A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Erg Chebbi, Morocco by TravelPod blogger Chooklotto titled "The long drive to Erg Chebbi dunes & camel riding" Chooklotto's travel blog entry: "We were up early again today - no time for breakfast - we would get this along the way. Everyone was downstairs at 7am and we piled in our mini-van and left Fes. It didn't take us too long to get out of town - at that time of morning there is hardly anyone out and about yet. We drove for about an hour and a half - pretty uneventful and nothing much to see although the countryside was green and lush. Our first stop was the tiny but beautiful town of Ifrane. It was built by the French in the 1930's and its looks like a Swiss ski resort village or something - so green and clean and pretty.! We had brekky at a local cafe - a crepe with lots of honey. I wandered around town for a bit before it was time to get locked away on the bus. The king of Morocco actually has a holiday house in this town its so pretty -- and there is also an expensive university that people pay a lot of money to go to - usually overseas students. Just out of town there is a single ski lift thats used in winter - must get a bit mundane skiing the 2 runs they have.! We could see some snow capped mountains in the distance - it really must get pretty cold in winter here. At one of our stops we filled up at a petrol station and it was a total step back in time - it was a wind up one - you turn the crank and the petrol would come out... Along the way we also past a huge mountain that had Arabic writing along the side of it - same as Turkey - very patriotic here. At one of our photo stops these 4 or 5 kids came running over - one holding a dead bird - the way she was flinging it we were surprised its head didn't fall off. The kids had found it today and it was their pride and joy - new toy. Our lunch stop was made at a town called Er-Rachidia where we picked up some fresh bread, tomatoes, and cheese and fruit for our picnic lunch. We stopped about 1/2 hr out of town at a fantastic view point overlooking a village surrounded by palmeries and all ate our goodies. More driving we turned off the road at Merzouga and drove along the ungraded road to the Erg Chebbi dunes - an amazingly huge pile of sun burnt orange dunes - what a sight! We passed a heap of camels before arriving at our auberge where we would store our big bags for the night. We packed out little bags and had a bit of mint tea then hopped on our camels. I was the first one on but the last in line. Along the way i got some cool shots of all the camel shadows on the dunes. About an hour into the ride we were surrounded by dunes - eventually arriving at camel camp after about 2 hrs. Jo and I immediately set off up the big dune behind camp to watch the sun set. It was bloody tough work - every step you took you sunk into he sand and made a half step backwards - we made it to the top and walked along the edge of the dune - sitting down when we felt like our lungs were bleeding! Sunset wasn't too bad but the sense of achievement for making it up there was better! After we got our lungs back in order we moon walked down back to camp - when you took a step the sand would push you another metre forward - we made it down in less than a minute rather than the 20 it took to get up. We chilled at camp and explored the kitchen and toilets then sat down and waited for one of the best tagines all trip - a chicken and olive one. We all just had a fork eat and it was dig in and hack away. Oranges for desert we relaxed and were treated with some local Berber music by 3 men singing, clapping and playing the drums. We all crashed pretty early - some in the camel tents and others outside under the stars - you could see the stars through the tent though :) Out here they are so bright... I hopped in my sleeping sheet and had 2 blankets on top of me... was nice and cosy." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooklotto/4/1210547220/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "The town of Ifrane" 2. "The local ski resort" 3. "Desolate landscape" 4. "Snow capped mountains" 5. "Windy up petrol pump" 6. "Arabic writing on the mountain" 7. "One of the small towns" 8. "A palmery weaving through" 9. "First glimpe of the Erg Chebbi" 10. "Not much grows out here" 11. "Camel caravan" 12. "Our group heading out" 13. "The colour of the sands" 14. "Me and my camel" 15. "Camel reflection in the sand" 16. "Sand sand and more sand" 17. "Our camp is down there" 18. "Aaaaah - the serenity" 19. "Berber entertainment" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00c9-2be4-eee8?ytv4=1

• published: 11 Feb 2011
• views: 282