We had a leisurely start to the day with a sumptuous breakfast and no great need to rush as our travelling distance today will be comparatively small.
We continued south to Erfoud, a city populated principally by Berber, Amazigh and Saharan tribes. The Saharan women wear black clothing while the Berber women’s clothing is beautifully embellished with the most decorative and multi-coloured embroidery. Erfoud’s existence is assuredly linked to the adjacent fertile Ziz valley with its swathes of lush palm groves.
Embroidery on Berber women's clothing
We then spent some time at a factory specialising in the cutting and polishing of fossils. We observed big blocks of limestone being sliced with a large diamond saw producing slabs of rock where fossils were now evident. The fossilised rock comes from a nearby region and provides a most impressive collection of fossilised plants and animals from two hundred or more million years ago. Some of the fossils we recognised were ammonites, trilobites, fern leaves, sea stars and crinoids.
Factory for cutting and polishing fossils
Factory for cutting and polishing fossils
The display had an expansive collection of fossilised animal teeth, bones and skulls. The manager offered Corinne a small ammonite fossil as a gift.
Display in Factory for cutting and polishing fossils
The next three hours were spent in the town of Rissani, right on the edge of the Sahara. The town has an impressive entry gate with a brightly coloured mosaic archway.
Entrance gate to Rissani
We spent some time visiting the main Mosque and Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif, the founder of the Alaouite Dynasty here in the 16th century. Being non-Muslim, we were not permitted to visit the burial chamber but were allowed to look across the neat garden to the entrance!
Our guide Abdelali telling Jak he is not allowed in to the Mosque and Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif
Entrance to main Mosque and Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif
For the rest of the time in Rissani we followed our guide Abdelali through the alleyways where homes, mosques, schools and souks were encountered. Children aged between three and six are encouraged to attend not only normal school but to spend extra time in the Koranic schools adjacent to each mosque.
Rissani
Rissani
We were saddened to see the amount of plastic waste that’s been thrown onto the ground and has collected and now fills the ditches along the pathways.
Within the souks there was comparatively little activity as today is not a ‘market’ day. However, the spice stalls were open and offered a colourful display of every imaginable spice type. Dates, as expected are a specialty, and we tried some that were offered to us by a local store owner. Verdict; the taste was delicious!
Spice stall
Olives
Date stall
We had time to see the local sheep market and then observe a communal bread bakery inside a dilapidated tent in an open dusty area. The bread looked good despite the less than attractive location.
Sheep market
One alleyway was the centre for sewing clothes. The operators were all men and one of the sewing machines was a Jaki brand and the man sewing labels onto material was super friendly and happy to be photographed.
Man sewing on JAKI sewing machine
We cautiously entered a shop hidden behind an old and well worn curtain to find a second-hand dealer next to a carpet and rug shop. The collection of items for sale in the ‘junk’ shop was extraordinarily wide-ranged and involved lots of ancient bits and pieces covered in dust and stacked on multiple shelves in a completely random fashion. We found an old bronze pipe that may have been an opium pipe and we managed to purchase it for a good price although we suspect it was still too expensive despite getting it for one tenth of the original asking price!
Antique shop
We thanked and said farewell to our guide Abdelali but before leaving Rissani we had a long, cold, pure orange drink as the temperature was now 32°C and the air dusty.
As our day’s activities were drawing to a close, we drove across about thirty kilometres of the Sahara on a road that could have been on Mars! We visited Ganaoua village and listened to a group of five Saharan musicians who played rhythmic tunes on a three stringed guitar-like instrument called a ganbri. Percussion was provided by metallic castanets and traditional leather and wooden drums. The chanting from the musicians had a flavour of the Caribbean and one of the drummers had a definite Bob Marley appearance.
Saharan musicians, Ganaoua village
We ended the day at Merzouga famous for its location at the foot of the Erg Chebbi dunes. Camel rides into the Sahara were on offer but with the extreme heat we decided a cool shower was preferable to venturing out into the Sahara. We’ll probably do that tomorrow morning before the heat of the day becomes too oppressive.
We were interested to hear that this parched and dusty area usually relinquishes its arid reputation after winter rainfall and then the Dayet Srji lake forms attracting hundreds of pink flamingos, storks and other migratory birds.
We took photos of the sunset tonight with the sky striped with red flashes and the distant Sahara dunes dappled in pale pinks and creams.
Sunset, Merzouga,
Sunset, Merzouga,
Our accommodation tonight is at the Riad Madu slightly south of Merzouga near the village of Hassilbied. We had a spacious and well appointed hotel room to spend the night in after an interesting and enervating day’s introduction to the Sahara.