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Spend a night in the Sahara with no tent

The sand is still warm from the afternoon when you lie down at Erg Chebbi, heat radiating up through the blanket like an echo of the day's 40°C sun. By 3am it's gone, and you're wearing every layer you own against a cold that flirts with freezing, under a sky so dense with stars it looks unfinished, as if someone forgot to leave gaps. Guides from Merzouga usually walk the camp out by camel at dusk, past ridges where some other group's fire is glowing. You sleep with sand in your ears and wake stiff, the sun already flattening the dunes back to gold.

Practical

Cost
$40–120 per person, overnight camp
Best time
October to April, avoiding the worst summer heat
Difficulty
Easy
Time it takes
1–2 days including transport from Marrakech or Fes
What people get wrong
People pack for the daytime heat and forget the desert drops close to freezing at night, or assume there'll be a tent when the whole point is sleeping under open sky with just a blanket or sleeping bag.
With
A group

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