After our long day of travel yesterday, it was good to spend a day just seeing the local area before we head into the desert.

Merzouga is a small, dusty town with around 1500 people famous as the gateway to the vast Erg Chebbi dunes. It's been dubbed "a wonderland of sand" and a "desert theme park". According to a legend orally passed through generations, Merzouga was once a tropical jungle. Interestingly today amongst all of the sand, dust, and dry desert air, Merzouga is home to the most significant natural underground body of water in Morocco. The oasis close to the town was a fertile area are growing all sorts of crops.

Dayet Srji is a lake about 45 minutes walk from town that is usually dry during the summer but during the winter, it's a wetland paradise where migratory birds, including flamingoes, often stop to enjoy the salty water. With the recent rains we were fortunate enough to see the lake and the migratory birds as they started to arrive.

Khamlia. The Gnawa village is just a short 7 km from Merzouga town. Black Africans from the Gnawa tribe, originating from sub-Saharan countries such as Sudan, Mali, and Niger, were forcibly moved from their homelands across the Sahara to Morocco as part of the worldwide slave trade. Experience the Gnawa musical tradition with a performance by the locals. They have an open-door policy, so anyone can visit at any time to enjoy Berber tea along with live music and dancing.

The Erg Chebbi dunes are indisputably one of the great sights of Morocco. Rising to 150m in places, these giant sand hills lining the Algerian border may not be as imposing nor as extensive as some in North Africa but they come closer than anywhere else in the country to fulfilling most people's expectations of what a true desert should be. The dunes of the Erg Chebbi stretch 28km from north to south and are 7km across at their widest point - an impressive taste of the Sahara's grandeur. The highest dunes are those near, or just south of, Merzouga itself, peaking with the aptly named Grand Dune de Merzouga, a golden mountain recognizable - in addition to being the tallest dune around - by the distinctive tamarisk tree at its base. The dunes are spectacular at any time of day, but early morning and late afternoon are the best times to view them; to find a relatively peaceful ridge free of footprints, however, you'll have to be prepared to walk for an hour, or else arrange a camel trip.

We spent the night in a Luxury desert camp. I do not do camping so for me this was perfect. A sunset camel ride before dinner was interesting as I seemed to have got the most cantankerous camel of the group!! After dinner, we sat around a campfire and were entertained with some local Berber music before we settled into our "tents" to enjoy the absolute peace and quiet of the desert night.