One night in the dunes is an experience. Two nights is a crossing. The camps are pitched in different parts of the erg, and the middle day is spent moving between them rather than doubling back, so you see the sand sea change as you go.
The erg is about 22 kilometres long and 5 wide, and the interior is not uniform. There are wide hard-floored corridors between the dune chains, seasonal water at the northern end that draws flamingos after rain, and old wells on the eastern margin that supplied the caravan routes running south towards Timbuktu.
The pace is slow and there is a long rest through the middle of each day. This trek suits people who want time in the desert rather than a photograph of it.
Leave Merzouga in the afternoon and ride into the western dunes. This is the same country the overnight trek covers, but you carry on past the usual camps into quieter sand. Sunset from a crest, then down to the first camp for tea, dinner and a fire.
The long day. After breakfast the train sets off east, crossing the dune chains rather than following the margin. Between the ranges there are wide corridors with a hard floor where the going is easy and the dunes stand up on both sides like walls.
There is a stop at a nomad camp on the way, and a long rest through the middle of the day in whatever shade can be found, which is how these routes were always travelled. In the afternoon you reach the eastern margin, where old wells still hold water and a scatter of palms marks the line of the caravan road that ran south towards Timbuktu.
The second camp is pitched out here, well away from the first, and it is noticeably quieter; almost no one comes this far.
Sunrise from the crest above the second camp, then breakfast and the ride back west across the erg, taking a different line from the outward route. Arrival in Merzouga around the middle of the day. A 4×4 return can be arranged instead for anyone who has had enough of the saddle.
Around three to four hours on the first and last days and up to five on the middle day, always split into a morning and an afternoon leg with a long rest between them. Nobody rides through the middle of the day.
The riding is at walking pace and the pace is deliberately slow, but the second day is a real distance and most people are stiff by the end of it. Reasonable general fitness is enough; no experience with camels is needed.
Yes, and most people do. Walking the firm corridors between the dune chains is easy going; walking up soft sand is not.
Fixed tents with beds and heavy blankets, a dining tent, and shared toilet and shower facilities. The second camp is smaller and more basic than the first, because it is much further out.
Old wells that still hold water and a scatter of palms, on the line of the caravan road that ran south across the Sahara. There is nothing built out there, which is the point.
A bag for three days with layers for cold nights, sun protection, a torch, and any personal medication. The camels carry it, so weight is less critical than on a walking trek.
Anyone can spend a night at the edge of the erg. Two nights lets you cross it. The middle day takes you through the corridors between the dune chains and out to the eastern side, where the old caravan wells and a few palms mark a road that ran to Timbuktu, and where you will not see another group. The second camp out there is the quietest night most people spend in Morocco.
