.

Out of the haze, slowly at first, appears the incredible sight of the looming dunes, Erg Chebbi as they are called. We have campsite earmarked and drive the 2 kilometer piste to the foot of the dunes and our spot under a palm tree. We are in the Sahara desert and the dunes spread out into a vast orange sea. Camel trains disappear into the distance taking tourists for rides and we head off for our own adventure as the hazy sun dips towards the horizon. Even out here in the dunes, 2 friendly chaps appear out of nowhere and unpack their fossils and wares! Luckily, we have no money with us and no intention to buy anything! They sulk away into the sand the same way they came! And disappear.

Its been another long day in Morocco, fantastic.

Internet here is weak but possible, if I go outside and wander into the blackness, (never to be seen again)!

Hooray, I here you say!

So I'll do that right now an then go to bed!

Lots of love to you all

Ted and Krysia