Visit Date: May 4, 2015
Stay in the desert of your dreams!
Transportation by camel
We will continue to ride a camel and move leisurely. We arrived at the entrance of the desert in about 5 minutes from the hotel. It’s finally the desert.
揺れ具合等々、はじめての事なので多少心配でしたが、思ったよりも悪くはなかったです。決して乗り心地が良いとまでは言いませんが、苦しい思いをすることは全くありませんでした。概ね良好といった感じでしょうか。ただ、少々怖いなと思ったのが砂丘を下る時。予想以上に下へのGを感じました。ここは手すり（ラクダの鞍に取り付けてあります）にしっかりとつかまってバランスを維持しないと落ちてしまいそうになります。これに慣れるのには少し時間がかかりました。この手すりの幅が狭すぎるのもバランスを維持するのが難しい理由。いずれにせよどうにか踏ん張って落下は避ける事ができました。
After about 10 minutes of steady progress, the entire area around us was already a sandy landscape. And the sun was gradually slanting down and was about to greet the evening. The sand dunes, which were beautiful and golden even in the daytime, became even more beautiful in the evening sun.
ちなみにこの日は若干風が強かったと思います。コンタクトな私は多少心配では有りましたが、幸いなことに砂が舞い上がるようなものではなかったため、スポーツサングラスをしていれば特段困ることはありませんでした。ただ、そう言っても電子機器に砂が入ってしまうを防ぐため、iPhoneは防水ケースに入れて使っていました。また、ラクダに乗りながらの写真撮影は正直安全とは言えないので、ストラップも付けていました。
To the desert tent.
We finally got used to the camel ride and after about 30 minutes, we arrived near our destination tent. Rumor had it that it took about an hour, but our tour was not that long. It’s relatively easy and you won’t get bored if it’s this long. My hips didn’t get sore either.
It seems to go to the tent on foot after getting off the camel. But it is about 100 meters away. Therefore, I parted with the camel once. It is said that it leaves it in this place. Even so, how does he leave it when there is no place to tie it with a string? As a matter of fact, a camel stands up when its legs are tied in a sitting position. If it is said in a human, it is like wrapping both thighs and ankles in a circle while sitting on the floor. It is said that camels are kept in this place overnight to take advantage of this property.
なんとまあ従順な動物さんだこと。でもちょっとかわいそうな気もしますが…。ちなみにホストのハッサン曰く「Here is a camel’s parking」。なかなかおもしろい表現。
We said goodbye to the camel and started to walk towards our tent. We arrived at our tent just as the sun was setting and the night was about to begin. This is where we will be staying for the night.
It’s a tent, but it’s more like a small house covered with a very fine cloth. It consists of three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Tonight we were the only group staying in the tent. Our host prepared our bedroom for us.
In the meantime, we observed the Sahara Desert around our tent. All around are sand dunes. We were moved by this experience for the first time in our lives. Then, a 4WD car happened to pass nearby. It was so cool and looked so fun. I might get motion sickness, but I’d like to try this sometime.
Eating in a tent
僅かな時間ですがサファリ砂漠を満喫してから再びテントに戻ってくると、ちょうどホストさんが食事の準備をしようとしていました。興味半分見ていたら、「タジンの作り方を教えてあげるよ」と声をかけてきたので、二人で見学させてもらうことにしました。といっても立派なキッチンなどありません。タジン料理の作り方そのものにも興味がありますが、このような限られた場所でどのように料理を作るのかということもとても気になるところです。
We do not use a cutting board for basic cooking. They used small knives to cut the ingredients like peeling vegetables. It was a brilliant move. I think this will be a good reference for camping.
Then put the cut onions on the bottom of the pan first.
Next, put the meat on top of it. It’s like putting a whole chunk of meat on it. I didn’t use a knife. They might have brought the already cut one. By the way, this is lamb. They usually use cheap chicken. They eat lamb only when tourists come.
Then spread more vegetables on top of it.
This is what it looks like when you put them all on. You can see the atmosphere.
Finally, add the sauce. Add a good amount of olive oil to a cup, paprika powder, cumin, I feel like I put a lot in this area. Then add salt and pepper to taste. I think that’s about it. To be honest, I didn’t know how much I put in (laughs). I don’t know if I added anything else. I’m sorry for being so random. But the smell of cumin gives it a very Moroccan flavor. If you eat it every day, you will get tired of it…
Now, heating is done with a gas stove. There are several gas cylinders in this tent, so you can put the lid of the stove (or is it this?) on the end of it. If you put the lid on the stove, it turns into the gas stove we’re all familiar with from home. Then you put the tajine pot on top. This is what the cooking area looked like.
These gas cylinders are also used for lighting. So the people of the desert are also receiving the benefits of current civilization (although it’s not so new). But there is no signal here, so we are out of range.
By the way, we used mineral water for tajine sauce and soup (which we made separately), and a large tank of water for washing dishes. I think this is the local tap water.
Now, until the cooking is ready, we had a chat with our host in the tent. Here I asked him about his background and how he started this lodge and desert tour. First of all, he was born in the area a little more south than here. He was born in an area a little south of here, and seems to be a quota of black and Berber. In the past, black people were brought to this area as slaves of the Berbers. I couldn’t ask him how he grew up in this area or what kind of education he received. I didn’t hear how he grew up or what kind of education he received, but he came of age and started working as a hotelier in the city (Casablanca, I think?) or somewhere. I heard that he learned the hotel business there. However, he wanted to work in the nature of his hometown, so he left his job a few years ago and came back to his hometown and started this hotel and tour.
Recently, it has become easier to promote the hotel using the Internet, and due to this, the number of guests is not bad. I’ve heard that Asians from Japan and other countries are also coming to stay here. I also found out about this place through Airbnb. It’s wonderful that we can easily get to know each other even if we are far away from each other in the desert. However, I was also told that the number of tourists has decreased drastically since last year due to the influence of the Islamic State (IS) and that they are in trouble.
And while we were talking about it, we had a meal together in the tent.
It was very delicious. It was already dark, so we had a candlelight dinner.
And dessert after dinner. Full of fruits. This country is really full of fruits.
After dinner, we played together on drums, a Berber folk instrument that I don’t really understand. Unfortunately it was too dark to take a picture of it, but it was shaped like a bongo, with one side playing the high notes, the other the low notes, and occasionally the rim would be struck for effect to create a rich rhythm. I tried to play it as an imitator, but I wanted to have the score. My hands started to hurt after a while, so I cut it short and lay down on the outdoor mat to look at the starry sky.
The moonlight was too bright to see much of the starry sky
サハラの夜といえばやはり星空、なのですが、実は好天にも関わらずあまり美しい星空を見ることができませんでした。
その理由は「月」です。[highlight]明るすぎる[/highlight]のです。この日は、ちょうど満月の時期。確かに月はきれいでしたが、なんだか残念な気持ちになりました。サハラ砂漠に泊まるときは、満月は避けたほうがよいかもしれません。月が明るすぎる、というのはそれはそれで贅沢な気もしますけど。
Plus, I didn’t bring my DSLR to the desert tent for fear of malfunctioning, so I couldn’t even get a good shot of the beautiful moon. I could barely take pictures with my mirrorless SLR. This is also very disappointing…
As I lay there looking at the full moon and the starry sky, I found myself falling asleep. But after midnight, the temperature dropped even lower, and it was getting cold in short sleeves, so I woke up at 2am and moved to a bed in the tent. It was very cool at that time, so I wrapped myself in a blanket and had a comfortable sleep.
Desert dawn, sunrise, and breakfast
And I woke up in the tent at around 6am. I think I woke up naturally as usual. I put on my disposable contacts and left the tent to watch the sunrise.
Still before sunrise, the moon is in front of us. It is still clearly visible.
But little by little, the surroundings are getting brighter. It’s very quiet.
And the sunrise. Oh, I knew I wanted to take pictures with my SLR…
Of course, there is desert all around. It’s a wonderful morning. The weather is also great.
We will spend some time enjoying the desert scenery reflected in the morning sun.
Then our host brought our breakfast to the top of a small sand dune. There is a small chair and table on this hill. We had our breakfast here.
It was rather solid for a breakfast in the desert. I got used to feeling very refreshed.
I’m riding a camel back to town.
After breakfast, we walked around again for a while, admiring the desert scenery, and then a little over half an hour later, we left the tent and headed for the camel parking.
I’m relieved that the camel didn’t escape. Then we rode the camel back to the city of Hasilabit. I’m already used to the camel, and compared to yesterday, there was hardly any wind, so it was a comfortable way back.
ホテルに戻ると前日到着時と同様、ホテルの部屋でシャワーを浴びさせてもらいました。思った以上に砂が体や靴に付着してますので大変助かります。これはどうやらメルズーガ、ハシラビットで砂漠ツアーを行っている宿ではスタンダードなようですね。
Prices for desert tent accommodation
Now, let’s review about this desert tented tour.
まず料金ですがホテル宿泊（といっても実際にはシャワールームと大きな荷物置きに使ったのみ）に、オプション料として[highlight]300ディルハム（ユーロ支払いもか、30ユーロ）[/highlight]かかります。これには、砂漠でのテント泊はもちろんのこと、Transportation by camel、ミネラルウォーター1.5リットルが1本、夕食と朝食がすべて含まれます。なお、お水は別途500mlのものを自分で一本持って行きました。
The desert season at night
季節は5月上旬、砂漠というと朝晩の温度差が激しいと聞いていましたが、さすがに5月くらいになると温度は昼間ほど下がるとはいえ、15度程度でありそこまで寒くなることはないとのことでした。ということで、我々のような街から近いエリアのツアーであれば、基本移動中は普通の昼間の格好（日焼け止め、帽子、長袖等の対策はもちろん必要）でOKで、夜気温が下がったときように長袖の上着を一枚持っていく程度でOKだと思います。もちろん当日の季候にもよるので、服装については必ずホストに相談したほうがよいです。
Even if it gets colder, there are beds and blankets in the tents that most tours use, so you should be fine. I thought the blanket was still too hot when I tried to sleep at about 1 o’clock in the night, but it got a little cold about an hour after I started sleeping, so I decided to sleep wrapped in the blanket. Maybe by 3 or 4 o’clock the temperature had dropped to about 10 degrees.
And the wind, I think this depends on the day. I think it was a little strong in the evening when we went. But it was not so strong as a sandstorm. The night and the next day were calm, almost no wind. So I thought I could take my SLR camera with me as long as I took some measures to protect it from sand. It is impossible to take a picture with an SLR camera while moving on a camel, but it would be wise to judge whether to use it or not by looking at the wind when you arrive. If there is a next opportunity, I would like to take it by all means.
Enter your ratings into TripAdvisor on the spot and go!
シャワーを浴びてホテルのロビーでくつろいでいると、ホストから「TripAdvisorに評価を入力してくれー」と頼まれました。帰ってからゆっくり書こうかなとも思いましたが、大抵の場合は面倒だからわざわざ後で書かないですよね、それを見越してのその場での入力依頼なのでしょう。彼のノートPCを渡されて入力しようとしたのですが、キーボードが慣れていないフランス式のうえ、PCのキーボード自体も結構ぼろぼろだったので、自分のiPhoneのアプリでログインして入力しました。ただ、入力は英語、時折Google翻訳を利用しながらなんとか頑張って書いてみました。
After that, we packed our bags and finally left. We say goodbye to our hosts and get into the car for the first time in a day.
最後にもう一度メルズーガのサハラを眺めて。この日はフェズ方向に移動。旅もいよいよ終盤に近づいてきました。しかし、ここからはかなり距離があるので、途中の街で一泊する予定です。（続く）
