Most Inspirational Moment
My passion is Travel Photography so the highlight for me has to be the Camel Trek in the Sahara Desert, leaving mid afternoon and arriving at our "Beduin Camp" with the amazing sunset in the Dunes. The late afternoon sun and the actual "Golden Hour" before sunset amongst the Dunes was something I'll never forget and resulted in hundreds of great images - everywhere I looked there was a great photo to be had with the Dunes, Camels, shadows and the traditionally dressed local Beduin Guides - just amazing stuff. I could have slept in the spacious tents provided but I decided to fulfill a dream of sleeping under the stars and although it was literally freezing overnight I put on plenty of layers and slept outside with only the stars to look at - an experience I'd recommend as you'll never forget it - BUT make sure you have LOTS of thermals and warm layers inc Hat & Gloves even IN your thick Sleeping Bag - believe me its cold! The third "incredible experience" of being in the desert was climbing the tallest Dune close to camp to watch the magnificent sunrise - just AMAZING! A hundred more photos followed with the first rays of the sun making the Camels, Dunes etc glow with beautiful light and providing many more amazing images - I ended up missing breakfast as the "Golden Hour" of light was just too good to miss As you can tell, those 20 hours in the desert was THE highlight for me as a Photographer but there were many more great places along the trip to photograph too
Thoughts on Group Leader
A good or a bad Guide can make or break a trip and I'm so pleased to say that our Group Leader, Abdullah, was just fantastic, he had a great sense of humour, really cared about us and was always looking out for us to make sure we had the best experience of a country he clearly loved and was proud of with his enthusiastic nature. He was very knowledgeable about the local history and customs and took time to tell us as much as possible to give us an insight into the country and its customs etc. He made an already good trip great!
Advice for Potential Travellers
Be prepared for some long bus drives through switch back mountain roads and accept that you can't cover a great distance in a country to see lots of varied landscapes without suffering long drivesTake various Plug Adapters, for some odd reason they have 2 versions of the 2 Round Pin Plug with a slight difference in Pin pitch - some peoples adapters fitted some hotels some didn'tEvery hotel we stayed at, and most Bars/Restaurants, had WiFi and what was refreshing was unlike the ripoff mentality of UK hotels the WiFi was always Free AND was normally a very good strong signalDespite not drinking the tap water a few of us did get ill, make sure you take suitable medicines for such a situationAs correctly described in the Trip Notes it does get cold, especially at night in the Sahara and in the Atlas Mountains, taking enough warm kit will allow you to just enjoy these uinque surroundings in comfortWe found that speaking French came in extremely useful, even the few basic words I know made things a lot easierBe prepared for lots of hassle and being asked for money even for looking at someone or their Donkey, especially in Marrakech and even more especially in the famous Square - I am well travelled and found them to be more agressive than most countries I've been to and not very friendly in their demands for money. Don't let it put you off going though, just put on your "thick skin", stand your ground, smile the best you can and politely say no or "Non Merci"
