Morocco -Tamegroute, M'Hamid, and Sahara camp

 First thing in the morning, we went to a shop in Zagora to buy scarves for wearing in the Sahara.

On the way to the Sahara, in the morning we stopped in a Tamegroute, where we visited an Islamic school and library. 

The library had over 4000 books from before the 15th century, the oldest one being a Koran from the 11th century. All the books were written by hand in calligraphy. There were books on literature, and books on sciences translated from Greek. Where the word Allah appeared, it was written in gold lettering.

Afterwards we walked through narrow passageways between buildings made of plaster, which is warm in winter and cool in summer. Tamegroute is known for it's green pottery. The clay comes from the local river, and the glaze is made from mint flower, magnesium, and copper. We visited a workshop were the pottery is made and sold. 

We left Tamegroute and drove through a flat dry landscape, and then over another mountain pass, until we got to the village of M'Hamid, on the edge of the Sahara. There we had lunch with a Berber family.

At M'Hamid we left the van and loaded everything to three 4x4 jeeps for the drive to the Sahara camp. It was a couple of hours ride through desolate looking, flat rocky landscape with drifts of blowing sand and sparse scrub vegetation.

Then we reached the area of the huge sand dunes, called Erg Chigaga, where the camp was. We settled into the camp and then scampered up the dunes for a bit. Really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Then we all got on camels to ride over the dunes for a couple of hours. During a break we climbed some of the bigger dunes, and watched the sunset.

An advantage of the Sahara at night is that not only are you away from city lights, but there is no moisture in the air, so the view of the stars in incredible.