INCREDIBLE 24 Hours in the Sahara Desert - Merzouga, Morocco

We just made it into the Sahara desert in Morocco. In our last episode we left Fez and drove the nine hours to Merzouga. The drive was actually a lot of fun because we got to see so much of the diverse Moroccan countryside. We made it to our camp just in time for an incredible sunset. Look how beautiful this is. We've just arrived to our tent in the Sahara desert. Look how massive this place is you guys. In this episode we're going to be dancing in the desert, learning about the nomadic way of life, and ending the day riding camels through So beautiful right? Yeah the landscape just goes on forever. It honestly looks like a painting and I almost did not wake up this morning. Tommy left for sunrise like a few minutes before me and I looked out the window and I saw that it was light and I was like oh I'm coming. He locked me inside the tent. There's a like a latch on the outside so I closed it otherwise the door's gonna swing open. And he locked me inside the tent and I texted him I was like you locked me inside and his phone was on silent but he ran. So I had to sprit the dunes and run back down and then this other Italian couple were making fun of us like oh we saw you running. He came back for me. He gets a little excited when taking pictures. All right let's go get some coffee. He definitely hasn't had his coffee yet. He doesn't want to get up. In the middle of every moment there's a magic hour. The streams are ever flowing through the fields of wildflowers. So we just had a wonderful breakfast. We're just waiting for Addy to pick us up. He's going to show us around the desert today. Cute. Then you just tuck it in there. Yeah. Okay sweet. I appreciate it. Like how cute you look. We're ready for the day. So I untied my scarf up to where it doesn't choke my neck. So and if you get dusty just do like this. I like it like this it's fairly cute. My head is hot. It's hot but oh a fly just landed on the lens. Flies are out of control. Actually it's a little bumpy. We made our way back to Merzouga to meet up with our wonderful guide Addy. Looking good today man. Looking fresh. Looking fresh. We learned Addy grew up in a nomadic family where he had 14 brothers and sisters and was the first of his family to go to school. We were super lucky to have a fantastic guide who became the heart and soul of this adventure. We learned that that means let's go. So Addy just brought us to the local market and we're going to pick up some vegetables because the nomads are going to cook them up for us for lunch. So we're just going to go pick up some veggies. Good? Yes. All right. We are out here in the middle of nowhere. I love all of the different landscapes you have like the dunes then the flat black rock and then the mountains over there. Yeah it's so beautiful. It feels like you're on some other planet. Exactly. Feels like a different planet. We as the Berbers we take I mean in anything like manifestations or pictures we take three. The Berber fight for three things. Awel is the language because it's getting extincted in North Africa. The second one is Akhen the Berber land which is North Africa. North African countries I mean. Then Afghan is the Berber people I mean fighting for their their rights and the humanity and everything. That's what does it mean. So instead of peace you do three. Yes. And then he was making fun of me because I can only do two and a half. Two and a half. So this is why. Oh to the camel. That's good. So this is the local food in the area. In English we call it Berber pizza. In the Berber language we call it Abadir. Nowadays they cook it in the oven. But in the past because the people they were nomads they move a lot they just follow the rain. So in order to save time while they are moving they have to make this Berber pizza. They make a big bread like that. She will put all the vegetables inside make it together and cook it in the oven. I noticed that there was a lot of bread and it doesn't really seem like there's too many people around but I had asked Addy like you know she has a lot of food here a lot of bread. Is she making this for a lot of people? And he said yes she's making it for the family. That's quite big but they also traditionally make a lot of food just in case any unexpected guests show up they have enough food to host everybody. Which is really sweet. Very generous. Yeah super generous. Is that her that needs to sit like that for so long? She is used for that maybe. Yeah. So as the mom's preparing the Berber pizza the daughter's collecting rocks here. I'm being picky about my rocks. So this is the the pizza oven. The oven. She takes some of these sticks and she puts them over there until they get very very hot and then there's some rocks on top of the iron here and they prevent the pizza from sticking. Once everything gets hot she puts the pizza on top of the rocks until it's cooked and ready to eat. That is the end of the demonstration. She's a good looking dude. Addy continued to tell us about how the nomads live. He showed us their living quarters, how they get their water, and talked to us about the roles of each family member. So pretty. The mother she is the one who does a lot of things. She has to make the breakfast for the shippers very early because the shippers mostly they start before the sunrise. Mostly for the nomads. Olive oil, soup, dates, and tea. So after the the shippers they have breakfast and they left the house mostly the kids. That's why the nomads they have a lot of kids because they need them to ship. To help. Yes exactly. After that the mother has to go to find the firewood. After bringing the firewood she has to go again to bring the water and mostly the nomads they don't live by the next to the well. They live far away from the well because the well attracts a lot of strangers and by the day mostly only the women stay in the tent and it takes an hour and a half to two hours to bring the water from the well. Then she has to prepare the lunch. After that she has to collect all the dirty clothes and take them to wash the dirty clothes. Then the day is over and prepare the dinner. Yeah so much. The Berber culture get a lot of symbols because of the women making carpets and expressing their emotions and their feelings. So did your mom used to do that too? Yes she knows how to do that yeah of course because we were nomads originally so. How many children do they have in total? I'm not sure exactly it's a big it's a big number because he has three wives actually. Okay yeah. So it will be 18 or something. Oh wow. Our host at the camp yeah had nine brothers and sisters. Okay. So he was asking me how many I had and I told him five. He was like oh surprise. That's nothing compared. No I know. Absolutely. Whenever you make a lot of bubbles it can filter the tea. It keeps the sand away from the tea. I mean that's why mostly you can see a lot of people trying to take it up to make bubbles especially in the desert. But nowadays it becomes something traditional. The people they like it with bubbles. Without bubbles for example my father if you give him a tea without bubble he will tell you oh I need tea not oil. Give me tea. So ten marks? Ten marks yes. Ten marks. Look at Tommy's learning some Berber. Yeah. Any takeaways from the nomad visit at all? My first impression is just how difficult of life this is. All the work they have to do and the lifestyle they have to provide for themselves to survive. But there's also this appeal of the openness and the freedom and the natural simple methods of cooking and laundering and doing whatever they do that's very appealing. Oh look at the dough. It's all crispy and fluffy with all of the baked veggies inside. It's good. Great spices. Carrots, onion, parsley. It's good. The Berber pizza was delicious. This family was so kind to take us in to their house and host us weren't they? Tea, pizza, fruit. It's pretty funny watching me kill a pomegranate but I didn't capture that. All right back in the car let's keep road tripping. We're on top of the car. We just stopped off at this place to listen to some music. That was a good little stop. That music was fun right? Yeah. That girl's getting into it. We're dancing. This is the filter. This is what they use to filter the water. So we stopped to take a little walk in this oasis in the middle of the desert and I just love like walking in. You get the contrast of like the bright blue sky, the orange sand dunes, the green palm trees. Guess pig. It's a pig. Excellent. Wow Jackie. Jackie got it. He said what a tree is this. She said fig. Have we ever seen a fig tree before? No. That was a great guess. Well we've already we know dates are in the palm trees. We already know the almond tree and the olive trees. So she's like what else comes from Morocco? She guessed pig. That was pretty good So we're walking through these beautiful gardens. It's pretty cool. All the families own their own plot of land and they all share the irrigation system. It's a very beautiful place too with all the greenery. Oh my gosh they have so many things planted in here. We've seen almond, peppers, parsley, wheat, corn. Everybody is planting something different. They had one plot it was just full of hot chili peppers. I was like oh that family likes it spicy and that's exactly what I would be growing too. We're about to ride camels. I'm a little nervous. They're kind of bigger when you stand next to them. Are they? Yeah. So we just dropped us off. We're about to ride camels back to camp and hopefully enjoy another sunset here. Are you ready? Yeah. It's gonna be a really great way to end the day. It's been such a great experience today. We heard they're not super comfortable. This is like I think an hour ride. I'm wondering how your parents are gonna do. I'm wondering how we're gonna do. We'll see. There you go. Look. Thank you brother. We're ready. We're officially ready. Okay this is Mohammed. Mohammed. Hello. Hi. Nice to meet you. Wow you got you got up there. Wow. You got a big boy. Hang on tight right? Hang on baby. Hey Tom and Jackie. How are you guys doing? Oh my legs feel like jelly. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you for the ride. I appreciate it. Well that was super fun. First time riding a camel. That was great. She's like walking into the shot like this. Yeah it was great. Yeah that was great. So we're gonna rush back, use the bathroom, get some water, and run and find our sunset spot. Another amazingly beautiful sunset. Something about being out here in the desert. Out in nature. It's so quiet. So beautiful. Check out the moon behind me rising. It's a very special place. Our guide and seeing how the nomads live today. The lady making us lunch. Her little daughter helping out. Watching after the baby. Very special travel day and to share it with family. Wherever you are. I hope you're doing well. Hope life is good. Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you tomorrow.