After a night in the Sahara under an impressive starry sky, the next morning, after a beautiful sunrise, we rode back to Merzouga on the dromedaries. Our next destination was Fès, Morocco’s oldest imperial city. But the route was too long for one day, so we made a stopover in Midelt.
Crossing the Atlas
The drive over the Atlas Mountains led through a spectacular, varied landscape of mountains and valleys, one of the most beautiful routes of our whole trip. Midelt lies on a high plateau between the Middle and High Atlas and, with over 60,000 inhabitants, is the centre of a large farming region; the town grew up around a French post for the surrounding mines.
Two round tents in the dunes – here we spent the night beneath an impressive starry sky.The first orange glow above the dunes of the Erg Chebbi, twice.A great dune still lies in shadow, fine ripples in the sand, bushes at its foot.Left, the sun on the crest of a dune; right, the disc above the silhouette – a beautiful sunrise.Only the crests glow warm; the dunes below are still dark.A single dune ridge against the light beneath a high sky.Green bushes in the shade, sunlit dunes behind.Left, wide dunes; right, a closer slope with grasses.Low dunes on the horizon beneath a wide blue sky.An orange line of dunes, bushes in the hollows.A tiny figure on the crest of a dune, twice – that’s the scale of the Erg Chebbi.A sea of dunes, tyre tracks in the sand in front.A deep sandy hollow between the dunes, long morning shadows.Left, two riders on dromedaries; right, a man with a camera – back to Merzouga.A narrow strip of dunes beneath a vast blue sky – the Sahara falls behind us.A mud-brick house, a pile of brushwood and a power pole at the edge of the desert.Left, dunes with small buildings; right, a row of trees on the plain.Flat stony desert with low buildings, hazy mountains behind.The road runs through the stony desert towards the Atlas.Left, the empty plain; right, an off-roader with a roof load on the road.A layered rock step above sandy slopes.A lone tree on the plain, low dunes behind.A yellow metal star on blue, rusty sheet metal.A tent and a reed wall with dry branches, gravel in the foreground.An oasis with palms and mud-brick houses beneath the rocky rim.Left, a palm grove on the mountainside; right, palms between mesas.The road winds through rocky slopes – one of the most beautiful routes of the trip.Layered rock walls above scree, twice.A dense cluster of palms in front of layered mountainsides.Left, a palm grove; right, palms on a green meadow.A mud-brick village beneath a high, layered rock face.Layered rock walls, twice – mountains stacked like books.A red lorry with drilling rods and its bonnet open, two men beside it.Palms and a stream in front of the layered mountains.A mud-brick tower and village wall in front of red rock faces.Left, furrowed peaks; right, a dark mountain ridge.A flat-topped hill above the green plain – the high plateau around Midelt draws closer.Rocky crags and a road on the hillside under clouds.A 60 limit through dry mountains – a stopover in Midelt before heading on to Fès.
