Easter 2024 was a landmark Easter for Southgate District; all three units sent leaders and young people to trek across the Sahara Desert. This wasn’t the only element of the expedition but was the key focus. We flew to Marrakech via Casablanca at the start of the expedition, a party of 31 clean, sand free, not dehydrated, or sunburnt (would this remain to be the case?). We arrived late and after a briefing went to bed for a few hours, had breakfast and hit the road. To start our trek, we needed to drive 8 hours south, into the desert, close to the southern border. It was a long drive, a very long day in the kind of comfort and company we would come accustomed to – I hasten to add that the company was wonderful, the comfort… adequate.
At the end of our drive, we walked out into the desert, leaving civilisation behind, directly into a headwind kicking sand into our faces as we stomped on to the campsite. Our crew that were being paid to transport equipment, prepare food and handle the camels were all fasting, which meant that we insisted on pulling our weight. We set up camp in the starlit dessert, embraced the floor seating style, fixed around 4,000 tent zips (amazing, when you consider that there were only 17 tents with 4 zips on each) and got to bed.
Waking up for the first time in the middle of the Sahara Desert, with nothing in view other than sand dunes and sand dunes, and sand dunes, and some more sand dunes was utterly spectacular. We struck camp, had breakfast, and started to trek. This was the start of 3 days in which moving across the desert was the primary objective because at some point on each day, we had a spectacular reward; sunsets and sunrises, a sunset on top of the tallest sand dune in Morocco, climbs across dunes, marches across riverbeds, rides on camels, and an experience that brought everyone close together.
We travelled from the edge of the desert on day 5 back to the real world, long drives in minibuses, museums, the occasional breakdown and speeding fine for drivers having been pulled over by police led to some delays along the way… We stopped off for the night so that we could travel on to the coast on day 6, to Essaouira. In Essaouira we spent two days experiencing the local souks, bartering, exploring, learning more about the history of this area of the country, visiting the working areas of the town, relaxing and swimming. We spent the next day and night on a campsite nearer to the coast and continues to unwind from what had been a physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding first half of the expedition.
There was one glaring omission from our adventure so far – Marrakech. We ensured that the young people had some time to see the souks and main square, to soak in the atmosphere and then got them out of there before we became too interesting to everyone else…
This is a brief account of the expedition, which was over in a flash. For the leader team, caring for young people in the harsh desert environment was challenging, and the team manged this brilliantly, with very few issues proving that our preventative measures were the best we could have put in place for mid-thirties in the wilderness with limited shade and respite from the conditions. The young people were fantastic and worked extremely hard for each other, showing patience, compassion, and maturity. It was an epic adventure.
