Sunrise in the Desert; Todra Gorge

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

We were awakened at 6:00 AM (as if we were in a restful sleep) with the temperature in our tent at 45 degrees.  I have no idea what the outside temperature was—at least a few degrees colder.  At least the wind had stopped and the sky was a brilliant sea of stars and a very bright moon as Leah and I began our ascent of the dunes on our camels.  Joyce elected to stay wrapped up in the blankets back in our tent:

The sun rose as we sat on top of a dune and watched:

We then went back to our camp for breakfast:

  

We were picked up by our Land Cruiser and brought to the road where we met our driver who took us to the oasis of Tineghir where we took our morning hike amid the fields:

 The alfalfa harvest is done by women and by hand:

The almond trees are in bloom:

Our local guide made Leah a camel of palm leaves:

We walked among the fields for a couple of hours, greeting the farmers as we went.  We then went to the Todra Gorge, a 900-foot deep rift in the desert floor cut by a river:

The vertical walls of the gorge are a favorite place for climbers.  Here’s a guy free climbing; note the blond Mohican:

Leah began up but then prudence took over (along with some guidance from her grandparents):

A long drive to Ouarzazate followed where we checked into our truly lovely hotel, the Berbere Palace and had a lovely buffet supper which included Leah’s favorite—pasta!