Into the Sahara

One of the most highly anticipated parts of my trip to Morocco was a 2-day/night stay at OAT’s desert camp in the Sahara. En route from Erfoud to the camp, we stopped at a large fossil center. I had no idea that this area in the Anti-Atlas mountains was known for its wealth of fossils. But it’s not surprising because the Moroccan Sahara was a large ocean in the distant past (starting about 500 million years ago).

The coiled ammonites looked familiar. The experts at the fossil center told us that the earliest ammonites came from the Devonian period and the most recent came from Cretaceous period. We also saw plenty of 3-lobed trilobite fossils and long, skinny orthoceras fossils. The latter creatures lived 400 million years ago and were ancestors of today’s squids. 

 

It was fascinating to see how the slabs of rock could be turned into all sorts of items – a table top, a bathtub, trays and dishes of all sizes, a pendant, or even a piece of sculpture. The accomplished artists who worked with this material were only limited by their imagination. From what we saw,  it clearly isn’t quick or easy work. While I admired the beauty and uniqueness of the objects on display in the showroom, I knew it would be impossible to bring back anything besides one of the smallest items. 

 

After visiting the fossil center, we had to transfer from our supersized cruising bus to a fleet of Toyota Land Cruisers that could handle driving off-road through the sand.

 

It’s hard to express the excitement I felt as we set out. Within minutes, our driver turned off the road and charged right into the desert. Suddenly, there were no roads, no street signs, no landmarks, just sand all the way to the horizon. 

 

Somehow, the driver knew where he was going in this sea of sand. About 10 or 15 minutes later, we arrived at the OAT tented camp. Fortunately, it was nothing like the tents I remember from my previous camping experience. In fact, I was relieved to find that the interior of my own personal tent resembled a comfortable hotel room. It even had its own bathroom.

 

There was also a “living tent” where we gathered for meals and presentations. Our first meal in camp was a lunch of koftas (meatballs), French fries, and salad. That evening, we enjoyed a dinner of vegetable soup, round bread, a chicken and vegetable tagine, fresh dates, and sliced oranges.

 

After dinner, I walked back through the dark to my private tent with a feeling of trepidation about the falling temperatures. 

 

Before we left home, Abdou had warned us in an email that it would get very cold at night in the desert. Therefore, I had brought along wooly socks, a warm nightgown, and long underwear. In addition, all of us had been given hot water bottles at the conclusion of dinner. We were supposed to put these under the covers at the foot of the bed to keep our feet warm. As it turned out, I was toasty warm all night long under the thick comforter. The challenge was getting out of bed the next morning, when the temperature in the tent was probably in the 40s. I got dressed extremely quickly and headed to the living tent (where there were heaters) for breakfast. 

 

Breakfast featured an unusual new item. Abdou called it porridge. It was a milky barley soup seasoned with cumin seeds. It was a nice change from my usual oatmeal and very welcome on a chilly morning. 

 

Our stay in the desert wouldn’t have been complete without a ride on a camel – or to be precise, a dromedary camel, which has a single hump. Dromedaries were brought from the Middle East to North Africa by the Romans. A dromedary can weigh 400 kilos and can carry 200 kilos. And I learned that they store water in their bloodstream, not in their humps. 

 

Dromedaries were the perfect beast of burden for caravan trade across the Sahara. Caravans traveling south from Morocco carried salt while caravans traveling north from Mali brought gold and slaves. We were told that an equal weight of salt would be traded for an equal weight of gold. Obviously, salt was a much more valuable commodity back then than it is today. 

 

A typical caravan would have between 500 and 1000 dromedaries. It took about 50 days to make the journey across the desert. The dangers of crossing the Sahara weren’t only the distance (some routes were 620 miles) and the harsh desert conditions, including lack of water. There was also the very real possibility of attacks by robbers. 

 

Although the dromedary I rode was very well-behaved, I’m glad I didn’t have to travel this way for 50 days. In fact, I don’t think I could have survived 52 hours or even 52 minutes. I’d seen pictures of desert warriors riding on the backs of camels but I had never considered how wide these animals are. Fortunately, we took a break halfway through our ride. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but my camel ride over the dunes certainly let me see the desert from a new perspective. 

It surprised me to learn that trees and plants actually grow in the desert. We saw several palm plantations, and even visited farms where we learned about irrigation and water usage in the Sahara. 

 

Mohamed, whose farm was not far from our camp, led us through his grove of date palms and explained how the trees are propagated to produce the greatest yield. Since the water table is high and the roots of date palms go down 5 meters, the trees are able to get sufficient water. 

He pointed out irrigation channels as we walked past plots where many different kinds of vegetables were growing. He also pointed out almond, peach, pomegranate, and lime trees. 

In addition to farming, he also raises sheep and goats. 

He feeds the animals leaves from tamarisk trees (aka salt cedar, and mentioned in the Bible) because their salty leaves make the meat more tasty. 

 

To get a sense of how people live in this region, we visited two families with very different lifestyles. On the day we drove from Erfoud to the desert camp, we stopped for a visit with the El Yanni family, whose home was in a ksar (a fortified hilltop village) in the Anti-Atlas mountains, just north of the desert. The walls of the ksar provided security to people living in the village. Its heavy wooden door was tightly closed at night or at any time of perceived danger.

 

The Darija-speaking (Arabic) family consisted of the mother, the father, the grandmother, and five children, ages 8 to 20. After passing through several narrow passageways, we reached the entrance to their home where we took off our shoes and sat on the floor. 

The mother brought out a pitcher of warm water so we could wash our hands while the father heated the kettle for herbal tea. 

Since Moroccans like their tea sweetened, the father demonstrated how to break off pieces of a cone of sugar. (I think he was actually using a wrench to do this.) 

We spent about an half hour chatting with the family, including several members of their extended family who dropped in to say hello. 

And before we left, they escorted us on a tour of their house. 

On another occasion, we visited a family of Amazigh (Berber) nomads. They were part of a community of about 50 families who were temporarily settled not far from our camp. Most of the year, they move with their animals (dromedaries and goats). We all sat in a large tent made of goat wool, which had been spun and woven by the mother. As usual, we were served tea.  

 

We learned that their two children, ages 6 and 10, don’t attend school. (School attendance is not compulsory in Morocco.) In order to attend school, these children would have to reside with members of their extended family who live in nearby towns. The parents told us that the children preferred to stay home and they had no objection. The family lives a very isolated life, with little knowledge of what is going on in the outside world.  

 

From our camp chef, Khadija, we learned about the techniques and flavors of Moroccan cooking. During her first presentation, she prepared a chicken and vegetable tagine. Tagine is the name of the cooking vessel as well as the name of the finished dish. Khadija explained that you build the tagine as it cooks, but for the demonstration, she showed us how to assemble all of ingredients at once. 

 

She started by placing pieces of chicken (on the bone) into the ceramic tagine. She then added turmeric, garlic, fresh ginger, cumin, salt, and pepper. Next came parsley, cilantro, and red onion. She poured olive oil over everything and mixed it all together. Next, she built a pyramid of vegetables (zucchini, carrots, and potatoes) that she had already sliced lengthwise. She noted that the placement of the vegetables was important. When the finished tagine is placed in the center of the table, each diner helps himself to the portion of vegetables that is directly in front of him. The idea is that each person will get one slice of each different vegetable. 

 

After adding the sliced vegetables, she placed florets of cauliflower at the top of the pyramid. Lastly, she sprinkled chopped tomatoes and green peas all over. Khadija noted that the entire dish would require only 30 minutes of cooking time. If it appeared dry during the final five minutes of cooking, you would add a little bit of water. 

 

For the second cooking demonstration, she showed us how to make a less familiar dish called madfouna. This is a stuffed flatbread, similar to calzone. A simple yeasted wheat dough is patted into two rounds. She prepared a meat filling of small pieces of uncooked beef, chopped onion, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, turmeric, salt, and oil. Next, she placed the meat mixture on top of one circle of dough and covered it with the second circle, pressing the edges closed. The madfouna is then baked in the oven – or in the sand. 

The madfouna we had for dinner on our second night in camp was delicious. 

 

We also found time to visit the Dar Gnaoua (House of Gnaoua) in a nearby village where we learned about a form of music that originated in the Moroccan Sahara. Gnaoua (pronounced gnawa) is the name of a local tribe whose members are descendants of Black slaves brought to Morocco long ago from West Africa. Their music blends elements of pre-Islamic sub-Saharan music and rituals with traditional Moroccan Arab (Islamic) and Amazigh (Berber) music. The instruments typically used are drums, large metal castanets, and a 3-stringed instrument called the guembri, which is similar to a guitar. 

 

A Gnaoua musician played several examples of this music for us and taught us the different rhythms for the drums. Then we attempted to accompany him on our own drums as he sang. Afterwards, we enjoyed a courtyard performance by a group of Gnaoua musicians. 

Perhaps the most memorable experience from our time in the desert was watching the sun set over the dunes. It was early evening and still light when we started climbing the tall mountains of sand. I remember marveling at how fine and soft the sand felt when I reached down to pick up a handful and let it sift through my fingers. Looking out in all directions, I could see how the winds had created different patterns on the surface of the dunes.

The shadows gradually deepened and daylight drained from the sky. All was quiet and still. It was truly magical.