A Sahara Desert Trekking Adventure: A Guest Post by Chiara Tremolada

It has been a while since I last updated the travel section of my blog, even though I have taken quite a few trips since the last post, so I will take advantage of the request made to me by Aziz, the guy who coordinated my trip to Morocco, to tell you about this trekking from November 2022.

After a smooth trip from Milan that started with the usual delay, we landed in Marrakech in the evening. Once the airport procedures were done, we took a taxi to our riad and immediately went out in search of something to eat.

The following morning we met in Jemaa el-Fnaa with the driver sent to us by Aziz, owner of Sahara Wonders, with whom I had already had the chance to communicate via WhatsApp in the previous days. On the way to M’Hamid El Ghizlane, we got to know our driver and exchanged some words with him in French and some in Italian.

About halfway, we stopped for lunch and once to photograph Ait-Ben-Haddou from afar and then off again, towards the last village at the gates of the Sahara: M’Hamid El Ghizlane.

There, we got to know Aziz, who welcomed us into his home and had us served a delicious dinner prepared by Ahmed, who in the following days would be our cook and interpreter. That evening, Aziz pampered us by taking us to the Festival des Nomades, a unique event, an open-airconcert, during which it is possible to listen to the typical music of Saharan nomadic peoples and see their traditional clothes live.

After an evening of Saharan music and culture, the following morning we got ready to leave for the Sahara desert. We were supposed to do a five-day ring route, but things did not go exactly as planned… Keep reading to find out what happened!

Once the dromedaries were loaded and we had met Bazou, our Berber guide of Algerian origins, we left behind the small cluster of houses of M’Hamid. Despite it being November, the wind blowing from the desert was warm, but not suffocating.

The ground was made of sand and compact rock, winding among abandoned gardens destroyed by desertification. From time to time, we passed low sand dunes, some no higher than twenty centimeters, which already gave us the feeling of being in another world,far from the mountain treks we were used to.

Bazou led the dromedaries, which carried the supplies necessary for the entire duration of the trek, while we walked behind, together with Ahmed, who took advantage of breaks during the walk to show us fossils embedded in rocks, desert lizards, and tracks left in the sand.

The deeper we went into the Sahara, the more the landscape around us began to change. The hard ground had given way to sand, our feet began to sink, and the small dunes of a few centimeters had become one or two meters high. Nothing insurmountable, but the fatigue in our legs, after 20 km of walking, began to be felt.

My husband and I are used to walking. We already were in 2022, despite the long break imposed by COVID in the two previous years, but doing so on the powdery sand of the desert is very different from walking on a rocky mountain path, not to mention the shoes that, at every step, became tighter and tighter due to the sand pouring inside.

Despite this, after about 22 km, Bazou stopped the dromedaries and, in a few minutes, set up our camp. Ahmed prepared lunch and we were able to rest our legs.

My husband, already after that first stage, despite always having kept on the cheche (or tagelmust) wrapped as a turban around his head, began to feel the heat and sun of the desert.

A unique and unforgettable moment was our first dinner in the desert, in the dark, prepared by Ahmed over the fire. The heat of the flames contrasted with the chill of the night, which had replaced the warm wind of the day. Above our heads, the Milky Way could be seen.

Around us, there was absolute silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire. After a mint tea, we lay down in our tent and went to sleep, huddled in our sleeping bags, ready to leave again the following morning.

The second day was the hardest. Once the camp was dismantled, we started walking again on the sand dunes of the previous day, heading for the big dunes. I don’t know if it was significantly hotter than the previous day or if we perceived it as such because of the absence of morning wind, but the fact is that I kept drinking and drinking. I don’t know how many liters of water I consumed, but I clearly remember the moment when I downed half a liter all at once and felt dizzy. At that moment I thought: “even though I wasn’t very thirsty, I really needed to drink.”

I also offered some water to my husband, but he said he didn’t feel the need for it, that he just wanted to reach the destination. Through all this, Bazou and Ahmed were very attentive to our needs, making sure to take numerous breaks, during which they offered us delicious dates.

22 km of walking and ten plasters for blisters later, among sand dunes now tens of meters high, Bazou stopped the dromedaries. Together with Ahmed and my husband, he set up the camp and allowed us to relax a bit in the shade of a dune.

At that moment, my husband was feeling a bit weak but, when in the late afternoon we were asked if we wanted to reach the top of the highest dune, he agreed. So we set out again, climbing a dune about a hundred meters high.

During the ascent, I think I stopped about ten times, between burning calves and shortness of breath. I told Bazou and my husband to go ahead of me and I even crawled on my knees and moved several meters on all fours, to reach the top. I got there just a few minutes before sunset and the view that opened up before my eyes was worth every drop of sweat and effort: an endless expanse of orange dunes of impalpable sand, illuminated by the warm light of the setting sun.

I would have stayed there forever, partly for the beauty of the landscape, partly because I no longer had the strength in my legs to return to camp and start again the ups and downs in the sand necessary to get there (thank you, Bazou, for helping me over the last two dunes before the camp).

Much later, back at camp when it was already dark, while Ahmed prepared dinner, Bazou went away and returned shortly after with his father. Now… The landscape was beautiful, but lacking any point of reference. There wasn’t one dune different from the other. I really don’t know how they could have found each other in the dark in that sea of sand. Something absolutely incredible.

The following morning, as soon as he woke up, my husband said he felt very tired. He struggled to walk, his muscles were burning, and Ahmed asked him if he needed a Toyota, to return to M’Hamid. He instead decided to continue and we set out. It took us almost 7 hours to cover the 23 km planned for that day and, upon arrival at the designated camp site, he went straight to sleep.

In the evening, we discovered that he had developed a fever. He had no other symptoms, no cold and no intestinal problems. He had probably suffered a heatstroke.His comment, while trying to curl up in his sleeping bag, was: “But do you think someone pale, blond, and with blue eyes like me can survive in this hostile place?”

He laughed, he still managed to joke around, so everything was fine. I captured his silhouette wrapped up in the blue sleeping bag, but I don’t have authorization to publish it.

While he rested, I took the opportunity to take some photos nearby and to exchange a few words with Bazou about his family, thanks to Ahmed who, in English, acted as interpreter, compensating for my poor French.

Several paracetamol and a night of rest later, since another 20 km per day for two more days would have been too much for my husband, we asked Ahmed to call a Toyota. The organization, even in this case, was impeccable. In less than two hours, we were in M’Hamid, at Aziz’s house, who welcomed us with delicious chicken skewers for me and plain rice for my husband.

We spent two days in M’Hamid, during which my husband was able to recover in the room, while I visited the village together with Ahmed (and with the inevitable plasters for the blisters, which by then had reached stratospheric dimensions).

Special mention to the cats of M’Hamid who live outside the butcher’s shop. Where there are cats there is food. Always.

And what can we say about the delicious pasta that Aziz prepared for us during our last evening in M’Hamid? We felt pampered in every way!

The following day, our driver came to pick us up to return to Marrakech. Along the way, we stopped at a potterie, where we bought some small terracotta glasses as a souvenir of our trip, and in a spice shop, where of course I chose several blends because I, as my dad always says, “have spice compulsive disorder.” I would eat spiced food every day.

The trekking with Sahara Wonders was an unforgettable trip. We had the chance to experience life in the desert, with its silences, its slow rhythms, and the nights lit by fire and stars.

It is an experience I would like to do again, one day, and that I recommend to anyone who truly wants to get to know the Sahara (don’t worry if you have blond hair and blue eyes, it’s fine for you too, if you’re not my husband ahahah).

Small travel extra: Before departure, I had slipped into my backpack a copy of Sahràis, one of my novels, with the intention of taking some shots in the desert. Before leaving, I left that copy at Aziz’s house. Over a year later, in February 2024, an Italian girl stayed at his house as a guest and he lent her my novel.

This is the message I received from that girl:“Hi Chiara! My name is Cristina and I arrived a few days ago in M'Hamid in Morocco at Aziz's house. When I told him I was Italian he gave me your book, Sahràis, to read while I was here. I must say that I devoured it! I really enjoyed spending these hours with Halima and Rahsaan :) It had been a long time since a book had captured me like this and I wanted to congratulate you.

Today I went to the desert, I found a nice spot in the shade of a palm tree among the dunes and I finished the book. Reading about these settings and characters while I am here made me romanticize Morocco even more! It is my second time here. I had already spent three months here in 2022 (I am lucky enough to work online) and now I have come back for some more months. I was really happy to have found your book which managed to keep me a lot of company while also giving me the pleasure of reading something in print in Italian (always a rarity when traveling)! And that’s it, thanks again and many many compliments :)”

I would never have believed to receive a message from M’Hamid, from a girl who, like me, had been a guest at Aziz’s house. I find it wonderful how, even at the gates of the desert, one can “meet” thanks to a book and to Aziz’s kindness.