MOROCCO – Merzouga, another day in the desert

December 9 – This morning’s highlight was a sunrise camel ride along the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi.  We awoke before 5 am and dressed warmly to journey via 4×4 vehicle down a long sand track.  It was still dark when we arrived at the staging area where camels and their attendants awaited tourists.  The large, placid animals were already saddled and resting on their knees for us to straddle atop them.  They stood up first on back legs, then front legs, and after that swift rocking motion, we were seated relatively comfortably about 7 feet off the ground.  The back camel was short-roped to the front camel, whose rope was held by a 15-year old boy wrapped in purple robe.  His 23-year old friend, wearing a bright orange turban, walked beside him; we never learned their names.

Camel Ride in the Sahara

The air was crisp and still beneath a star-studded sky.  We felt no need to speak as our camels plodded softly along the trail into the sand dunes.  With the first hints of light in the sky, we could see other camels and riders around us.  We ascended a bit, then disembarked from our mounts.  We followed our 2 young guides up to the peak of the highest, nearby sand dune.  It was tough walking through deep powder sand, and we were breathing hard when we reached the ridge top.  We sat on a thick-woven blanket carried up by the guides, and watched as the sun rose above the dunes and flooded the sky with gorgeous hues of orange, yellow and pink.  The experience was nearly perfect, save for a large group of 100 tourists who arrived all together, hiked to the top of nearby dunes, and talked loudly during the whole sunrise.  Sound travels far across the vast, empty desert.

“Camel Guides” Desert Nomad

When we’d had our fill, the guides wrapped Deb in the blanket and pulled her down the dune in a sandy sled ride!  As the camels plodded back to their resting place, we counted the first birds of the day – a pair of Desert Sparrows, a White-crowned Wheatear, and flocks of House Sparrows pecking amongst the camel dung.

Long-billed Lark

Back at the Auberge Derkaoua, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, then met-up with Mustapha and Brahim for another full day of birding in the desert.  We first explored a patch of agricultural plots near the town center of Rissani.  We did not find any target Fulvous Babblers, but flushed many Long-billed Larks while walking the edges of wheat plots.  Common Kestrel and Long-Legged Buzzard soared overhead.

African Desert Warbler

We continued on towards Kasbah Said and spent time walking through a green-vegetated wadi, the best habitat to find elusive Desert Warblers.  Besides Greater Hoopoe and Bar-tailed Desert Larks, it was fairly quiet.  Luck was with us at the next wadi, where it took about 45 minutes of walking through sand and low shrubs to locate our target African Desert Warbler, along with a nice Desert Wheatear.

Temporary Lake at Cafe Yasmina

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Cafe Yasmina, a refreshing oasis in the desert.  After hot mint tea and delicious meatball & egg tajine, we strolled the perimeter of what remained of the large temporary lake, finding Ruddy Shelduck, Northern Shovelers, Marbled and Common Teal, Little Grebe, Black-winged Stilt, Green Sandpiper, wagtails and doves.  It was amazing to think that birds manage to find this life-sustaining lake in the middle of the desert; how many miles had they flown, and why does their journey take them over such a perilous climate?  We didn’t know the answers, but enjoyed the spectacle before us.

Palmerie

From there we drove south into Merzouga, to check out the village palmerie.  Underground water is pumped up and used to irrigate an otherwise harsh, arid land.  We learned that the local government manages the system, whereby villagers rent plots, and receive an allocation of water to nurture crops of their choosing.  Water runs through a grid of ground-level, cement channels, demarcating large squares which are further subdivided by dirt channels.  Plots contained a variety of date palms, corn, wheat, edible greens and vegetables.  Mostly women and children worked the crops, accompanied by tired-looking donkeys and carts.  Bird activity was low, though we got good looks at a Long-legged Buzzard perched in a palm tree, several Laughing Doves, Maghreb Blackbirds and a couple of Chiffchaffs bathing in the water canal.

Lake Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi

We left the village and followed a dirt track towards Lake Merzouga, a vast, ever-changing depression that was mostly dry at the moment.  We paused briefly at a ridgetop, to admire and photograph the terrain around us, glowing with long shadows and brilliant sunset colors as Brown-necked Ravens headed to roost.  What remained of the lake was actually very little, only 3 or 4 shallow ponds, bisected by a hard-packed dirt track.  We got out to scan and saw a Common Ringed Plover and White Wagtail at the water’s edge.  A pair of Ruddy Shelducks flew in, silhouetted by the setting sun.

Sunset over Lake Merzouga

As the sky turned to pink and purple, we saw several bats hawking insects overhead, another sign of the mysteries of the desert that supports a seemingly impossible variety of animal life.
text © debbie beer; all photos © adrian binns