Couchsurfing in Moroccos golden Sahara, in Mhamid El Ghizlane

Before I came to Morocco I didn't know anything about the country and its culture. The only thing I knew was that there was a desert, as I could see on the map. From the first day on, it was clear to me that I wanted to see that desert before I left the country.

My backpacker friends Jack & Scott, who I met in the Hostel in Tangier, traveled with me spontaneously by train and bus to all the most interesting and recommended tourist cities in Morocco and we had great times there. But after some time we noticed that every city was similar in a way. Medinas and streetfood was nothing new anymore. So we were all keen to spend our last days in Morocco in a very special place of this country: In the Sahara desert!

All hostels offered more or less expensive tourist trips to different places in the Sahara, but I wanted something different from that. I very much dislike tourist tours with big groups of tourists comfortably sitting on a bus and being driven from one photo spot to the next without understanding or experiencing the real meaning of the place and the culture of those who live there.
So I tried to find a Couchsurfer host in the desert and I was successful. A 25 year old guy named Mostafa who grew up in the desert accepted my Couchsurfing request and invited the three of us to his home in a small village in the Sahara desert close to Algeria: Mhamid El Ghizlane.
He said he was happy to show us his village, to share his culture and teach us all he knows about the desert.

Scott and Jack wanted to rest another day in Marrakesh, but I decided to go to the desert straight away. So I took the bus to Mhamid El Ghizlane on my own and my travel buddies were planning on following the next day. The bus drove through the most beautiful landscapes and the time passed by incredibly fast. The mountains were so diverse and breathtaking! I didn't dare close my eyes and fall asleep.

11 hours later I finally arrived. 

It was dark and the sky was incredibly wonderful! 

Mostafa was waiting for me at the bus station in Flipflops, shred jeans, a T-shirt and a big turban on his head. He had asked a friend with a car to give us a lift to his home. 

The village was dark and Mostafa opened the metal door of his clay house. His home! In the end of the empty hallway of the stone floor I could see his family sitting on the ground on a carpet around a small table eating from one single big plate.

They looked at us and I looked at them, exchanging a smile and a waving hand and a shy, polite hello in French, Berber and English. Mostafa and his sister speak a little English, his father speaks French and they all speak the Berber language, the language of the nomadic people from the desert.
A few minutes later when they had finished their dinner the mom served us another big plate of couscous with vegetables and meat on the same table in another room. The room that was declared as my room but which was usually Mostafa and his little brothers room. Mostafa and I ate our dinner and the family came to join us with a small TV, watching news and drinking traditional Berber tea. 

We introduced each other and they were all very polite and shy but very friendly!

A little later Mostafa and I went for a walk to the sand dunes nearby to watch the stars. Mostafa had access to a desert camp and got some blankets for us, so we could sit warmly covered on the soft sand under the stars in the incredible silence of nothingness.

 Because it was late and we were tired, we soon ended up sleeping there outside in the dunes of the Sahara desert. That was my first night in the desert!

Only a slight breeze was moving the sand grains.
I enjoyed this peaceful night very much!

The morning dawn in the dunes when I woke up.

And Mostafa playing my Ukulele in the sunrise.

I was very happy to finally get in touch with a true Moroccan who shared his culture with me. I could finally ask all my questions which I had collected on my intense journey through Morocco, which already felt like an eternity.

Mostafa knows a lot about his country and the people from his country, especially about the Berber people and culture! He grew up as a Nomad with his family and their camels. They used to move from one place to another in the desert, living in tents and sleeping under the sky.

10 years ago, when Mostafa was 15 years old, they settled in the civilization, in the little village where they bought their clay house in exchange for 52 camels. (Isn't that incredible??!)

He and his brothers and sisters had never been to school! 

Now his younger siblings do go to school and his older sister studies. 

By the way, they are 7 kids in his family. Mostafa, his older brother and his dad now work as desert guides for tourists and do camel tracking tours with them. They love their camels and their desert and they love to show their treasure to people from all over the world.

Their house is the most minimalist house that I have ever seen. They don't have any furniture except a stove, a fridge, a little plastic table and carpets. They sleep on carpets with pillows and blankets and one of the rooms has an open roof, just with the sky above. 

They have sheep and goats and their toilet is just a long drop (a hole in the ground) and a tab, no toilet paper. The bathroom is a little room with a water tap and two buckets. If you want to take a shower you put water into the bigger bucket and pour water over your body with the smaller bucket.

They don't have a mirror and they bake their own bread in a little clay oven in the open roof room.

The street where they live

Their sheep :-)

The mom baking delicious bread

More of the village

Me, trying Mostafas turban

Some happy camels

On a walk through the soft sand

Curious kids in the neighborhood, seeing white people!

I found the minimalism fascinating and challenging at the same time. When Scott and Jack arrived the next day I was happy to share this experience and all those new impressions with them! 

What I found most fascinating and just unbelievable was the family's hospitality and openness! They shared their home with me and my friends, not asking for any help or any compensation, also not letting me do anything when I asked if I could help.

They cooked and served 3 delicious meals for us every day!!! They gave their sleeping room to us and shared their solar energy and their limited rain water with us. They even bought medication for me (chamomile herbs from the pharmacy and lemonade) to heal my sick stomach from the street food in Marrakesh.

That was truly incredible and like a fairy tale of charity and humanity.
I was amazed by their hospitality and generosity but on the other hand I couldn't understand why they did all that for us. They treated us like kings and I felt somehow guilty to eat their food and use their water and their electricity, while I am so rich compared to them!

One day I asked Mostafa, which job he would like to do and where he would like to live if he could choose anything he liked. He replied he would always choose his current village and his current job. He just loves his life and his desert and his camels. 

Maybe that is why he likes to share it with other people. It is his passion. He is happy with what he has, even though he appears to be so poor, he would never want to swap with anyone else from a western country or with any rich person. He is just thankful to have his family, his starry night sky and his beautiful sand dunes. Isn't that incredible? So beautiful and so touching! I am still fascinated.

When Jack and Scott had arrived we went camel trekking for two days and one night. 

Mostafa borrowed camels of a friend and organized a very cheap price for the camels and the night in the camp for us. In the afternoon Mostafa picked us up in front of his door with the camels.

It was so exciting to see the camels and they looked really happy, healthy and relaxed! I was glad to see that they were in such a good condition!

On our 2 hour ride into the higher dunes we had so much fun, getting jogged around from side to side on the huge and strong camels.

This is Mostafas cousin Jusuf. He came with us :-)

Right on time, when the sun set behind the beautiful yellow and orange sand dunes, we arrived at the desert camp. 

It was magical! 

We had a delicious Tajine  for dinner (the traditional Moroccan dish with vegetables and meat steamed in a clay pot an a fire) and a campfire after. What an unforgettable night! 

We sang Mantras and African Berber-songs and I played the Ukulele. The next morning we rode our camels back to the village and relaxed.

Mostafa's sister drew a beautiful Henna tattoo on my hands. She mixed the Henna traditionally with Henna powder, green tea, sugar and petrol so that it lasts extra long. I love it!

I gave the mom and the sister two of my bracelets because I wanted to give something back, but then they wanted to return the favor and handed me a beautiful Berber bracelet, which I love and which I will keep in honor! It will always remind me of unconditional human kindness and hospitality of the Berber people!

Despite the good experience in the desert, I was really happy to return to Marrakesh after 4 days in the minimalist house. And also because of the heat and the immeasurably many flies in the desert! They kept on sitting down obtrusively on every inch of skin they could find. In whole Morocco you find many flies, but nowhere as many as in the desert!

I enjoyed to be back in my favorite Hostel in Marrakesh with a proper shower and a proper toilet. 

On my last evening in Morocco I went for a walk to buy myself a last freshly made pomegranate juice. As I stood there waiting for my juice and counting the coins in my wallet all of a sudden a little boy stood in front of me. He was probably about 6 or 7 years old, facing me with a sad facial expression, holding a little paper box in his hands, filled with homemade cookies. He didn't say anything. He just looked in my face. Almost automatically my hands opened my wallet, digging out all my left over coins, giving it to the boy. I couldn't think about having one of his biscuits. I had a huge lump in my throat. He took the coins and disappeared, but he stayed in my mind for the next days and I know that I will never forget him and this moment. 

I suddenly forgave all the people who had been annoying to me, trying to sell me something. I realized the poverty. Some people just have no choice, they are poor and they have to fight a battle of which I don't have no idea. Most of (us) Westerners  are rich and we can't understand poor peoples reality. Maybe we think we would never act like them, bother anyone or try to cheat on anyone just to make money. That's because we have no idea what they are going through. The world is unequal and we are on the rich side. We can close our eyes and have no mercy. Yes, we can't save them all, but the least we can do is try to feel with them and accept how they are, sometimes bothering or cheating, because they have to, but good in their heart, trying their best, working hard, sharing their culture and being generous when they can! 

They all have their story and their reasons and their way to deal with their situation. Morocco would not be Morocco without its people and their mentality! Their simplicity, openness and temperament. An incredibly communicative, generous, curious and creative nation, creating a unique and colorful country!

Now I am back in Spain and ready to fly to India. I am grateful that I could share that intense and eye-opening experience in Morocco with my new friends Jack and Scott and that I met so many other wonderful people on the way. I will never forget this country nor every single encounter. Good or bad. Everyone taught me something. And my experiences made me realize again how blessed I am to be free and independent. That I come from a rich country and have the possibility to travel and to see the world. And I feel prepared for India!!! ;-)