Camel Riding Excursion.

Written on the 15^th April 2012.

We set out for the desert at 7am. We were picked up by a driver in a big hurry. We were then deposited to another driver with no idea what really was going on. Our new driver did not speak a word of English (except photo) and was to be our driver for the next 2 days. We all sat in silence watching the view change out the window from bustling city, to dry barren land, to some greenery as we climbed higher into the Atlas mountains. I was excited to see some poppies and even a lovely field full of bright purple irises. (I think.) After a few hours we were let out to take some photos of the lovely view in the mountains.

There were many little mud house villages to appreciate as we drove along. We climbed higher and higher stopping occasionally to admire the view.

And looked out the window as more mud houses zoomed by.

There were also a few more grand looking houses dotted around.

We then came to an old town where movies have been filmed including Gladiator and Prince of Persia. We first stopped to view it from afar.

And Steve and I had a photo with a snake. (Steve did not enjoy it – especially when the old man put the snake down his top!!!)

It was quite interesting to have a look around the old town. Every 3-4 years they have to re-coat it with mud because it gets washed away by the rain.

Can you see the massive birds nest with the massive bird in it on top of one of the towers?

They had an interesting way of making paintings there – they would paint a picture with their mint tea and then put it over a hot flame to darken it. A bit like writing an invisible letter with lemon juice. The boys had fun speculating about what other substances could be used.

There was a pretty mint view from the top.

On our way down we walked past a donkey carrying a load of green. It's a very common sight in Morocco.

At the bottom of the hill I took a picture of the boys on the new bridge (which later one of the German girls said looked like a boy band picture haha).

After that we had lunch which later made 2 of our new German mates from the tour really sick. (They had an omelet each which they think was the culprit.)

We drove a bit more and had another nice view to look at.

After driving hours more we finally reached the desert which was having a bit of a sand storm. We were starting to think that the whole rinding a camel in the desert idea was not such a good one after all. We were told to buy these bits of cloth to wrap around our heads to stop the sand getting in our eyes. (Mean rip off – everywhere we stopped the prices were hiked way up and we had no choice but to buy from there – I don't think I'd do a tour again for that reason.) Check out this photo of me and A.J. looking creepy in the back of the van!

We finally got to meet of camels and hop on. It was 11 and a half hours after we got picked up in Marrakech (including the 2 hour stop for the tour of the old town and lunch.) Mission! Here's a photo of me and Steve dressed up ready to go camel riding.

Camels are funny when they stand up. They stand on the 2 back legs first and the front legs follow so it is sort of like a crazy live see-saw. My camel was very bumpy. I got a saw bum. But I did have fun riding the camel. Steve had a most uncomfortable camel. All the boys were complaining from the discomfort of the hump up their butt and were worried about their future ability to conceive children. I'm not sure how long we rode for. It was pretty tame, we were led in lines of 4. It didn't feel like we rode for that long. We were told 2 hours riding at night then 2 hours in the morning but I'm pretty sure it was shorter than that. We didn't see the sun set – the light just sort of faded away. We arrived at the camp in the dark and were shown to big tents where we deposited our bags before dinner.

The dinner was a tagine which was shared amongst the table. It is sort of like a slow cooked meal but not exactly. It was quite nice. It was followed by revolting strong tea which I did not drink. Steve had a dodgy gut (he had been afraid he would give his camel a new paint job!) and had to go and use the squat toilette that had no toilette paper. Lets just say he ate the rest of his tea with his right hand. After that all the desert men played the drums and sang and danced.

Then we got to have a go on the drums and they taught us some rhythms. It was quite fun even though I was really tired.

The next morning we had breakfast – bread and jam. Then took some photos in the desert.

Then it rained in the desert!!!

And there was a beautiful rainbow!

Then we got back on the camels. Steve was stoked. He said he had a luxury camel compared to his one from the day before. Mine was better too. It was not such a bumpy walker.

My camel had a shake to get the water off once it was standing.

Do camels get mean ass chafing?

Me and my camel.

Steve's luxury camel.

I was gutted to get back to the van to do another mammoth drive. The drive back was pretty uneventful. We looked at more rocky landscae, mud houses, rocks, mud houses, a few more rocks... I think you get the picture. There were a few more stop offs with nice views.

And some not so nice views...

We called this place Rubbish Valley.

The best thing that happened on the way home was it snowed in the Atlas mountains while we were driving through them! We stopped and played in the powder. So fun! And got frozen toes since we all only had our jandals. No one else from the tour was keen to leave the van.

We arrived back to Marrakech to muddy skanky streets and rain. Not ideal if you are wearing while pants and jandals. Never mind. After a shower to was the and from every surface of our bodies we chowed down on some food from the night market and hit the hay.