I hired a guide and his camel to take me out to the dunes to shoot sunrise. We left camp shortly after 5 am and rode – or at least I rode, the guide and his camel walked – for about 30 minutes. My guide spoke no English and my only word of Berber is shukran – thank you. I found repeated uttering of shukran was not much of a conversation starter as we sat in silence on top of a dune and waited for the sun to rise.
The day changed as we headed back to camp and became even more lovely.
We travelled today to Ouarzazate (green circle on map). The pronounciation is Woor-za-zat and sounds much like “whose is that.” Ouarzazate has been the home of much movie-making; there are two large studios in the city. Our hotel is gorgeous and could be picked up whole and dropped in Maui, perhaps without the discordant Egyptian decor and movie posters. It is quite a change from our glamping site in the desert!
On the way to Ouarzazate we visited Tinejdad, the site of a Ksar El Khorbat, a walled city, and a Berber museum. There were narrow streets and lanes which keep the insides cool in the heat and warm in the cold. This woman was at the end of a lane sweeping her doorway.
The museum contained artifacts, clothing and some photos of early Berber life. The amazing thing is that life has not really changed for many Moroccan Berbers so we felt we were visiting a living museum.
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