Departed Rabat promptly at 6am to begin the long drive out to Merzouga and the jumping off point to the open Sahara. We headed south through the Rif Mountains and stopped at a little gas station for a surprisingly good breakfast before we actually hit the mountains. I knew they existed but I was surprised to see monkeys in the mountains and we stopped to get some pictures of them. They are surprisingly unafraid of humans and some walked right up to us. More driving and we stopped at an Oasis that I can’t recall the name of for an excellent lunch. More driving and then we finally hit the desert. From here we had to switch to a 4×4 and we headed out over the bedrock that ultimately leads to the dunes. Once we hit the dunes we switched to camels to cross the sand to our camp. Along the way we stopped to watch the sunset. Our camp was gorgeous, our tents basically had full bedrooms and we even had running water. They made a great dinner for us and lit up a bunch of torches on the side of a sand dune in the shape of a heart. It was too dark to get pictures but the coolest part was easily sitting out away from camp in the silence and starlight.