Footsteps on the Sahara (Part 1)

I had only seen it on the maps. Especially the night before the geography exam when the huge world map swam before my eyes...trying to point out the rivers, oceans, mountain ranges, deserts at the right places....The great Sahara desert was one of them.

The Bhattacharys footsteps on the Sahara

Never did I imagine then that me, a girl from a small town in India would one day set foot on the Sahara desert.   Someone once said to me "lucky people travel"...I completely agree.

In this post, let me take you to Marrakech, a city in Morocco, and to the dunes of the Sahara..a trip into the desert.

It was a bright sunny morning. Actually, all the six mornings we were there in Morocco were bright and sunny (very different from our lovely Dutch weather!!!). The car was waiting for us infront of the Marrakech hotel to take us on this trip into the desert. This was a trip we booked from Holland...lots of expectations...Lonely Planet recommendations....the website promised a lot..hence excitement levels were running high!

As our car sped along the Atlas range, the scenery outside was mesmerizing. The mountains had a certain dangerous ruggedness....beautiful yet ruthless. The road was very pretty on the long stretches, quite scary on the sudden twists and very interesting when there was suddenly a shop out of nowhere on the side. At that height , it was very cold and windy so these stops where hot mint tea was sold was very attractive.Most of these places had  a terrace where the tourists were busy clicking away on their camera.We did the same. Surrounded by snow covered mountains, with the blue sky above, sunshine smiling , a cup of steaming mint tea cupped between my palms, posing for photos--life could not be any better!

At one such stop, we were led up to the terrace by a guy (later on discovered he was the shopkeeper). He related a mix of history geography literature in his broken english ..the summary of which was how beautiful it is to have a photo here. We were a bit apprehensive...WE have the camera..WE are on the terrace...WE will take pictures, why was HE bothered? Our question got answered in a moment. He mentioned something about Moroccan turbans and actually did not go into any discussion of whether we want it or not. Within moments Abhijit was totally captured by this blue turban and then it was our turn. He took snaps for us and then with the same momentum led us to his shop to sell pottery and handicrafts. We were almost in a trance...our Pied Piper led us into his shop..and offcourse we ended up buying pottery! Like most customers who want to defend their buying , I said "did you see? How skillfully HE led us into HIS shop and SOLD the stuff?"Much later as we sat in our living room in The Hague, far far away from this beautiful place did we realize what a wonderful snap and experience that was..and in my mind thanked this man for this lovely picture he took for us.

Yes, thats us below.......

The Bhattacharyas in blue.....the blue men!

Blue Indigo Turban:This Saharan turban is traditional and is a very practical head dress that men use for many purposes. Men in the Sahara Desert would use this turban to protect themselves from the wind, from the dust, from the cold during those harsh dry cold winter days and also against the pounding heat. While in the hot Sahara Desert, using a turban helps keep the moist between the skin and the fabric. This way, the skin is protected and at the same time the body doesn’t loose too much water. In addition to what’s mentioned, men in the Sahara, especially among the Kel Tamashek people also called “Touareg” would wear a turban like this and cover their faces except the eyes even when they need to eat or drink. You would wonder why they would put them selves through this, but it is a cultural practice to show respect to the others especially the elders in the community. 

We drove on...our driver-cum-guide was Achmed...he was cheerful, friendly and a very good driver....we were extremely comfortable. After crossing several mountains and valleys driving through beautiful berber villages tucked away snugly within the mountains we stopped for lunch. We were SO hungry. Nicely hidden in one of the villages was this wonderful "restaurant"...a berber family taking in lunch guests (prearranged with the travel agency).

The food was colourful...simple....healthy and delicious...basically that combined with the setting around...it tasted heavenly...

Colourful and delicious

Simple and healthy

The terrace "restaurant"..what a setting to have lunch!!!

Our journey continued..it was still 100 kms to the Sahara .....

Achmed talked about the Berber life styles, their food, the climate, the culture and lot more....with a satisfied stomach...the motion of the car.....the murmur of Achmed....we drove on.....

Stay with me.....the camels and more are  yet to come!!!!

;-)