Camels in Morocco

Our port in Morocco was Casablanca, which we explored for a day or so. We visited an amazing and very contemporary mosque that fits 105,000 Muslims for prayer and has a retractable roof! Casablanca is a huge, congested, dirty city so I was quite happy to leave it. For the majority of our time in Morocco, we led a trip to Marrakech and a nomad camp in the Sahara with 90 students for four days.

First, we drove three to four hours to Marrakech, a touristy city in Morocco. We walked around the square and medina observing and shopping (see picture below of spice market with new colleague and friend, Donna), had an amazing dinner with belly dancers and music, and got lost (literally this time -not for the fun of it). The next day, we drove for eight hours through the windy Atlas Mountains on our way to the Sahara desert. Many experienced motion sickness on the bus with three people actually throwing up! We stopped at a sand dune to climb and take pictures as the sun set. The sand was unbelievably fine—like dipping one’s toes in powdered sugar. It was pitch black when we arrived at the nomad camp. Upon putting our belongings in our tents, we were treated to singing and dancing from a local group of performers, a nice, traditional meal, and the clearest starry night either of us had ever seen. The majority of our group slept outside, under the stars, including Chris (I was too lazy to move my bed). My favorite moment in Morocco was waking up at the nomad camp with the sun rising in the beautiful landscape of sand and palm trees to see 90 camels lounging around. When will I ever have a similar experience in my life? NEVER! For us, it could have probably ended there because the camel ride itself was quite uncomfortable. But hey, we can say we rode camels in the Sahara Desert. We drove another eight hours back to Marrakech to stay the night before heading back to the ship. Chris talked me into going on this trip; but of course, I am extremely happy he did because all the driving was worth it. We also learned a lot of about the culture from the best (and most loquacious) tour guide ever, named Omar. We certainly saw many Muslim women covered head to toe in garbs; however, Omar feels it is becoming more equitable. This is of course the perspective of a Moroccan man though. We learned about the progressive views of the king, the culture of belly dancing, the landscape, the politics of Berber autonomy, etc.


I can’t say I would have thought to come to Morocco nor will I probably come back, so I feel privileged to have experienced this region in Africa. It was one of the most unique places I have ever visited.