Rostom, our driver, felt sorry for us having to spend more than half the day in Erfoud, where there really isn’t much to do or see, so he took us to Rissani, the closest town of significant size to Erg Chebbi, the largest sand desert in Morocco. It certainly wasn’t a tourist attraction, but it was actually an interesting place to walk around.

This was Ishan, our Berber-Tuareg tour guide, who Rostom knew from previous visits to Rissani. He was quite knowledgeable and spoke good English, along with a number of other languages, yet Rostom said he had had no formal education. It was quite funny when we were going to meet up with Ishan; Rostom had told us Ishan was very proud of his culture, and when we got to the meeting place, he said, "Guess which one he is!" Of course, it was this man dressed in colorful ethnic clothing. Interestingly enough, he had argyle socks and Western leather shoes on ;-).

The Tuareg are a nomadic Berber people living in North Africa, and in Morocco they are known as “blue men,” I think because of the indigo clothing they often wear.


The western gate to Rissani, posted earlier: