Sand Dunes

Most people think the desert is just a sandy waste land.  In fact most of Morocco that I've seen looks more like Death Valley in the US, with lots of rock and even a lot of plants.

The real desert of Morocco.

The desert everyone pictures in the Sahara.  In fact Morocco only has two relatively small regions of dunes like this, Erg Chebbi (here) and Erg Chigaga which takes a fairly long ride in a 4x4 to get to the real desert.

Probably every tourist in Morocco wants to ride a camel out to the dunes to watch sunset.  Somehow that's easier to do sunset than watch sunrise, but I did both, although it's easier to catch sunrise in winter when it comes later in the day.  So around late afternoon, the camels are lined up waiting for the minivans to bring the riders.

MERIT DEM showing Erg Chebbi, which has about a dozen large dunes.  They remind me of the Eureka Valley Sand Dune in Death Valley National Park (200+ m tall), or the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado (230 m tall), although both of the US dunes sit adjacent to a large range front, and Erg Chebbi sits in a much larger plain.  The mesa/table mountain to the east of the dunes lies in Algeria, across a closed border.

Topographic profile across Erg Chebbi, showing three of the dunes which reach about 160 m above the surrounding area.

Sunrise on Erg Chebbi, over the Algerian border.  There are much larger sand seas east and south of Morocco, but even there, I think there is a lot more rock than our perceptions indicate.  You can also see the front along the crests of the dunes; it gets cold in December in the desert. 

Profile from the dunes to the Algerian border, which offers a good view into Morocco and the dunes.