Trip to the Sahara Desert!

Hello all,

Last weekend I took a trip with some awesome people to the Sahara Desert! This is something I have been waiting to do since I got to Morocco, and it was truly and amazing experience!

We all woke up at 6:00 in the morning and climbed into two cars we had rented for the trip; this was such a fantastic idea and I am so lucky to have friends who worked it all out. By driving ourselves there, we were able to save lots of money, have a more comfortably paced trip and stop wherever and whenever we needed to!

Our destination: Merzouga. Merzouga is a small town in the south of Morocco, bordering the Sahara. It took us about 6 to 8 hours to drive here from Ifrane! The trip was a beautiful one, and I have a couple shots I will insert here to show just how picturesque it was. Unfortunately, I can't lie. The night before, I (very idiotically) went out partying and needless to say, was feeling the winding roads and fast paced traffic more than my friends. My bad!

Our camp in the desert!

Driving Views!

It didn't matter in the end, though, because after plenty of water, a quick stop on the side of the road (thanks again, Taylor) and some food back in my system, I found my energy once we found the sand dunes.

First glimpse of the desert!

Our first glimpse of the desert was pretty magical. You can see this golden horizon from miles away, and I, once again, remembered why I chose Morocco.

We arrived to our hotel, but we weren't staying the night here. After about an hour and a half of freshening up and some tea, we were getting all ready to go for our camel ride!

Camel Yvonne and I

RIDING A CAMEL WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. For anyone who knows me back home, they know that this adventure has been on my bucket list since forever. I was so happy in the Sahara sun (so so so hot).
I named my camel Yvonne, in honor of my best friend back home - who also loves camels. And was awestruck as I looked out at the endless sand dunes that seemed to go on forever. I couldn't believe I was actually there.

Once we got to our camp in the desert - yes, we spent the night in the desert - we dropped our bags off and played in the sand for a bit. Later, we ate a glorious meal with the other travelers set up by our hosts. The meal consisted of bread (of course) and rice with vegetables, kefta and chicken tagine (yummm) and fruit for desert. We had good conversation and then went out to the dunes to look at the stars. Again, I don't even need to explain, because I am sure you can imagine how beautiful and bright they were!

Personally, I was exhausted from the long day of traveling and hot sun (and hangover) so I went to bed a bit earlier than the others, but not before enjoying some Moroccan drumming around a campfire with the others!
This was a good call on my part, because we woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise over the dunes! I had another one of my cheesy 'Sofia moments' while watching the sunrise. You could watch it lift up and over the horizon; it moved so quickly we almost missed it! The desert is so peaceful and open, you can't help but feel like some life was put back into you.

Sunrise over Sand Dunes

After the sunrise we hopped (very sorely, I might add) back onto our camels and went back to the hotel in Merzouga for breakfast! The boys had this great idea to rent and ride AT-4s' in the dunes! At first I was pretty nervous about this, I'd never ridden one before! But my friend George, whom I was riding with, assured me it would be amazing and he was so right! THIS WAS SO SO COOL TO DO!!

 After riding AT-4s we went back to get cleaned up at the hotel...I have never enjoyed a shower more... Sand gets EVERYWHERE! Before we knew it, it was time to hop back in the cars and head home to Ifrane. Even though this was a short trip, it was still enough time to really enjoy what the Sahara has to offer. This was probably one of my favorite places to see in Morocco (as far as the scenery and experience goes). The ride home was lovely, and Raul did an awesome and brave driving job in the dark corners of Morocco! We got home late Sunday night, and I fell asleep quickly.

Thanks for reading!! Hope everyone enjoyed the post and pictures!!

Sof xoxo