Desert Tour to Morocco

My trip to Morocco was an experience of a lifetime. I have been traveling every weekend since I arrived in Europe and all of my trips have been fantastic. However, this trip stood out to me because it was so drastically different from the rest. This is largely because I was on a different continent. My first time in Africa! I seek places with culture and traditions that are very different from my own, and Morocco definitely manifested this desire. 

The trip was completely organized for our group of 5. We participated in a 3-day tour that started and ended in Marrakesh. Our tour guide, Saheed, drove ten hours to and from the Sahara desert. It was a lot of driving but I was entertained the whole way. Watching the mountainous, dry, rocky, desert landscape go by out the window of our tour van was interesting because it was unlike anything I've ever witnessed. We stopped at several attractions along the way including a city built into the mountains, a market with traditional Moroccan jewelry, and restaurants that served traditional couscous dishes. 

10 hours into the drive, the Saharah sand dunes began to emerge. At our first stop, we drove ATV's through the dunes. I sped up and down the orange sand, careening around corners, and blazing my own trail. After this high energy activity, we took it down a notch and rode camels into the sunset. As the sun settled beneath the dunes, we arrived at our "luxury campsite". There we ate a very large dinner that was followed by a fire, singing, and dancing beneath the stars. The sky was a 360-degree view of luminous stars unobstructed by any light pollution. A magical end to a magical trip. I am beyond grateful to have received this humbling desert experience. 

The activities in this post were undertaken during the student’s free time and were not sponsored by IES Abroad.