Beyond the day-trip dunes of Merzouga, multi-day treks into the Sahara trade jeep tracks for camel trains and star-thick silence.
Most visitors see the Erg Chebbi dunes on a sunset camel ride and a night in a fixed camp, but a proper trek pushes further south past Merzouga into the erg's interior, where a small camel train carries water and supplies and the only sound for hours is sand shifting underfoot.
Days settle into a rhythm of walking in the cool morning, resting through the worst of the midday heat under a shared tarp, then climbing a high dune to watch the light turn the sand from gold to rose before making camp and eating tagine cooked over a buried fire.
Go between October and April to avoid the worst heat, trust your Berber guide's read of the dunes over any GPS — sand shifts and landmarks move — and pack layers for the cold that arrives fast after sunset, since desert nights drop sharply once the sand stops holding the day's heat.
