Expedition unknown

Upon experiencing the grandeur of Marrakech, we thought it would be fitting to take an excursion into the wild and magnificent Sahara desert. Putting our bargaining skills to the test, we set out into the medina to find an expedition group going into that part of the country. Whilst in the market we decided to start asking around for information on such activities. We shouldn’t have been surprised that the first person we asked “had a friend who would give us the best deal.” The shop owner insisted that we wait while he got his “friend,” it took some real persistence on our parts to get this shop owner to allow us to come with him to see his friend. He acquiesced and took us to a reputable shop that organized expeditions into the Sahara. We bargained as hard and as tactfully as we knew how coming to a price of about 150 US dollars for a 3 day 2 night expedition leaving at 7am the next morning.
Regular sleep has become somewhat of a rarity on our trip so far. We have had to wake up early many times and have gone to bed late every night. Sleeping on trains, planes, buses, or in shady parks has been our respite from lack of sleep and has somehow sufficed so far. That morning was another early morning, we were told to wait out on the street at 0640sm for a taxi that would take us to meet up with everyone else. That taxi never came and fortunately for us we had the sense to ask where we were to meet our group, so we caught our own taxi and made it just in time. We were crammed into a small dilapidated van with other eager tourists from Italy, Basque country, France, Norway, the USA, and a driver who spoke little else than Arabic.
There is a strange cool-warmth that penetrates the air of Moroccan mornings. It is as if the air does not remain cool, even without the sun, in anticipation of the biting heat that rules this desert place during the day. People live in the morning and nights of Marrakech; completely avoiding the day. The van urged out of Marrakech just as the sun was beginning to envelope the medina, we drove down roads beginning to fill with people on foot or bicycle going to work.
Prior to purchasing our seats in the expedition, we were told, in summary, an itinerary. We were given no formal documents, save a handwritten receipt of purchase. In the ethereal morning light, as we drove toward the Atlas Mountains that loom over Marrakech, we began to wonder what awaited us on the other side. Climbing through winding roads; which seemed to have been crafted with just enough room to allow one car to drive safely by. While another would face the prospect of careening off the edge, unabated by barrier or lesser cliff to valley floor thousands of feet below. Perhaps the beauty of the Atlas mountains is only accentuated by the prospect of death while passing through them, all around are waterfalls falling eternally and green plants clinging to cliff sides as if foreshadowing one’s own impending doom.


Hours after departing we came to a valley that is home to Kasbah Ait Ben-Haddou. The Kasbah has been the set of a number of movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and Jewel of the Nile.




We drove further into the mountains arriving at a beautiful gorge where we spent the night in a nice hotel.