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Dunes (known as Erg's in this part of the world) are a classic photography paradise, but deserts are not just about dunes. There are many areas of stony desert, and wonderful buildings along the way.


The pictures following our route from Marakesh to Ouarazazte, Merzouga, Ouzine, Maersh, Alnif, and back Ouarazazte

Near the start there are pictres from Aït Benhaddou

Aït Benhaddou is a well known ksar hot on the tourist trail as it's been the filming location in Lawrence of Arabia and The Man Who Would Be King if you're an old timer or The Mummy and Gladiator if you're not.

The Kasbah is of traditional construction on the banks of the small hillside you see in the pictures and above the river bed.

A ksar is a group of typically earthen buildings surrounded by high walls as a fortified village or habituated fort, is a traditional pre-Saharan habitat. Houses crowd together within the defensive walls, which are reinforced by corner towers

Aït Benhaddou was defined a world heritage site on cultural grounds in 1987, and since then there have been a number or reports on the state of conservation of the buildings and the threat to such.

It would have been nice to have visited when the water was higher as it would have made nice pictures, but then we may not have been able to get across into the Kasbah. The hardest part of taking a half decent picture at this place is getting no tourists in the picture and I have to admit that Photoshop removed a few offending articles in these pictures.

Inevitably there are a lot of shops within the kasbar and on the route to it so expect to be offered all the usual tourist tat for sale when visiting


This section includes the Erg Chebbi at Merzouga where we stayed for 2 nights on our adventure at the excellent Kasbah Mohayut.

Erg is the Arabic term for a large dune or complex of dunes and these are some 150 meters high, 22 km long (north-south) and 5 km wide (east-west), and are the largest in Morocco

According to local legend, the locals believe that these dunes were sent as punishment for turning away a weary traveler from the desert. They say that shortly thereafter, the gods made the dunes pile up outside their town as a lesson never to send away another needy wanderer

They seem to have learned this lesson well because the Western edge of the Erg is a line of Kasbah Hotels which cater for the adventure yours that head off from here by camel, 4X4, motorbike and on foot.

The aspect of the dunes piling up us clear to see as you can easily find abandoned buildings in the dune areas and the backs of many of the current Kasbah's are piled up with sand which is threatening the current buildings.

In order to get to Erg Chebbi, you pass through a very flat-lying area of stony desert. For several kilometers in many directions there are small, black stones spread on the ground which have the classic desert varnish on them which takes many years to form. It is disappointing that there are quite so many tyre tracks through many of these desert varnished areas as it's actually quite hard to see a pristine area of it

All of these Erg Chebbi Pictures are taken within east walking distance of the Kasbah Mohayut because we had limited time on 2 mornings. They also to be honest have been retouched in Photoshop because there were sandstorms before we arrived and the was a lot of dust in the sky which gave yellow and white skies which are not so photogenic as blue so I retouched them using quick selection and a series of gradient fills. They have also been contrast enhanced to bring back some crispness as the dusty skies softened the light quite a lot .


The are a selection of pictures of cliff views are all of our visited places, but especially including Maerch Oasis.

This fabulous Kasbah is situated on an elevated platform above a superb wide flat valley and even has a fossil hunting location less than 100m away from it. Dinner was served to us on a table outside the Kasbah where we had a fabulous meal, and then sat later for an equally fantastic view of a wonderfully dark sky apart from the brief time where the generators are running to provide light for cooking the meal.

We did have a small problem with the electrics here, but the staff could not have been more concerned that we had a good time despite any small problems that occurred and I would highly recommend it as a stopping off place for anyone touring the area.


The pictures in this section are taken with my E-30 and E-510 Olympus cameras mostly with the 14-54 and 11-22mm lenses. This trip really proved the value in the anti dust system in the Olympus cameras and lenses. Many others were put off from taking pictures at many of these sites or spent hours cleaning equipment every night.. we simply enjoyed ourselves