5. Dunes

My senses are overloaded, and being here feels surreal — wherever “here” is.  I know I’m about 30 miles from the Algerian border, somewhere in the Sahara Desert, but I’ve lost my sense of direction with all of the sand hills around me.  It doesn’t really matter, though.  The handsome man who is dressed in blue and leading the camel I’m on knows, so that’s all that matters.  For now, I’ll stay in the moment and continue enjoying the view from up here as we walk at a leisurely pace.  Time escapes me, but I can still hear the rhythm of the African drums coming from our camp oasis somewhere far behind me.  The walls of sand in front of me are getting closer, wider and taller with each step my camel takes.  As I look to the dunes, I see details of wind patterns in the sand, which look like small waves of different textures.  Tall desert grass dusts the dunes.  The scene is a sharp contrast to the foggy gorge in the Atlas Mountains I visited a few days ago.  “We will walk now.”  “Pardon me?”  “We will walk now,” the man in blue says.  “Oh, OK,” I say, disappointed.  I wasn’t quite ready for my ride to be over…  “Please hold on.”  I’m assuming that he means to the saddle, so I do — and just in time.  All of a sudden, the camel lowers to the ground by bending its front legs, forcing me to lean far forward as if I’m going to topple over and make my exit like an uncoordinated gymnast.  When I’m almost at that point, the camel bends his back legs and safely lowers me to the ground.  I climb off.  “Please follow me.”  I do as my guide says, and we start to climb up the wall of sand.  I take about ten steps and look to the top of the dune.  I know this is going to be quite a challenge because I’m weighed down with my camera gear.  I start climbing again and feel my feet sink into the sand as I try not to slide backward.  “You like to take my hand?” he asks.  “I will help you.”  I take his hand and wish that someone was taking my picture with this handsome man as we climb a sand dune in the Sahara.  It’s not every girl’s dream, but for this girl it is.  We continue the climb until we’re at the top, and I shake my head in awe of the beauty.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  The sand swirls and dips in dramatic patterns and shapes, and it’s very sensuous.  Before arriving in Morocco, I tried to imagine what it would be like up here on top of the sand dunes.  My imagination couldn’t have created this scene of sand and sky, or the feeling of actually being here.  The Sahara Desert is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and I look forward to seeing it again.  Tonight, we hike back in to see the stars poking through the clouds.  Then I’ll be here again for the sunrise tomorrow.  I’m told that with the partial cloud cover, the sky will look like it’s on fire.  I can’t wait to photograph that…