Morocco

Day 3 saw a split, with the gals off to a women’s cooking glass to understand Moroccan cuisine and using the tajine (traditional slow cooker). The boys headed out to the Jemaa el-Fnaa main square, getting involved in some haggling and checking out the monkeys and snakes on offer for pictures. The streets are narrow with a million smells and different stalls, dodging the donkeys as well as the motorbikes that would fly down the alleys.
We reunited with the girls for a rooftop lunch to soak in the sun, drinking every fresh juice imaginable. We explored the Ben Youssef university before heading to La Trattoria for dinner. Being a European touristy restaurant, this was the first time we saw alcohol being served (and took full advantage).Read more

With the sun not rising till 8:20am, we woke up to temperatures of 2 degrees (not much warmth kept in by the tents). We were so cold it felt like we were at the snow, but was then strange to see when the sun rose it a dry desert landscape and beautiful blue sky. We had missed this in London.
Our guide Hasan then led us on one of the most interesting tours I’ve been on to date. A local of the area, we started off by again hitting the dunes in a 4wd with pace and purpose, really getting that heart rate up, before heading over to the tents of the nearby Nomadic people. We learnt about the culture of the indigenous Berber people, amazed at the use of different plants and animals and the resourcefulness of the people there. They have a bamboo tent which is surprisingly cool (jokingly called the Berber fridge), which is vital in summer for when the heat reaches 54 degrees. A world apart. We walked around the “black desert” (volcanic” and met some people mining rocks for kohl and mascara, before seeing a number of incredibly intact fossils that would all be in museums in the West.
We then jumped on quad bikes for an hour ride back through the dunes back to camp. Driving through the Sahara like this was very special, particularly given the laid-back approach to health and safety. Incredible fun.
We finished off the day with a camel ride to the top of some nearby dunes to watch the sunset. I think this was everyone’s favourite day.Read more