An early morning farewell to little Switzerland after a most pleasant stay in our chalet there in Azrou,  where some of us painted, some of us swam (that would be me) and some of us played the grand piano (that would be Chris).

A pretty long drive covering close to 400 km from Azrou through the Middle Atlas Mountains to the Sahara and the Riad Madu, literally on the edge of the dunes.

Graffiti in the Atlas Mountains! (You might have to zoom to see what Omar wrote):

Then along the Ziz River with more awe-inspiring views of incredible mountains and rock formations.

And a stop to buy some fossils (that’s the second pic!  Majid and I aren’t quite fossils yet).

After a lunch break at a roadside café in Arrachidia, and still sticking with the very lengthy Oeud Ziz, we stopped for a look at the palmerie and some adobe villages.

Then another 120 km or so and we were at our destination, the Riad Madu in Merzouga, on the edge of Erg Chebbi, one of the two main Saharan sand dune areas in Morocco.  The view from our (Pam’s and my) room is hard to beat:

Most of us were in the pool soon after check-in at 4.45 pm before a sand storm dispersed us to our rooms to prepare for a sumptuous supper and bed.

Tomorrow we head to a camp in the desert so I doubt I’ll have internet there, which means Day 11’s report will be held over to Day 12 when we get to Skoura (Wednesday, Oct 10).  If you don’t hear anything, we’ve probably all become nomads and loped away on our camels.