Sahara & Todra Gorge

Set the alarm for 6:30 this morning to wake up for the sunrise.  We walked out to some of the smaller dunes around the camp to watch the sun come up.  Wish we would have had more time/energy to climb the large dunes, but not this time.  A nice sun rise, but it definitely was prettier over the water earlier in our trip.

Amazing sunrise this morning

Our tents where we spent the night

Cross traffic of beetle tracks in the sand

Camel scat (why)

The beetle

Back to our tent, quick showers and breakfast at 7:30.  Arrived at breakfast and the waiter asked us what time we wanted to be picked up at, what?  We said we were taking the camels back last night, he didn’t remember this, but spoke to someone and they said it was OK for us to take the camels back.  Today we did not sit inside to eat breakfast, we filled our plates and sat outside near the camp fire, I think they got the idea that this was what everyone would want as they then decided to carry some tables out for people to sit around.  The only other people up at this time were the American family that we spent some time with yesterday, they were not very happy as they were told there were not enough camels for them to ride back and they would need to go back by jeep, I felt bad for them.

Inside the tent packing up

The sunrise colours were even better than the sunset

Campfire from last night

This guy was having a rest but needed to get up to take us out...

So a quick breakfast done and we are off on our camels to return back to our pickup point with our driver.  This morning the colours are even more beautiful than last night, the sunrise backlit over the dunes is amazing.  We are both a little sore from the ride yesterday, we did not practice camel riding before this trip, and I should have spent more time on the inner thigh machine at the gym before we left!  We don’t see anyone else at all this morning on camels, so I guess we are the first ones heading out, amazing having this all to ourselves, so quiet.  Today my camel was much gentler sitting down for me to get off, I didn’t feel like I was going to flip over like I did yesterday.

Our camel handler is showing us the snake tracks from last night, glad I didn`t see one!

I felt a little like I was leaning to the left!

depending which way you looked the colors were so different

For Liam

Our driver is waiting for us when we get back,  the camp had phoned him to tell him we were on our way back.  We headed out and our first stop was at a carpet store in Merzouga.  We do want to buy a carpet for the entrance, but it is a weird shape and I am only spending this kind of money for a Berber carpet if we find something we love, so far no luck.  I feel guilty having them keep pulling them out to show us, but our driver thinks I am crazy, today he said don’t worry someone will buy it. 

Carpet shopping, no purchase yet

 

Next stop is at the market in Tinerhir, today is their day for the weekly market.  We walked around what was more of a permanent section, then went into one shop and bought a couple of cute little camels for the grandkids, and some fridge magnets.  We then asked the shopkeeper where the weekly market was and he decided he would show us, I think he heard me say oh no to Andre, because he then told us he was not a guide.  First off he takes us to the local pharmacy, we say no we have already seen this, so he then takes us to where we wanted to go.  This market has a sheep, cow and donkey buying place.  It was good to see, but oh so many tourists.  This is really a working market, the locals must hate it, it is not a large place where the live animals are and so many tourists in there by the busload taking pictures.  We visited with the sheep a few minutes, a quick peek at the cows, then moved down to the donkeys.  We still aren’t sure if they were selling donkeys, or if this was just donkey parking for the people going to market.  Made our way back through the fresh fruit and vegetables section, and of course got stuck in the meat aisle, (I prefer to only see meat in tidy portions at Sobeys) and found our way back to our driver.

Sheep auction at the market

Donkey parking lot

Made our way along to Todra gorge next.  This is a beautiful gorge that is 20 meters across and 200 meters high.  The road in takes us quite a long time as it is under major construction.  There are many   buses of tourists going in and out as well.  At one point the construction workers had to push the car in front of us to get it going.  I am sure the construction went on for about 10 KM, and it was major work, a lot of it being done by manual labour.  We asked our driver if he knew how long it would take to finish, he asked one of the workers when we were stopped waiting in one way traffic and was told 3 months.  Andre and I burst out laughing, we saw about 20 people total working, we think 3 years would be generous.  Our driver says it is an easy job, we told him we want him to send us a picture in August of the finished work, no way will it even be close.

National Anthem, we saw this many different places

Todra Gorge

Our driver dropped us off at one end of the gorge and told us to walk along and find him parked near the buses at the end.  There is a river running along the bottom, lots of people walking along getting their feet wet.  We saw a couple of people rock climbing.  Lots of vendors set up along one side with more of the same things we’ve seen everywhere now.  A very pretty spot, but a few too many people for our liking, the busiest with tour buses and people that we have seen yet.

We stopped for lunch at 3:30 this afternoon right after we came out of the gorge.  We split a chicken brochette, Andre is feeling a bit better so ate a little.  This heat makes you not so hungry anyway, so the cats got a little of ours as well.

We drove through the rose valley, where they make rose water soaps etc, but we just did a drive by as it is not in season, we could see a couple of roses open, but next month is high season.

Road side sales in the Rose Valley, we did not stop..

Arrived at our Riad in Skoura.  Tonight is in the Palmeria,  which is like a big oasis of palm trees in the bottom of a valley.  There are 8 rooms here and a very pretty spot.  Beautiful gardens, the roses are open here, they even have a nice swimming pool, but we are so late getting here we don’t have much time to enjoy.  They do have wifi in the reception area so able to check in and let everyone know where we are now.

Supper tonight was fantastic.  They set up tables in the garden.  Started off with some fantastic carrot and ginger soup, followed by salad, then BBQ turkey sausages, chicken, chicken brochettes with rice.  Finished with creme caramel.  Everything was fantastic, maybe our best meal yet.

Garden in the Riad, Andre is feeling a bit better now

Green tea and mint, along with cookies, the common greeting when we get to a Riad.  Notice the size of the key on the keychain!

Dinner in the garden

Off to bed at 11PM, another full day tomorrow planned.