In the next part of our trip, we traveled through the Saharan Desert. This part ended up being the most touristy – riding camels, sleeping in the sand dunes, listening to the Gnawa musicians – but I did appreciate seeing the different kinds of homes that people in the desert live in.
Most uncomfortable ride ever - 1.5hrs on a camel
The most interesting to me was the camel-hair tents that the nomads lived in. Part of our tour included having tea in one of their tents. I had imagined that they would sit with us, and we would be able to ask them all about their lives in the desert. Instead, they quickly served us tea, and went back to work outside. It was a little awkward sitting in someone’s home, who you know has much less money than you do, and drinking their tea without them. At the least, we were able to give them a little money in appreciation, some candy for the kids, and our guide helped one of their sons that needed some medical attention.
Kids outside the Nomad tent
Drinking tea in a Nomad tent
The tents were made with cloth from woven camel hair. They also had a loom to weave it on. It was divided into 2 rooms, one with blankets lined by backpacks and suitcases, where they slept (and where we drank our tea), and the other was a little more clear, maybe for doing work under shelter. Nomads are the families of shepherds, so they set camp in an area where their flock is roaming, and move to a new location about every 4 months. They had two other structures – one for where they baked bread, and the other was for storage. That’s it! Nothing else but desert in sight.
Nomad's Straw Storage Hut
We also drove around some of the communities that were more permanent. Our guide told us he grew up in this one, where the homes are made from clay and straw. There were several homes organized more like a neighborhood, with dirt streets between them.
Clay and straw home
Some of the villages we passed were called ksar, which means that they were a group of homes within a fortified city wall. We were able to walk through one of these and see what a home was like. The part that shocked me most was how much damage erosion had done to the homes. You could tell that at one point, these were very ornate.
Ksar with lots of erosion
Room inside a Ksar
The bigger cities we went to had homes and apartments closer to what we’re used to, but these others were really interesting to see. I could imagine them in a historical sense, but it was hard to imagine that this is where people still live now-days. It really makes you think twice about how luxurious our homes are, with running water, heating, weather-proofness, etc.
For more photos from our desert excursion, see Flickr:
- Merzouga Desert (23 photos)
