Morocco: The Atlas Mountains & The Sahara Desert

So Morocco is one of the coolest countries, not only because they make delicious food, or because everything is so colorful but because of it's natural landscape. Morocco is filled with contrasting scenery and overwhelming greatness. While driving through the High Atlas mountains, the gaping oasis' and the vast Sahara Desert, you are reminded how great this world is and how small you are, it's definitely a humbling moment.

The Atlas Mountains are a huge mountain range that runs through the country. They are divided into three sections within the Moroccan border; High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Anti Atlas. Each section is separated by huge valleys and the mountain range sits right between the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast line and the Sahara Desert. The majority of the people who live in the Atlas and the desert are the Berber people, who are native to the land.
                                                                                                                                                       

One of the most amazing parts about the Atlas Mountains are the contrasting scenery! You have snow capped mountains that descend into dry land which turns into fertile, green oasis' made up of mostly Palm trees. An oasis is an area in a desert with water. In this case there is water that runs under the land, which allows for plants to grow. It's quite amazing to see. There is a certain type of beauty that is produced when opposites collide, like this.

After hours and hours of driving through the mountains, we finally reached our destination, a small town called Merzouga. Merzouga is a popular tourist spot because of it's proximity to the Sahara Desert, literally a 30 minute drive away. The streets are lined with hotels, riads, and tourist get aways. For the Sahara Desert trips, they often offer a sunset or sunrise journey out. Since we arrived too late for the sunset option we set our clocks to 4:45 am to make it out for the sunrise. To go out to the Sahara you need to rent a Jeep and driver. It's amazing how these guys drive through the dessert in the pitch darkness where you see nothing but dry earth for days, yet they still know exactly where they are going. We made it out to the edge of the Sahara, where we were met by a crowd of Camels. 

Camels are ultra cute! And I must say I hate riding animals as I think... they have no idea who I am and then they are expected to carry me on their backs, when I hate when a stranger even touches me, but I couldn't resist. After I saw how fine the sand was and how high the dunes were I was actually a little relieved I ignored my animal activist side, cause running around in the Sahara at 5 am is not something I'm about. 

The Sahara desert is a non stop photo shoot. You know very well that a moment like this is a once in a life time thing, if you're even lucky enough for that, so you just want to make sure you capture it all! The Sahara is soooo beautiful, everything from the clear moon, to the changing colors of the sky, to the red sand. It's literally how you picture it!I never wanted to leave... except for when I started getting hungry and then I was on the first camel out of there!

One of the best parts about doing things like venturing off into the Sahara dessert, are the Berber guys who take you out there. They are fun to talk to! I spoke to my guy and he told me in the winter time it gets to about 30 degrees celsius and that is too cold for him. I told him he was crazy! He said in the summer it gets up to 55 degrees celsius! INSANE! He asked for my name and he wrote it in the sand in both Berber (top) and Arabic (bottom)! I loved it when they showed me how to wrap my scarf around my face in case of a sand storm. My new look of 2013!

After the beautiful Sahara we continued on, with our journey back into the Atlas Mountains. When driving through Morocco you come across beautiful little villages, each with it's own spirit. One thing you see no matter where you go in Morocco are incredibly kind people, cute kids and pushy vendors! When I first got to Morocco all the vendors really added to the whole environment but after about two days I had, had enough! I could not take anymore guys trying to sell me stuff I couldn't afford and didn't have space to bring back with me. We asked our driver how to avoid them and he told us the best thing to do is to just ignore them, and not speak a word. If you say anything, even "No thank you" you open the line of communication and thus plant a seed of hope. Now they think, if only they push the right amount or say the right thing you just might buy from them, cause you were nice enough to say "No thank you." I must say, the complete silent approach worked perfectly although often the Canadian inside of me just wanted to acknowledge their hard work, even if I wasn't going to buy anything. 

Having grown up listening to The Clash, I always wondered what is a Kasbah! And I finally found out. A Kasbah is similar to a fortress but built by the Berber people to protect against the foreign man. It has a sandy like texture and is decorated with beautiful geometric designs and traditional Moroccan architecture. They literally look like, life-sized sand castles. The first time I laid eyes on one from afar, I could swear it was going to crumble with one blow of the wind! But not to worry they are built to last.

This particular kasbah in Aït Benhaddou, a small city located close to a bigger town named Ouzrazat, and dates back to more than 500 years ago. This is also a popular sight to film movies. Gladiator, The mummy, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, and Prince of Persia, were all filmed here - Just to name a few.

After spending time visiting kasbahs we were back in the Atlas making our way to civilization a.k.a. Marrakech. The Atlas Mountains and the Desert, are two places not to be missed when visiting Morocco. The natural diversity in this country is a masterpiece and a gift to us from Mother Nature. It is a true representation of life; constantly changing, endless contradictions and magnificence at every turn.