Morocco Day Hikes Part Three: The Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert was the reason I originally wanted to visit Morocco. As great as the food, people, surfing, hiking, and history is in Morocco…what makes Morocco (even though it contains just a sliver of it) truly unlike anywhere else in the world is the Sahara Desert! In this article I share some of my favorite Morocco Day Hikes in the Sahara Desert!
The best news about going to Erg Chebbi or Erg Chigaga for me in Morocco? Most people want to ride a camel or an ATV through these magnificent pre-Saharan Steppes and not hike in it.
Which means I basically had my day hikes (routes that I often created) on these epic sand dunes all to myself!
The desert was what initially drew me to Morocco. I watched a documentary of some ultra runners going across the Sahara Desert and I was hooked. A must visit if I was able and privileged enough to ever do so.
Fast forward ten years later and Anas and I were pounding down the roads of Morocco in our Morocco Shiny Days Jeep for a full day in places that reminded me of the isolated corners of Texas near Big Bend, Arizona near Page, and California hear Joshua Tree.
We made it to our riad just shortly before sunset and I headed straight for the dunes.
It was well worth the ten year wait!
If you ask me my Morocco Desert photos almost look fake! Not only are they real but I didn’t even edit these pictures.
But what fascinated me the most was the lack of other people on them. With camels and ATV rides available there were little to no other hikers enjoying the dunes. I hiked until sunset, ventured up again at sunrise the next day, took a mid-day stroll through abandoned nomad huts, and finally took another late afternoon into sunset hike and EVERY TIME I had the dunes to myself.
As someone who has hiked in Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes NP and Death Valley’s iconic dunes I couldn’t believe the lack of other spectators with me on these trails.
It made for a stunning and unforgettable experience in my visit to Erg Chebbi in Morocco.
If you have never dune sand dune hiking it’s pretty simple if there’s not a sandstorm going on. Follow the ridge lines of the dunes as far as you want to go and track back the way you came by following landmarks or your footprints.
There are no official trails in this area but to me it made all the more exciting.
There are camel rides, ATV dune buggies, and luxury desert camps to enjoy in the Erg’s of Morocco. But for me visiting the desert and exploring the dunes solo on my day hikes that I was creating as I went was the highlight of my trip to Morocco. And I LOVED every minute of my 2.5 week trip to Morocco. The desert still wins.
I felt ease and at peace during a time in which I needed some ease and peace. If you have never been to a big wide open desert or spent some time exploring there it’s mystical, powerful, and mysterious to me.
The desert for me is a special place and one that I have been so fortunate to live in and also visit frequently over my years on Earth.
BUT…
Nothing prepared me for this trip to the Moroccan Desert. It was truly one of a kind and something that I hope will live on with me for the rest of my days on Earth.
If you have the chance to make your own day hikes on the sand dunes of Moroccos I highly recommend you throw caution to the wind and get there however possible.
Thanks for reading, comment below with questions about visiting Morocco or your energy feelings when in the desert!
Because there’s ease and peace and mystical powers at work in the desert! (Maybe this is my new sign off!)
Mike
