A night to remember

What an adventurous few days. That's what I came to Morocco in search of so can't complain! After spending the first few days of the tour visiting the beautiful imperial cities of the north, including Fes where we saw the famous tanneries and huge medina, we crossed the Atlas mountains to the epic Sahara desert. Temperatures were topping 50degs, and shade was hard to come by.

We met our camels (I named mine Colin) and set off into the dunes. Unfortunately, many of our party were suffering from the typical traveller's complaint after a week of spicy food... So for them the camel ride was not exactly a picnic! Coupled with the heat, this meant that by the time we reached the Berber camp, we were dropping like flies. Those of us who were able, ate a traditional dinner by the fire, and joined a drumming circle underneath the stars. It was pretty special, and as we went to bed on mattresses in the open air, I thought again how lucky I was. Despite the fact that I can sleep absolutey anywhere, even I struggled when up against sandstorms, vomiting friends, unidentified creepy-crawlies and even rain! So it was with relief that we set off at 5.30 on our camels, back to civilisation.

Since that fateful night, we have all gradually regained health, and visited some amazing places, including Todra and Dades Gorges, the Valley of the Roses, and Ait Benhaddou which is famous as being the best preserved example of a Moroccan village - consequently, used in films including Jewel of the Nile, Prince of Persia and Gladiator! We are now in the Atlantic coastal town of Essaouria which is beautiful, and more importantly, cool! Temperature today is in the low 20s - heaven!