At Erfoud we visited a fossil store. They cut large slabs of Devonian rock from a nearby site and polish them for use as countertops, sinks, tables, etc. They also sell individual fossils, polished or not, from tiny to huge. They made a lot of sales that morning, and the bus left groaning from the load of all the extra rock. We had yet another excellent lunch in the atrium of a nearby restaurant, the entrance of which was besieged by fossil hawkers.
Erfoud fossil store sells polished and natural specimens, mostly Devonian, big ammonites in front.
Stromatolites, algal masses, were the dominant life forms of the pre-Cambrian. They ruled for eons.
We now headed south to Sijilmassa and the site of Ron’s previous dig. The site is an ancient city that was the original home of the current ruling dynasty of Morocco. There are several ancient adobe walls with the same holes that we saw in newer walls for construction form supports.
Sijilmasa dig site with ancient adobe wall built with the same technique we saw earlier.
Sijilmassa is on the outskirts of a live city, Rissani with a market place active today. It is partly enclosed and partly open air. The shoppers were engaged. Judy bought a scarf for the desert, as did many others. A few miles further down the road, we had to give up the bus for 4x4’s to go to the desert camp.
Rissani market with mysterious shoppers.
Rissani market produce delivery vehicle.
More produce.
Scarfing lesson.
And more produce.
At first we drove on pavement, but later on sand, bumping and bouncing over ridges and dry riverbeds. Late in the day we arrived at the desert camp only a few miles from Algeria and on the western edge of the Sahara. The Sahara continues across North Africa thousands of miles east to the Nile valley in Egypt.
The camp is a tent city. The tents are contiguous. There is a long open corridor, floored with rugs, with bedroom tents on each side. The bedrooms have a toilet and shower, a bed covered with insect netting and a small living space, all pitch dark unless the generator is supplying power. The door is a drape. The dining room is an open tent and the ‘atrium’ is furnished with a bunch of ottomans and a firepit. All the living spaces are floored with rugs. In front of the entrance is the camel parking lot. The wind began to pick up after we arrived and the sand started to move. Anybody remember the song, ‘The Shifting, Whispering Sands’ by the Sons of the Pioneers?
We were all paired with a camel, about three camels, nose to tail, to a drover who walked us on our excursion. The camel kneels for mounting and then gets up on his/her front knees, then back legs and thirdly, front legs, throwing you back, forward and back again. About twenty feet into the ride I thought, ‘Are we done yet?’
But no, we meandered about a mile to a big dune where we climbed the steep part on foot to catch the sunset. The wind was about thirty knots at this point and it was cooling off quickly. Blowing sand turned the horizon sandy colored.
Back at the tents we had another nice dinner, the wine was flowing and a local band played for a hora-like dance. After the generator shut down, the stars were brilliant, including a couple shooting stars.
Bouncing 4x4 ride to the desert camp.
Tent city, fire pit, living room and dining room under the open tents.
Bedroom corridor, the bedrooms doors don't lock.
Dune climbers...
More dune climbers.
Florence of Arabia.
Ready to roll and drool.
Caravan silhouette.
Sandy sunset.
Dancing by firelight.
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