We drove south from Meski to the Sahara Desert and stopped near the Algerian border by the dunes at Erg Chebbi. The town of Merzouga was the local tourist centre where you could take a 4×4 tour of the area or a camel ride into the desert to spend the night at a Berber encampment and watch the sun rise over the dunes. Or you could hire a dune buggy and noisily travel up to the top of the highest dune, 150 metres above the rocky desert floor and watch the sunset.
Us? We chose to sit by our fire at the end of the day and watch the visitors climb up the dunes, looking like scurrying black ants against the rich ochre of the sand. Later, when our fire was reduced to embers, we would cook lamb chops for our supper.
