48km to Tata

A slightly short day for us, thanks to our efforts the day before. We had a peaceful sleep near the nomad tents, waking up only when a couple goats wandered by during the night and brushed up against the tent. Maybe they were hoping for more vegetable scraps like we gave them the night before!

As we made our way back to the road we watched the nomads herd two large troops of goats out to graze, the women standing out from a distance with their colourful and sparkly clothing. The nomad life is fascinating for us and we feel lucky to have experienced it up close, both in the desert and now in the large stretches of nothingness between Foum Zguid and Tata.

Our bikes got us to Tata just before lunchtime and we debated where to camp – in the more austere but cheap municipal campsite or in a private site outside of town which was recommended to us by many people. Eventually we decided to stay in town, only so we could set up the tent and then get some shopping and other errands done before heading out into the wilderness for another week or so.

We enjoyed a lunchtime treat of chicken and chips, fed scraps to the local cats and then settled in for a relaxing afternoon in the sunshine.