I live in Morocco, but until last week I had not gone to the desert. I'm so, so glad that I did, and I loved my experience with this group, Mohammad in M'hamid and Said to in the desert. I had heard different things about spending time in the desert, including from those who thought that the experience in Merzouga was not very authentic. Of course one cannot replicate the experience of real nomads, but the romantic idea was to try to do so as much as possible. So I came with a friend to M'hamid, spent one night, and then set to the next day into the desert: I, my friend, Said and Osama our two guides, and four camels. I somehow had not understood at all what to expect, even though I speak good Arabic: just poor research on my part. (These guys speak good English and of course French as well.) The most typical way that the nomads travel in the desert, and the baseline for what you would do, is to walk. You have camels, but you mostly do not ride them. When the nomads move, they use the camels to carry their goods: tents, blankets, food for humans and camels, precious water, and whatever personal things might be worth taking into the desert. And so it is with a trip like this. We walked 3 hours, stopped under a lovely tamarisk tree for lunch: surprise, they light a fire, make tea, serve a freshly cooked tajine, fruit salad, and more! They fully unload the camels, and let them eat on whatever is around. They then loaded back up, and we hiked another 3 or so hours, to a gorgeous large bunch of tamarisk trees. They set up a tent, made a fire, cooked dinner, and we slept a first magical night under the stars. Wow! It was late October, and that first night the winds picked up and began to kick up sand, so whoever wanted to shared the big tent, very comfortably. The next day we sat in front of the fire, drank tea and coffee, had breakfast, and then set off toward our main goal, Erg Azzahar. Erg, of course, means dune, and this is one incredible dune. We camped what seemed close but turned out to be perhaps 45 minutes from it. We hiked over barefoot, in the clean and gorgeous sand. It took another 20 or so minutes to climb, and from there you could see this incredible horizon, beautiful views, the silence and majesty of the desert. Let yourself run down that dune when you leave after sunset: you won't regret that! After another lovely dinner, we stayed out longer under the skies, watching shooting stars, seeing the Milky Way more clearly than I have ever seen it, as far from human-made light as I have been in a long time. When I got cold, after midnight, I moved into the tent, but my companion remained out. The next day we began a loop that would take us to another dune, Erg al-Gawasim. By now my companion had sore legs, and so rode on a camel most of the day. Later that day, I too rode a camel for several hours, and it was wonderful and also hurts in strange places! We hiked most of that day through the dry river bed of the Ouad Draa, imagining it full of water, enjoying the stunning tamarisk trees, dunes, rocks, of that land. Later that day, we left the valley and made for the Erg al-Gawasim, where we camped a night, and then back to M'hamid on the fourth day. Overall, this was one of the most unforgettable and amazing and happy experiences of my life. You'll never be freer and happier than there, where the daily routines of looking at your phone and thinking about whatever your business is all fall away. The guides were amazing: Warm, funny, fun. Said sang a lot of Gnaoua songs, and Osama too. They have an easy familiarity with the desert that starts to rub off on you a bit. If I had one or two things to do differently, I would plan for it to be quite cold at night in late October, and I would find better shoes than the ones I brought. Otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing. If you are able to take the time, and if you can handle the hiking, do it this way. You're much closer to the desert; you don't disturb the hard pan sand of the desert in the way that a four by four does, and you really experience the joy (and some of the difficulty, let's be honest) of what it is to travel in that harsh and gorgeous land. If you don't have the time or ability, they can take you in a four by four, and I'm sure that it will also be great.

We weren't sure of the best way to get into the desert but these guys sorted everything out for us. We rented a car and drove to Mhamid where we met our hosts. They were super friendly and fun, and made us very relaxed for our desert time. We drove for approx 2 hours in the 4x4, via an amazing oasis, and were made to feel at home as soon as we arrived in the camp. We spent hours climbing the dunes and playing on the sand boards, and opted for an extra sunset camel ride out to the biggest dune, which was well worth it. Dinner was a fantastic traditional 3 course Berber meal and then the evening was spent around the fire, under a beautiful starry sky with some Berber music. We got up for sunrise, another worth while experience, and then had an amazing Berber breakfast, before getting ready to leave. I can't rate these guys highly enough, they did everything they could to make our visit to the desert unforgettable!!! What an incredible experience!!!