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You are here: Home / Adventures Around the World / Sandstorm and Sandboarding: Our Camel Trek into the Sahara Desert (Erg Chebbi)

Sandstorm and Sandboarding: Our Camel Trek into the Sahara Desert (Erg Chebbi)

July 28, 2014 By John Widmer 22 Comments

We had arrived midday to a riad in the village of Merzouga on the edge of a stretch of the Sahara known as Erg Chebbi. It was too hot for the camels to head out any earlier so our host, Omar, fixed us up some lunch and allowed us to lounge around his oasis-like pool filled courtyard until it was time to ride off into the Saharan sunset.

We had been waiting all day so we were getting anxious to begin this camel trek through the Erg Chebbi desert, that we’d been looking so forward to. The camels had arrived outside the raid and looked ready to go too. We were supposed to leave at 6:00 yet at a quarter after, we were still just waiting around. I finally asked Omar when we were going to depart. He casually replied that we couldn’t leave because a sand storm was approaching.

The Sandstorm in Erg Chebbi

Wait, what?! Sandstorm? I went to the rooftop terrace of the riad, and sure enough, off in the distance was what looked like a dark wall of sand up in the air. One side of the desert was a nice partly cloudy day but looking in the other direction was an ominous blackness. As it slowly got closer and closer, Omar began securing the patio furniture onto the terrace.

Sandstorm approaching in Merzouga

He advised that we come down and take shelter but I really wanted to see what this sand storm was all about. The darkness that was once off in the distance was now at our doorstep. The once still air began to whip up very turbulently. Sand was now being blown everywhere in a quite strong steady warm wind. What looked like rivers of sand began flowing down the roads of this small village. It was quite the site. Sand was everywhere and the sustained winds seemed to be growing even stronger. After uttering a few expletives we soon learned the hard way that it was better to contemplate our impending doom quietly as to not get loads of sand crunching in our mouths.

Once the sand had blasted us for several minutes, our amazement finally subsided to common sense and we took shelter back down stairs. After another hour or so, the sand storm seemed to still be going full force and night was fast approaching. We wondered whether our trek was going to be cancelled. But then Omar introduced us to our guide told us that it was time to go.

He armed us with scarves to keep the sand out of our faces and showed us the proper technique on how to wrap them. After some very quick instructions we hopped onto our camels. The camels rose up from the ground very quickly nearly throwing you off if not holding on tightly. The camels were larger than we’d imagined and we felt like we were riding really high off the ground. But it didn’t take long to get a feel for it. With the sand storm still going strong, we went off into the Sahara. It was just the two of us on our camels led by our guide into the Erg Chebbi desert.

Visibility was poor. The sun was an opaque glowing ball in the distance so there would be no magical Saharan sunset for us tonight. But instead we were treated to watching these mountainous dunes shape-shift right before our eyes. Rivers of sands streamed down valleys then up and over slopes. Peaks in some areas steadily pealed away while others were being built up. Even while we continued to be whipped around by all this sand, it was all still an astonishing sight.

It was almost dark but after going up and over one last dune, there was a small tent camp. Thank goodness. We hopped off our camels and quickly sought refuge inside a tent. Oh, the simple joys of being able to talk without getting a mouthful of sand! It was beginning to cool off rapidly and was actually becoming rather chilly. Our guide presented us with the requisite mint tea and started to prepare dinner. The hearty chicken tagine we feasted on for dinner was good but the novelty of eating it in the middle of a Saharan sandstorm made it that much better.

Dinner in tent the sahara desert

After dinner our guide reappeared with some drums and attempted to give us lessons in Berber drumming. He was quite good! We had trouble trying to keep up with him during our drum circle desert jam session but it was fun to try.

Drum jam session

It was well past midnight and time to close our eyes back in our camp beds with the sand storm still not letting up. We were exhausted and slept like rocks.

The Sandboarding on Sahara Sand Dunes

We weren’t asleep for long though as our guide woke us up only about 4 hours later so that we could see the sunrise. We grabbed our flashlights and ventured out of our tents. The storm was finally over and the air had become tranquil again. The dawn light slowly began to illuminate the vast Erg Chebbi desert and it was in absolutely pristine condition. No footprints, no camel tracks, no signs of life whatsoever. Any traces that may have been there before were now painted over with a fresh coat of golden sand.

san dune

The sun finally peaked over the dune. Still quite tired, we snapped a few pictures and went back to sleep.

Sunrise over the Sahara desert

Our early morning nap would also get cut short as we would need to set out and avoid the midday heat. Also we brought a few snowboards with us so that we could go sand boarding! So we scarfed down breakfast and climbed the dunes to give it a try. Neither one of us has snowboarded before so there would be a clumsy learning curve ahead of us. We started off with some “bunny slopes” and work our way up to some larger dunes.

Sanboarding in the Sahara Desert

What was unexpected was how time consuming and somewhat strenuous it was to climb these dunes. It would take a good 20 minutes+ to get up atop a dune for an experimental 90 second ride down. But man was it fun and worth every ounce of effort climbing the dunes. There were a number of crazy wipeouts but no serious injuries. Just great thrill! (See video at end of post.)

Visiting With Berber Nomads of Erg Chebbi

We could have played around on these dunes for a few more hours but it was beginning to warm so we had to pack up our camels and set off again.

Camels

We would now ride even deeper into the desert. After another few hours, we came to a planned stop at a nomadic Berber family’s camp deep in the middle of the desert. After exchanging pleasantries and the requisite mint tea we were treated to a hearty lunch. Then the three curious young boys in the family slowly started peaking into our tent. Finally one of the children, Hussein, was bold enough to pick up our camera and began going through our pictures. We were obviously not the first tourists to arrive at their camp as he showed us that he knew how to operate a camera and even took a few pictures. His brothers were a bit more shy but slowly joined.

Nomadic Berber child

We’d been through this once before back when connecting with the ancient civilization of the Wiwa children in the jungles of Colombia. So we loaded up a game onto our smartphone and had a lot of fun watching them laughing and playing it together. Ironically the game was PvZ2, in which the opening stages they were playing take place in the desert. They loved it.

Nomadic Berber Children

The battery finally drained. Since we showed them our games, they wanted to show us theirs. They grabbed their sleds, motioned for us to grab our snowboards and we all headed off together up the dunes for some more sledding and sandboarding. We didn’t speak the same language but the smiles, laughter, and genuine fun we were all sharing was universal.

Toy in Sahara Desert

Now that’s one big sandbox!

 

The hot air was finally starting to subside again so it was time to head on to continue on our journey to the second camp. We bid a heartfelt farewell to our new friends and set off on our camels again.

 

Camel Trekking in Erg Chebbi

Is our camel smiling for the picture?

Is our camel smiling for the picture?

 

Embarking further through the desert, our camels seemed to be getting tired and so was my ass. We hopped off and began walking along side them instead. We were now so close to the Algerian border that we could actually see into the country neighboring Morocco.

camel trekking

At one point our guide stopped as he was carefully looking at some tracks in the sand. He said it was from a sandfish. When he saw we were puzzled, he said he would show us. He found a point where the tracks ended, reached down into the sand, and sure enough pulled out what looked like a fish with tiny legs that swims around in the sand. How cool!

Sand fish

We arrived to our second camp in time to enjoy the sunset.

tent camp erg chebbi

And since there was no sandstorm bombarding us we enjoyed dining alfresco as the night sky and thousands of stars began to appear. It was getting cool out again so we enjoyed sitting around a nice crackling bon fire.

The final day of our trek was extremely pleasant yet uneventful. We packed up once again and sought back out of Erg Chebbi on course for Merzouga.

camel shadows

A few more hours trekking over the dunes and we would arrive back at the riad. After three days in the Erg Chebbi desert we were covered in sand and never have I been so excited to indulge in a shower.

Here is a video of our excursion so you can see the sandstorm blow through and also lots of falling while sand boarding, all shot with a GoPro. View it in full screen.

YouTube video

If You Go on a Camel Excursion in Merzouga / Erg Chebbi:

There are dozens of tour companies and agencies to book camel tours with in Merzouga that are more than willing to take you on a camel trek through the Erg Chebbi desert. We booked our tour with CamelTrekking.com, had a good experience, give them a solid review and would absolutely recommend them. We did the 2 night “eXtreme Sport” tour in which the cost was 70 euros per person inclusive of all meals, water, guide, camels, camp, and equipment. For this specific tour you must arrange your own transportation to Merzouga but they also offer other tours from Marrakech and other locations, which include transportation and stops at other destinations. This excursion was a highlight of our visit to Morocco and we would strongly recommend to anyone considering a desert trip in Morocco.

Ready to make this epic trek through the Sahara Desert? Pin this to your travel Pinterest boards for future reference!:

Sandstorm & Sandboarding: Trekking the Sahara Desert

Filed Under: Adventures Around the World, Travel Tips Around the World Tagged With: Africa, Morocco

Comments

  1. mohsin says

    February 3, 2020 at 1:46 AM

    Hi.
    Hello there, I have really read some of the articles on this site and it really seems like the content of this website is genuine. keep up the good work. reflecting the ability of a good content writer.
    Thanks for sharing this with us, I hope you will post more great post like this.

    Reply
  2. Claire says

    April 23, 2018 at 2:33 PM

    Thanks for the informative post. I’m trying to figure out how to squeeze in a side trip to Morocco from Spain and this has given me some hope! Was Merzouga-Fes easy to travel without a tour? And did you pre-book your desert trip before arriving in Morocco? I’ve heard to wait until you get there but that makes me a little nervous… Thanks again

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      May 9, 2018 at 11:29 AM

      Merzouga-to-Fes wasn’t exactly easy, but it wasn’t difficult either. There were no scheduled buses, so we were relying on a bit of luck/timing with the second class buses, but it all worked out. Conditions got a little warm and cramped, but it was manageable. We did pre-book our desert trip before arriving to Merzouga and I’d recommend doing so. My opinion… best to vet out a good operator in advance and secure a good price. You would have no problem finding a camel tour once you arrive to Merzouga – there are hundreds of them. But they are pretty aggressive, so it can be a painstaking progress to deal with and it’s tough to figure out how one may be better than the other. So we suggest booking in advance to price compare and check reviews, so you can just show up without having the added stress of dealing with the many touts.

      Reply
  3. betty says

    February 26, 2017 at 9:26 PM

    Hi John & Heather, the post really help me to plan travelling in Morocco a lot.
    especially for the detail of how to transportation and how munch payment during the trip.
    thanks a lot!!

    i also book 2 night camel desert trip.
    i am wondering if i need to give the tip for the desert tour ? if so how much tip is customary?

    (as i know, usually mountain trekking need to give tip at the end. but i am not sure if it is also applied the same on the desert trip)

    Reply
    • Heather Widmer says

      March 3, 2017 at 9:43 AM

      Hey Betty, thanks for the comment! We’re thrilled to hear you found our information to be helpful. It is customary to tip your guide, we did at the conclusion of our tour. I can’t recall exactly how much we tipped our guide, but tipping 10-15% of the tour price is the standard. Of course, it would be up to you depending on the level of service.
      Enjoy Morocco!

      Reply
      • Betty says

        March 9, 2017 at 7:26 AM

        Ok. I see.
        Thank you so much. 🙂

        Reply
  4. Rachel says

    August 10, 2016 at 4:39 PM

    Hi,
    I’ve got a quick questions: when/how did you pay for your desert trip? I’ve been in touch with cameltrekking and been asked to transfer the money via the Western Union. did you have to do the same? Just want to make sure there’s no scam…

    Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Rachel says

    July 31, 2016 at 4:32 AM

    Hi,
    I’ve got a quick questions: when/how did you pay for your desert trip? I’ve been in touch with cameltrekking and been asked to transfer the money via the Western Union. did you have to do the same? Just want to make sure there’s no scam…

    Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Morocco travel company says

    July 2, 2016 at 7:36 PM

    Hi ,

    Thanks a lot for sharing with us your amazing desert experience 🙂

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      July 3, 2016 at 3:20 AM

      Always happy to share! It certainly was an amazing experience!

      Reply
  7. Rachel says

    July 2, 2016 at 7:02 AM

    Thanks for this blog entry, it has helped me a lot to plan my own trip to Morocco and the desert!
    Just a quick question, upon your return to Merzouga from your desert trip, were you able to shower still at Chez Youssef before heading off to Rissani/Fez?

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      July 2, 2016 at 8:04 AM

      Glad to hear this was helpful! Whoever you book your camel trek with, yes, they should let you shower at their riad before you venture out of town. So if you book your camel tour with Chez Youssef, they should let you shower there in the morning you return. Since we booked with cameltrekking, they have their own riad/hotel (which is beautiful!) and they let us store our belongings in one of their hotel rooms while we were on the camel trek. We then used that same room on the morning of our return to shower and pack up. There was no extra cost for this. It would have been a little easier to stay at the camel trekking riad the night before our camel trek but we found their nightly rates to be a little on the high side so booked at Youssef instead.

      Reply
      • Rachel Sturgis says

        July 2, 2016 at 1:10 PM

        Thanks, again really helpful!! I know you mention in your other blog post about getting from merzouga to fez and recommending going with Rissani! Do you know if it’s best to just go straight to fez from the desert or is there somewhere on the way worth staying at?

        Reply
        • John Widmer says

          July 2, 2016 at 1:49 PM

          No problem – happy to help! You can break up the long day of travel about halfway by stopping in Midelt, but it didn’t seem worth the stop for us. Instead we stopped in Azrou. This enabled us to get into town before dark and it shaved off an hour or two from the time we would have arrived in Fes. We enjoyed Azrou (there’s a short post about it here on the blog) and would recommend it for a day or two, if you have the time. Once you’re ready to leave Azrou, it’s only about 90 minutes from Azrou to Fes and there are very regular buses running that route. Hope that helps!

          Reply
          • Rachel says

            July 3, 2016 at 11:03 AM

            Thanks for the tip, I will have a look at it 🙂 Would you generally recommend using grand taxis if available?

          • John Widmer says

            July 6, 2016 at 5:53 AM

            Sure, I’d recommend grand taxis if available. They seemed safe and reliable but not the most comfortable way to travel. It’s often the norm to have two people in the front passenger seat and four squeezed into the back. We found it fine for shorter distances of a half hour or so, but I wouldn’t want to be cramped into one for several hours at a time. The driver won’t leave until the grand taxi is full, so to depart sooner or to make your ride more comfortable, you can buy an extra seat that will go unused.
            The Supratours and CTM buses are the best, comfort wise, but the schedules aren’t always the best. For longer distances, I’d use the second-class buses instead of a grand taxi, if available.

  8. liz edgecombe says

    February 24, 2016 at 1:04 AM

    hi john
    did you do this trek in june /july? we are wanting to do the erg chebbi adventure in the first week of july but are concerned about the temperatures . weather sites vary from 38 deg celcius to 55 degrees in the heat of the day . do you know which is more acurate?

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      February 24, 2016 at 9:54 AM

      Hi Liz, we did this trek in mid-June. It was extremely hot. How hot? I don’t think it quite reached 55 (I can’t even fathom such heat), but it probably did breach 40 during the day. The good news is that it cools off quite remarkably in the evenings. Most of the trekking and sandboarding is done in the early morning and in the evening before sunset. That way you miss the brutality of the heat during the day. The one-night treks leave in the early evening and return the following morning so you avoid the heat altogether. During this 2-night trek, we hung out in the shade with a Berber family during most of the day, hence avoiding the extreme heat.

      Reply
  9. Aryane says

    February 5, 2015 at 4:51 PM

    Hey guys! Thanks for the info, this excursion looks so awesome! We’ve already settled on booking it, using the same “company” as you and I found your site looking for more info.
    It must be such an eerie feeling, being alone in the middle of nowhere. I can’t wait to get out of my comfort zone and experience it!
    I was wondering what is the plugin you use to display itineraries on your maps? Thanks! 🙂

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      February 9, 2015 at 4:48 PM

      I’m sure you will have a great time. This was our highlight of Morocco. So glad to hear you found this post helpful!

      Regarding the maps found in some places on our site, we actually don’t use a plugin. I just manually create the routes and maps using geodistance.com and use a screen grab and upload as a picture. Was actually looking for a better solution via a plugin but have yet to find something. But this gets the job done.

      Reply
  10. Loukas says

    November 15, 2014 at 9:23 AM

    Is it possible to tell me from where did you arrange the trip ?? because am travelling to morrocco next month

    Reply
    • John Widmer says

      November 15, 2014 at 12:23 PM

      Yes, we used CamelTrekking.com, would recommend them, and have provided their info in the last paragraph of this post, right under the video. Hope you have great trip to Morocco next month!

      Reply

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