We’ve just finished eating and are now settling in, after an afternoon’s driving to our next destination in Mezouga. We’re staying in a small but very friendly psudeo-riad called Auberge la Caravane at the very edge of the Sahara desert. We’ve had to change our accommodation plans a little, as it appears that a number of places we had earmarked in the Lonely Planet guide have been completely destroyed by severe flash-flooding a few months ago. This appears to be one of only a few places to have survived, the carcasses of formerly four and five star rhiads collapsing into sandy rubble.

We got here just in time to see the sunset over the sand dunes, and as the light faded made our mark in the desert by placing our footprints in virgin sand. Tomorrow will be an early one, as we embark on a three hour excursion by camel to an oasis to see the sun come up.