Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Sahara Desert: Part I

27th May - 31th May

The bus ride from Azrou to the Sahara desert was long, bumpy and hot, as we watched the canyons grow on either side and the dust settle behind us. And then, as if the dusty mountains could hear us, an oasis appeared from nowhere, stretching for miles down the Oeud Ziz.



Eight hours later (after the bus broke down twice), we drove into Rossani, which is the largest town situated near the desert.



We arrived ignorant of the bad news: our destination, Merzouga, had experienced a catastrophic amount of rainfall during the night and was consequently flooded. With no other choice we accepted an invitation from a young local, Hassan, to come to his kasbah (a citadel-type hotel common in the desert). As our taxi drove off to the kasbah, we sighed with relief at the thought of a shower and a bed. Unfortunately, our taxi could not make it in the mud and eventually died, 500m away from its final destination. We took up our bags and walked toward the lights of the kasbah. The below picture is the end result. Additional feet were provided by Koen, a Dutch guy, and Barbara and Daniel, a Swiss couple we met on our bus.

Ladies and gentlemen...The Sahara Desert.


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