After our crazy car adventure across the edge of the Sahara, we finally reached our destination: the Erg Chigaga. In Arabic, “erg” means “a sea of sand”. It’s the most accurate name ever, the Erg Chigaga spans 40km by 60km with dunes reaching 300 metres in height. The Chigaga is the largest part of the Sahara within Moroccan borders and it is one of the most remote areas in the country.
When we planned to hike through the desert and camp in the dunes, I imagined us pitching a little tent in the middle of no where, building a fire to cook dinner, and falling asleep on a thin mattress on top of the sand. I was fully prepared for that and totally surprised when I saw our camp. We were still in the middle of no where, but it was more like “glamping” than camping. A large group of mud cabins covered in beautiful Moroccan blankets surrounded a central communal space with a large fire pit. Off to the side was a huge tent 15 feet high, with a kitchen and many tables for eating. There was even a building with toilets and showers (which were actually useless for showering because the water was salty)! It was a very remote and simple place, but we had the bare necessities and it was all we needed!
The first thing we did after dropping off our bags was run to the tallest dune in sight. It’s called the Grand Dune and it’s over 300 metres tall. The view from the top was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen, a sea of never-ending dunes in all directions. It should have been sunset, but the sun was hidden behind dark blue-grey storm clouds. There was no “calm before the storm” in the Sahara. At the top of the Grand Dune the wind was blowing so strong I literally thought it would push us off the edge. Rain came on and off every few minutes, getting heavier each time. This made it really hard to take proper photos, so don’t mind the strange lighting in some of the ones below…
The feeling of being at the top of the dune with the wind blowing around us was pretty exhilarating. You can see from the picture of Cristiano above, the ridge of the dune was extremely narrow with a steep slope leading hundreds of metres down on both sides. I don’t think I realized how steep and high the dunes would be, running up was such a work out and running down was the funnest thing I’ve ever done!
Eventually we were forced to go back down to the camp because the wind and rain got too strong. I would have loved to have spent all evening exploring the dunes… next time! Just as we reached the camp thunder and lightening began. It was incredible, we could see the dark storm clouds from hundreds of kilometres away and the sky flashed pink with lightening every 30 seconds. I somehow managed to capture the lightening in the top left corner in the picture of Cris below!
Victoria 