Sleeping Under The Sahara Desert Night Sky

I just got back from a magical week in beautiful Morocco, this country has so much more to offer than I expected. My highlight was our trip to the Sahara desert, although it was a long journey to the Sahara, it was all worth it.

I can finally tick it of my bucket list.

When we arrived in Merzouga, on the far south-eastern part of Morocco, near the Algerian border, the first step was to prepare for the hour and half long camel ride through the impressive sand dunes of Erg Chebbi (a dune field of the Sahara).

I was told that camel riding isn’t glamorous but no one prepared me for the massive thigh and butt aches that were to follow. I was already dreading the ride back in the morning.

However, it was hard to stay concentrated on the uncomfortable ride when I was greeted by the perfectly formed dunes with a painted rainbow across the sky.

It was such a peaceful place, stillness all around, except for the occasional camel farts.

After a long, butt aching journey, we made it to our campsite, at the foot of one of the bigger, majestic dunes.

I needed to move my stiff legs, so we attempted to climb the dune ( the picture does not do it justice, believe me it was tough and steep).

Lets just say I made it half way, with my heart beating out of my chest. But it was the perfect spot to take in the panoramic view.

Breathtaking.

We were suppose to stay inside the set up tents, however, after a long strategic discussion we came to the conclusion that the chances of getting a good night kiss from a scarab beetle (think Mummy returns) was far higher inside the tent than in the wild since the tent was a bigger attraction to Sahara’s locals. So we decided to move our mattresses out into the open, best decision I made.

Although paranoia first took over, every movement was a snake in my imagination, we actually had no visitors crawling up our legs or into our hair all night. Instead, I had the gentle wind on my face, occasionally bringing sand along with it, welcoming me to the Sahara.

But my favourite part of all was the shimmering night sky. I have never seen such a glow, and we were lucky to see two shooting stars as well. It was the kind of beauty you just cannot capture on camera, literally, I did try. But take my word, it made my heart smile.

After our “sleep”, we got woken up at 4am to start our return back to Merzouga on the camel. This was hard, both me and my camel were not impressed at the early start.

But hey, I saw the most dramatic, spectacular sun rise. Now look at that!