Exploring the Sahara

The most famous desert and also largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara. This enormous stretch of sand covers most of North Africa and starts on the western side in Morocco. Despite being only a collection of sand, the Sahara is very interesting and probably a must see when visiting North Africa. The activities to do there are either camel riding or some buggy driving. Both are quite spectacular with the buggy being an adrenaline rush, while the camel takes it at a slower pace, but still gets you moving up and down. Riding a camel is a bit different than riding a horse and you are likely to feel it in your legs after a few hours. The weather in the Sahara can be extreme with boiling hot temperatures during the day, but then at night it can be freezing cold. However, it is worth spending a night in the desert as it is quite an experience. Just do not forget to bring some extra clothes to cover yourself during the day and night. Because at night there is no light pollution and there are no clouds, you get to see the stars in the sky as you have never seen it before as it is like a bright galaxy projected on the sky. The Sahara is also a very colorful place because with the change in the amount of sunshine during the morning and evening, the whole Sahara changes color as well. This color changes from yellow to orange and red. Even when you look into a different direction the sand dunes appear to change color considerably. Also the sky changes its color of blue and you get to see amazing sunsets and sunrises. Visiting the Sahara on your own can be difficult as getting there with public transportation is not easy, but many tours depart from Marrakesh. These tours include stops at other places such as Ait Benhaddou or take you through some scenic countryside. Depending on how many days the tours last for, they take you either to Merzouga or Zagora. What is an amazing sight is to see where the Sahara actually starts and you see an change in landscape from barren scrub to proper sand stretches in only a couple of meters.