The Sahara Desert, Morocco

sunset in the Sahara

climbing down the Erg Chebbi in Merzouga. It doesn't seem like it but it was very hard work! 

When a city girl finds herself in the Sahara desert with her boyfriend you'd think they would be set for a romantic evening under the stars.

But it was hardly like that.

Firstly, it was a full moon night and the stars were neither twinkling nor shining brightly. The winds were howling, it was freezing and we were cold; a literal, physical cold, a far cry from the frigid, alienating urban sprawl. This one was much more unfamiliar because it bore into our bones and remained there no matter how many candles we lit as we huddled under thick woolen blankets.

Then there was a normadic kitty that kept darting in and out of our tent eventually settling at the foot of our mats. And you know how domestic animals terrify me. I had to try very hard to keep my cool.

We slept on the soft sand with our torchlight turned on, loosely bound and dangling from the ceiling of our tent until the silvers of sunlight trickled through its flimsy folds, waking us, mere mortals to the Sahara's stunning sunrise.