Living NOSADE: Days spent in the Sahara Desert

Anica has to return to Germany for two weeks and I can either stay in Marrakech by myself or go to the Sahara Desert along with Yidir, Anicas husband, to visit his family in Merzouga. Of course I choose the desert!

We drive to Merzouga in one day. It is a long ride but along the way we make many stops. We see the sun rise in the High Atlas, have breakfast at Kasbah de Télouet with its beautiful, detailed, mosaic-decorated rooms and visit the old town of Ksa Ait Ben Haddou, whose gates I recognize from movies and shows such as Gladatior and Game of Thrones.

After having finally arrived I just fall into my bed and look forward to the next day because then I´ll go into the desert and sleep in a desert camp.

When I let my eyes wander from the 170m high dune that I have just climbed, the first thing that strikes me is the infinite peace that this landscape radiates. The gentle hills of the dunes extend straight up to the horizon. It is absolutely silent. You don´t hear any birds, no wind, no sign of civilization. This tranquility transfers quickly over to me and up there on the sand dune, with the last rays of sunshine in the face, spreads great satisfaction within my body. While the sun sinks into the sand in front of me, the full moon slowly rises behind me. I run my hands through the slowly cooling sand and look at the landscape which spreads out in the bright moonlight below me. I could stay here forever.

The next day we wake up at sunrise. As soon as the sun throws its rays on the sand, it becomes warm and bright orange. In general, the light in the desert is particularly intense and immerses everything in a warm hue that accompanies me through the days in Merzouga.

When we are going back to Merzouga leaving the desert, I look back and all the different colors of the dunes I see remind me of a rainbow. Framed by the radiant indigo of the sky and the veiled green of the date palms, each row of dunes shines in a different tone. The smallest of them is bright and yellow, the middle row is rich orange, and the farthest, largest row of dunes is darker and appears almost purple in the evening light.     

This play of colors changes throughout the day and even after days it still captures my gaze. I can not help but pause as soon as my eyes meet the nearby desert. For this view alone, it was well worth the long trip from Marrakech to Merzouga.

© Corinna Kaempfe for NOSADE 2016

Corinna is writing on a weekly basis about her experiences and adventures
doing an internship in Morocco with NOSADE.

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