Merzouga

A place with its own rhythm.

Merzouga is the last village before the sand. Beyond it lies Erg Chebbi, a field of dunes some twenty-two kilometres long and reaching around 150 metres at its highest — one of only two true ergs in Morocco, and the one everybody pictures when they picture the Sahara. The dunes change colour through the day: pale gold at noon, deep orange an hour before sunset, grey-violet at dawn. Camel caravans leave in the late afternoon so that you arrive at camp as the light turns, and the walk back out the next morning is done before the heat. Nights are the reason to stay. There is no light for a hundred kilometres in any direction, and the Milky Way is a solid band overhead. Camps range from simple canvas to tented suites with proper beds and hot water; Gnaoua musicians, whose ancestors came north across the desert, often play around the fire. Spring and autumn are the seasons. July and August reach 45 degrees by day, though the nights stay bearable. In winter the sand is cold after dark — bring more than you think you need.