Glamping in the Sahara Desert

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The Sahara Desert has always been a place of legends and tales. It has always been a dream that we can now tick from our list and only we dream to go back.

Driving from Marrakech to the Sahara Desert, we arrived at our arranged meeting point where we were greeted by two friendly men in a 4WD. From there on we left our rental car and went with our suitcases in the SUV to reach the camp.

The ride from Merzouga to the camp was shorter than expected.  We arrived at sunset and it was a beautiful sight to discover our own private camp in the form of a dome tent.

The wooden terrace of our round pavilion extended by multiple carpets laid out on the sand to a dining area. It made a well-executed and polished first impression. Bonfire space and sunbeds completed the glamping surroundings. The dome tent was tastefully decorated with beautiful Morrocan style bedcovers and pillows, in addition, swan folded towels on each side of the bed,- all together created an instant feeling of a very romantic atmosphere.

After our “property” tour and a little unpacking, we went outside and were greeted by two personal waiters and a table full of snacks and beverages. As the darkness fell by, a bonfire was started while candles all around the camp were being lit, one by one.

It was a perfect transition from sunset to a dinner to come, bringing us a magical feeling of being somewhere in a 1001 nights fairytale.

The full course dinner was absolutely delicious and the staff very accommodating.

As we were traveling in December we were a little concerned about the night temperature after reading some fellow desert lovers’ articles. But the dome had electric bed-blankets combined with a heater in it and we were defamed of our concern for the Sahara to be cold on a winter cloudless night.

The following morning was spent indulging a delicious breakfast followed by sandboarding on the dunes and relaxing in the sun until noon. The time when we were picked up by the manager for some adventure, exploring the surrounding by 4WD, which was a lot of fun and a nice way to get a feeling of the rough rugged life.

We passed quite a few camel herds along the way and stopped over a couple of times for some „pats“, pictures and some chitchats with the Bedouins in charge of the camels. It was a nice way to learn a little more about the desert way of life.

We then drove to another campsite to have lunch. At this point, our anticipatory happiness was probably at the equivalent of a child awaiting Christmas morning since every meal we’d been served so far was a whole experience in itself. What we especially liked about our courses was the red thread of “Berber style” in everything, each meal we were served combined something conventional yet, very different from the version we would have expected it to be. Among our favorites was the pizza “Berber style“ also known as Moroccan Madfouna and our breakfast omelet “Berber style” known in Morocco as Shakshuka.

We slept in this tent on another night. How beautiful the interior looks you may ask?

It must be one of the best views we ever had to take a bath.

Another satisfactory “feast” and some well-deserved napping back at our camp (digestion is important), it was time for some camel riding at sunset.

The camels were very calm and well behaved which made it easy to feel comfortable considering the fact of sitting on a 500-kilo exotic animal whilst trying to capture some nice moments on camera along with it.

Not even a 3-meter long pole attached to the GoPro seemed to spook them even the slightest bit which surprised us (being used to horses knowing it would have likely been a very different story)

The highlight was to ride un and down the dunes into the sunset, it felt somewhat a mix of being on a rocky boat and a tiny roller coaster simultaneously (on the downhill parts). It was a very fun ride and we enjoyed it a lot.

Dear Sahara Desert, you made our 2020 year better.