After a night on the eastern edge of the High Atlas we continued by rental car along the mountains towards the Sahara. We could hardly wait to see the first big sand dunes. The roughly five-hour drive led through a beautiful, dry landscape with picturesque palm oases.
Dadès Gorge and dunes
A short detour took us into the spectacular Dadès Gorge. At sunset we then reached Merzouga, the starting point for our night in the great dunes of Erg Chebbi. At the Desert Berber Fire-Camp we had the tents all to ourselves that night. After a one-and-a-half-hour camel ride of six kilometres and a delicious dinner, we climbed the highest dune to photograph the dark starry sky – countless stars, the like of which we hardly ever see at home. The dunes of Erg Chebbi rise up to 150 metres above the stony desert and stretch for around 28 kilometres from north to south along the Algerian border; Merzouga lies on their western edge, about 50 kilometres from the border.
A mud-brick kasbah behind palms and silvery bushes on the edge of the High Atlas.A blue door in a tiled frame and a round piece of wickerwork on the clay wall.A straight road across the plain towards distant mountains.Hazy hills and snowy peaks above the brown plain.Camera in hand, road and open space – on the way to the Sahara.A stony, rolling plain before the distant range.A palm oasis on the dry plain.A crumbling clay wall in the sand, snowy peaks behind.Jagged rock ribs above green bushes.Rocks at the entrance to the Dadès Gorge and green orchards.A mud-brick village with palms before bare ochre mountains.An ochre mosque and a village among trees on the slope.Red rocks above green trees and fields in the Dadès Valley.Green scrubland before snow-capped mountains.The river far below between the rock walls of the Dadès Gorge.Pink mud-brick houses scattered over red hills.Layered rock walls of the gorge, spectacular from above.A mud-brick building on the steep rock edge.A wide dry riverbed and a mud-brick village before the range.A bend in the road by mud-brick houses, mountains behind.Scattered palms on a stony plain.A cyclist between palms and reeds.Palm fronds on the sand, hills behind.Crumbling huts of clay and branches.A dusty lane and low houses before the first dunes.An ornate clay façade with a blue-and-yellow door and flowers – the camp in Merzouga.The orange dunes of Erg Chebbi rising from the stony desert.The first big sand dunes – at last.Ribbed dune crests in the warm light.Headscarf, backpack, camera – on the dune.A single dune crest with shadow and ripples.Hand in hand across the dune.Dark dune shapes beneath a pale sky.A small figure with a long shadow in the sea of sand.A golden dune, tufts of grass in front.Two on the crest, an empty dune beside them.Sitting and looking, the sun low over Erg Chebbi.Smooth dune crests with long shadows.A camel on the dune crest – an hour and a half's ride to the camp.The sun just above the dark dune crests.Two camels with riders silhouetted against the sun.The sun sinks behind the line of dunes.A crescent moon above the dune crest.The crescent moon and a bright point above the dunes.The crescent moon above a black dune edge.Stars above the dunes, a light in the camp below.Countless stars, the like of which we hardly ever see at home.On top of the highest dune: the Milky Way and lights on the horizon.Starry sky above a dune crest.An orange-lit dune edge at night.The Milky Way above the dunes, an orange glow on the horizon.A dense starry sky above the dark line of dunes.
