A night in the Sahara Desert

I never thought that one day I would be sitting in the middle of the Sahara and looking at the stars, trying to figure out why everything is so quiet that my own breathing suddenly starts to seem quite loud. Before my trip to Morocco, the desert seemed to me to be something very beautiful, but rather abstract: endless sand dunes, camels, tents, and a perfect sunset, which for some reason always turns out to be more beautiful in photographs. Of course, I wanted to see all this, but I absolutely did not expect that one night in the desert would turn out to be one of the most memorable episodes of the whole trip.

I had booked a night in advance at a Berber camp in the Sahara and knew perfectly well that this would not be an ordinary hotel where I could turn on the air conditioner in the evening, charge my phone and calmly see how many degrees it would be tomorrow. Everything was supposed to be completely different here, and that's why I was a little nervous. Especially after I read that the temperature can drop a lot at night in the desert, and I realized that my idea of taking a light dress for beautiful photos was great until I started thinking about the night.

The Road to the Sahara

Sugar

I drove to the camp in the late afternoon, when the sun was already starting to get softer. The landscape gradually changed, the greenery became less and less, rocks, dry land and vast spaces appeared around, and then the first dunes appeared ahead.

I remember that moment very well. Before that, the desert was just part of the route on the map, and then suddenly it became a reality outside the car window. Huge golden hills stretched away into the distance, and it seemed to me all the time that the landscape would change after the next dune, although it remained almost the same.

And yet I couldn't stop watching.It seemed to me that for the first time I was seeing a space that really had no end.

At some point, the car stopped, and then we had to ride on camels. Getting to know my transport. Of course, I had imagined this scene in advance and for some reason I was sure that now I would calmly sit on a camel, fix my hair beautifully, smile and ride towards the sunset. The camel, apparently, also imagined this scene, but in a slightly different way.

When he started to climb, I suddenly realized how high I was, and for the first few seconds I tried my best not to look like a person who had already regretted his life decisions. Then it became easier, and I even started enjoying the trip.

We were moving slowly through the sand, there were only dunes and a few people from our group around, and the sun was gradually sinking lower. I watched the shadows grow longer, and for the first time that day, I stopped thinking about my phone. Of course, after a few minutes I was already photographing everything around, because once you come to the Sahara, it's impossible to just sit and not take pictures of anything.

Sunset among the dunes

We stopped at one of the dunes to watch the sunset. I climbed a little higher and sat down on the sand, trying not to think about the fact that it had somehow magically appeared almost everywhere. In my shoes, on my clothes, in my bag, probably even somewhere on my phone.

But at that moment, I didn't care. The sun gradually sank, the sand became more and more golden, then orange, and then began to acquire pinkish and reddish shades. The dunes cast long shadows, and the landscape was changing literally every minute.

I sat and watched it until the sun finally disappeared below the horizon. And that's when I felt real silence for the first time. Not the kind of silence that happens at night at home when the TV is just not working and no one is talking, but real silence. There were no cars around, no city noise, no phone beeps, and no casual conversations between passersby. There was only the desert.

Our camp

When it got dark, we went to the camp, from a distance it looked like a few warm lights in the middle of a huge dark space. After sunset, it was especially impressive because there was almost nothing to see around, and the small camp seemed like a separate world.

Our tent turned out to be much more comfortable than I expected. There was a bed, simple furniture, light and everything necessary for an overnight stay, so my initial fear about "spending the night in the middle of the desert" was quickly replaced by the thought: "And here, it turns out, it's quite comfortable." However, I relaxed too soon. When I opened my bag to get a warm sweatshirt, some sand came out with it. I looked at him, then at the bag, then back at the sand. And I realized that Sahara had already officially moved into the tent with me.

Dinner by the campfire

In the evening, we gathered around a campfire, and there was simple Moroccan food on the table, tea with mint, and several dishes that, after a long journey, seemed incredibly delicious to me. Probably, even ordinary bread becomes a gastronomic event on an empty stomach, but for some reason everything was really perceived especially vividly in the desert.

We talked, laughed, discussed the road and impressions, and then the locals started playing drums and singing. I was sitting by the campfire and looking at the fire, and beyond it there was absolute darkness. It felt a little unreal. In everyday life, something is always happening around us: cars, people, lights in the windows, planes in the sky. Here, it was enough to move a few meters away from the campfire to find yourself in almost complete darkness. And I suddenly liked it.

The most important thing is the stars

After dinner, I walked a little further away from the camp and raised my head. And that's where Sahara finally won me over. I didn't expect to see so many stars. Of course, I've seen photos of the night sky many times, but in reality everything looked completely different. Due to the lack of city light, the sky seemed incredibly deep, and there were so many stars that I just stood and looked up for a while.

I tried to find the constellations I knew, but I quickly realized that I didn't understand anything about astronomy at all. But I didn't really care what each star was called. I just stood in the middle of the desert and looked up at the sky. That's probably why I came here.

It was cold at night

And that's when Sahara decided to remind me that the desert is not just about beautiful photos. It was warm during the day, and in the evening the temperature began to drop noticeably. I took out all the warm clothes that I had brought with me, and I was very glad that I still listened to the advice to take a jacket.

My beautiful light clothes for photos were left in my suitcase and I was obviously very happy about it. I was sitting by the campfire, warming my hands and thinking about how funny we sometimes imagine traveling. Everything looks perfect in my head: You're walking beautifully through the dunes, your dress is fluttering, your hair is lying properly, the sunset is golden, and there's no one around. In practice, your hair really flutters, just completely in the wrong direction, your dress gets covered with sand, and in the evening you sit in a jacket and try to warm your hands over a campfire. But that's what makes the trip real.

Overnight in a tent

When I finally went to bed, it was already completely silent. I turned off the light and just lay there and listened for a while. No cars, no neighbors behind the wall, no city noise, just the occasional sound outside and the wind. It seemed to me that I was so far away from my usual life that if I opened the tent door now, I could discover a completely different planet. After a while, I finally fell asleep. However, in the morning I found sand where, it would seem, it could not be at all. I do not know how it got there, but I suspect that Sahara decided to leave me a souvenir.

Dawn in the desert

I woke up before the alarm went off, probably because I knew I couldn't miss the sunrise here. I came out of the tent and saw the first rays of the sun begin to illuminate the dunes. After the darkness of the night, the desert appeared before my eyes again, but now it was completely different.

The sand gradually turned golden, the shadows slowly receded, and the sky changed color. I climbed the nearest dune and stood there alone for a long time. At night, the Sahara seemed endless and a little mysterious, and in the morning – calm and almost infinitely beautiful. And that's when I realized that I was really lucky to see her in two completely different states in one night.

What did this night give me?

When I went to the Sahara, I thought that the sunset would be the main impression. Then I thought it was the stars. Then I decided to ride a camel. But in the end, the strongest thing turned out to be something completely different – the feeling of space and silence. For the first time in a long time, I found myself in a place where I didn't have to rush anywhere. There was no need to check the map, look for the nearest cafe, look at the transport schedule or think about what to see next.

You could just sit by the campfire, look at the stars and listen to the conversations of the people around you. And that's probably why I remember one night in the Sahara more than some trips that lasted a whole week. Would I go again? Definitely yes. Although next time I'll take even more warm clothes with me, close all the pockets from the sand and try not to take too many things that look beautiful only in photos. And I'm going to stay the night again, because it's impossible to really feel the Sugar in a couple of hours while you came on a field trip, took photos and went back.

The real impression begins in the evening, when the sun disappears behind the dunes, the temperature gets lower, a bonfire is lit, and a huge starry sky appears overhead. And you're sitting in the middle of the desert, wrapping yourself in a jacket, trying to shake the sand out of your shoes, and suddenly you realize that you absolutely don't want to return to an air-conditioned hotel with a normal shower, because right now you feel good here. And it seems that I travel for such moments.