Christmas has always been a very important holiday to me, as I am very close with my family and we sort of go all out for our Christmas Eve gathering. Deciding to be away from my family during this time was not an easy decision. I originally planned to skip Morocco and head home for the holidays, but I am so glad I didn’t. Spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the desert was an unforgettable experience. I often found myself doing things or repeating memories in my head to make sure they stuck. Being fully present on a journey like this isn’t always easy, not for me anyways. Lots of deep breaths, thanking God, intellectual conversations, closing my eyes and appreciating all 5 senses more than ever. Glamping in the desert was by far one of my favorite experiences on this trip.

We started the journey by traveling 8 hours by car as soon as we landed from our 20 hour flight, a little crazy, but totally worth it. As soon as we met Anass our driver, now great friend, we knew we were in for a treat. We arrived at our gorgeous “castle” around 11pm, where Moustafa the hilarious cook and manager had dinner waiting for us. Though he spoke no English, we were still able to all laugh together about Danas food baby. The next morning we had another 5 hours to drive until we made it to the camp. Road trips are forever changed for me, nearly every time we stopped to get out and stretch we had a dance party with all of the car doors open and music up full blast. Living our best life! I wish I could put into words how gorgeous the drive was, the color palette of the entire landscape was perfect. Terracotta everything with hints of blues, purples, pinks, mint and more. There were men herding sheep in the mountains, beautiful orange trees everywhere you turn, olive, date and eucalyptus trees also plentiful. All the while the Atlas Mountains surrounding us, like how was this real life?

We made a couple stops along the drive including a pottery museum where 7 families lived, each family had 10-20 people in one house and their own space for making pottery. In their culture the men craft the pottery and women do the design work. We also stopped in a town called Zagora to shop for some traditional Moroccan attire, more mint tea and another great experience. I remember before we got out of the car we were discussing the horrific event that had occurred just a couple days prior to our arrival where 2 young Scandinavian women were brutally murdered. It was one of those awkward situations we weren’t sure if we could talk about yet, but I am glad we did. Anass played a song to dedicate to them before we got out of the car - John Lennon “Imagine” and explained to us how terrible he and everyone else feels. I don’t believe this unfortunate event should be a representation of the country as a whole, however tour companies are already losing business and will continue to suffer for some time. Despite our families trying to talk us out of going and countless U.S. Embassy alerts, I’m glad we still went to Morocco. These people needed us just as much as we needed them.

We finally arrived to our camp just before sundown, making an entrance with a dance party obviously. The camp was perfectly nestled between the dunes and there were rugs lined up to each tent with a fire pit in the center. Everything about it was amazing. We quickly met the nomad crew who worked at the camp, most didn’t speak english, but we had so much fun with them. Night one, which was Christmas Eve consisted of climbing dunes, watching the sunset, having tea, stargazing, a bonfire, singing, dancing and counting down until Christmas from the top of the dune while blasting Mariah Carey. Thankfully, I was able to FaceTime my family and be passed around the house to different family members at the party which made my heart so full.

The next day we woke up to a sunrise breakfast, it was absolutely freezing, but again so worth it. We did a little yoga to keep warm and then got ready for our camel ride. We rode the camels out to a spot for a picnic lunch. The day was full of laughter, traditional berber games, good conversation, music and more dancing. After dinner that night we laid outside our tent for a while looking up at the stars. The sky was unlike anything I have ever seen, so full of stars, constellations and the Milky Way. I saw two shooting stars, but the second one completely took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. I will always remember that little piece of magic I saw on Christmas Day. The Sahara Desert is one magical place, if it’s not on your bucket list, I highly suggest adding it. I wouldn’t of had Christmas any other way.

Sending you all the love,

Anayat ❤

Christmas in the Sahara Desert