Saraha - Daya el Maider

At dawn, looking toward sunrise, the dunes begin to die, because all life here is nocturnal ... except man.

Once more, mountains of shifting sand ...

... create zen-like simplicity of form ...

... and constant subtle shifts between light and shadow.

I become interested in the scale of the desert. As I look closely at the sand, I see the desert as an example of fractal detail. The closer I look at the sand, the more it looks like dunes written small. The scale of this photo is about 2 meters across.

... The scale of this one ... about 25 cm from right to left ...

... These "boulders" are the size of a pea, or a little larger. The sun casts a shadow toward the northwest. The wind casts a "sand shadow" toward the east. It is said you can use the moss on one side of a tree to navigate in a forest. Could you use these sand shadows to navigate in the desert? Either I'm losing it ... or ... this is getting interesting ...

... This dry ruined "tree" is 2 inched high ...

... This derelict log, about 3 inches from left to right.

We spent two nights and two days at Daya El Maider. On the morning of our second day, we drove south to an oasis with a well as its source. We are now one and a half days from the nearest real town (Risanni). For me, a real town is one on a proper road.

Unbelievably, here is a small Auberge at the oasis. We drank warm Fanta for 10 Dirham (US$1) a bottle, a fortune in Morocco. This is three to four times it's normal price because it has to be brought in from Risanni. In this dry desolate place, it tasted like liquid gold.

Our drivers picked up drums and put on a little pick up show for us. Singing and playing, their energy and sheer good fun entranced us. Want to hear Berber music? While in Marrakech, I bought a CD of Berber folk music (but that's another story).