After breakfast we drove to the Todgha valley and visited the gorge there.

The Todgha Gorge
We got to stretch our legs a bit walking along the gorge, which has a road throughout. At the source of the river running along the gorge goat herders were watering their goats. The gorge is apparently a good spot for climbing.

Goats at the spring in the Todgha Gorge
We were very glad for the short walk, as the next part of the trip was a very long drive across the plains. It was fascinating to see in places the attempts at holding back sand and how hopeless it was.
The rather boring plains, with dunes in the background.
Along the way we saw several groups of camels. Once drinking from a well on the plains, and once being watered at a river. All the rivers were very dry when we visited as it was the end of summer. The water table must be fairly high in places however as the well was fairly shallow. Often, when taking photos of peoples animals, they expect a small payment, especially if the herders are children. They always complain it is too little or that you are being unfair giving one child more, but it seems best to ignore it.
A large herd of camels.
Eventually we arrived at Merzouga where we stocked up on water and scarves. It was recommended we all bring 4 litres each of water, and this was certainly needed. Throughout the tour we drank huge amounts of water and were always somewhat dehydrated. We arrived at le Palais des Dunes, a very Spartan hotel that seems to exist solely for overnight visitors to the dunes to leave bags and shower. Despite leaving most of our stuff back in Dar Balthazar in Marrakech, we managed to dump any clothes we weren't planning on wearing that night and significantly lightening our load. We had some tea before finally we met our camels.

Our camel train
Whilst I was excited about visiting the dunes, the camels worried me somewhat, as I had heard they were difficult to get on and smelled terrible. Mounting them actually wasn't too hard, and as they stand up you naturally lean the right way, and the smell wasn't all that noticeable. The ride however, was incredibly uncomfortable. My saddle appeared to be lacking somewhat to others, and everytime we went down a dune, I was bumped into the metal frame, leaving me with bruising along my inner leg. I think this one experience of camels was enough.

Saharan dunes
Ignoring the uncomfortable ride, the trip into the dunes was fantastic. The sand was much more orange than I expected, but otherwise is was precisely how we imagine deserts to look like, likely due to our images being from visitors to these dunes. We stopped just before the camp to watch the sun go down. Whilst there wasn't the dramatic sunset I was hoping for, we had a fantastic view over the dunes, and it was wonderful sitting watching it get darker and cooler.

The sun setting in the Sahara Desert
Once we reached the camp, we dropped our bags in our sleeping quarters before heading up the nearest dune to try sand-boarding. Using a slightly broken surfboard, we attempted to keep our balance sliding down. It was some of the best fun I had on the holiday, although getting back up the slipping dune carrying the board was a trial. More tea, and we lay back and watched the stars come out. It was dark enough to see the milky way in full force, and I spotted several shooting stars. Unfortunately I had not read up enough on what stars were in sight at that latitude, but waking early the next day I saw several planets very brightly that I had noticed the week before.

Our sleeping quarters in the Berber camp
We had a fantastic meal of cous cous then tagine, probably the best I had in our trip, before the drum music started up. Whilst we were all a bit reluctant at first to get involved with it, they sensibly persuaded all the girls to get up and dance together, which got everyone going. We attempted to learn to drum, but I just didn't have the rhythm to manage the different beats going on with each hand.

Eventually we retired to sleep, with all 8 from our minibus sharing a sleeping space. It was spartan, but after the long day we all slept well. Despite all the warnings about how cold it would get in the desert, it must be a very relative cold, as I never even needed my jumper let along felt cold.

Sunrise in the Sahara
As I mentioned, I woke early to watch the stars again, and we started back for the hotel whilst it was still dark meaning we got to watch the sunrise from the dunes. Again, no stunning colours but very pretty none the less.

Sunrise in the Sahara
Gratefully we arrived back to the hotel and had some very cold brief showers before a tasty breakfast, and back on the road. The journey back was not as eventful as the one out, and was very long as we were fitting the previous two days drive into one. As our bus was fairly tired, we drove straight back, just stopping for lunch at Ouarzazate. The group had got to know each other much better by this point, and the conversation flowed as among friends. It was rather sad to say goodbye once we reached Marrakech. I would imagine this kind of tour can really be made or broken on the back of who you are travelling with, and we were very lucky to be travelling with friendly couples of similar ages so we got along very easily.

I would highly recommend visiting the desert on a trip to Morocco, and on going on one of these style tours. It has definitely changed my mind about driven tours, and I will look into them in future holidays with interest.