Riding a camel across the dunes of the Sahara Desert
You’ve undoubtedly seen photos of a camel caravan traversing sand dunes in the twilight hours. Images of Lawrence of Arabia floating dreamily across the horizon flash in my mind’s eye. How exotic!
That’s what my wife and I wanted to experience while touring Morocco. It was easily arranged by the personable, English speaking driver we hired (chellataziz2008@yahoo.fr) to take us around some remote areas of the country.
We’ve owned horses, so we figured riding a camel would be an easy transition. Yes, but……
On a horse, you are relatively close to the ground, around seven feet at eye level. Saddles are designed for functionality as well as comfort. Stirrups make mounting and dismounting easy.
On a camel, things are quite different. You find yourself looking down from at least ten feet. Saddles are really designed for transporting goods, not people. There are no stirrups.
Seated up high, behind the camel’s hump.
At rest on the dunes.
To mount a camel, the animal must be down on its knees. Climb aboard as best you can. Hold on tightly to whatever grip is provided. When the camel extends its front legs to stand up, you will suddenly be pitched backwards. The opposite motion happens when the camel straightens its back legs. Head over heels is where you will go unless you are holding on tightly, very tightly.
We mounted and rose without problems, if not surprise at the sudden lurching. Later, my wife mistakenly dismounted while her camel was standing upright. It was a very long way down. I waited for instructions.
Under a starry, moonlit sky, we set out at 4:00 a.m. from our modest accommodations in the village of Merzouga, at the edge of the Sahara dune-scape. After a few hours in the saddle, mounted behind the dromedary’s single hump, and holding tightly to the grip, we were in place to witness the sunrise over the undulating waves of dunes before us.
In the distance, a small group of camels was parked for the night, just what we were hoping to see. I was surprised at how quickly the colors of the dunes changed, and faded, as the sun rose. The moment was over almost in a flash.
Sunrise on Erg Chebbi dunes.
After packing up my tripod, by chance I looked behind me. Our camel driver, stretched out on the ridge of a higher dune, was dozing in the warmth of the early morning sun. That was one final image to record for a perfect day on the Erg Chebbi dunes.
Dozing on the Sahara Desert dunes.
Would we do this again? In a heartbeat. If you are so lucky to travel in Morocco, this is an experience you should not miss.