Page 38 - Qaranc Spring 2014

36 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Trek In The Sahara Desert
I learned three things while I was trekking in the Sahara Desert.
You don’t need to be on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise to see the Milky Way... you can see it very clearly at night from your tent door.
Despite having 3.5 million square miles of desert to choose from, your camel will probably decide that he wants to sleep in exactly the same place you’ve put-up your tent. And then he’ll sit on you!
I’ve spent more than my fair share of time in the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq, so I was apprehensive about visiting another desert in my free time. In fact, my trek across the Sahara was fantastic, and not only because no one was shooting at me, but because of the vast open space, the peace and quiet and the amazing scenery!
I went with a company called Gorilla Mountaineering that had been recommended to me by a friend: as an independent adventure travel agency, founded by Sam Halligan in 2010. It has quickly grown into a successful business with a formidable reputation for organising high quality, successful and affordable expeditions to the worlds’ wildest places. Sam, who led the trek, along with a local Moroccan guide, is a qualified Summer Mountain Leader in his own right, as well as being a single pitch rock climbing instructor and a aspirant International Mountain Leader. He has wilderness and high altitude first aid qualifications and 10 years experience of
organizing and leading expeditions to remote regions of the developing world. So all in all, an experienced guide and great fun to have as a leader on the Trek.
I flew in to Marrakesh, with enough time to grab some food and get my head down for the night. The following day the trek commenced, well the long 9hrs car journey commenced. The journey was heavy going in one 4x4 with 5 tightly squeezed trekkers on it, along with our entire luggage. The picturesque back drop of the Atlas Mountains soon made up for it.
The initial night: the camp was set up with numerous 2-man tents and a ‘messing’ tent, where our freshly made evening meal was prepared, cook and devoured. Our travelling chef made a mean Tagine. The plates were always left clean!
The trekking days were quite long, but not excessively strenuous. Each day we were rewarded with stunning views over the Sahara’s famous and amazingly beautiful sea of sand dunes. The scenery was ever changing, no two sand dunes were the same, the stars came out every night to welcome us and to see the milky way, as clear as we did was literally out of this world.
The feeling of being hundreds of miles away from civilisation and the sense of achievement when we finally walked into the village of M’hamid at journeys-end made the whole trip one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I would recommend it to anyone, a must do holiday.
Oh, back to the Camel, I must tell you otherwise you will