The tarmac stops being the main attraction at Merzouga, because here the Sahara starts for real. Erg Chebbi, a wall of orange dunes more than a hundred metres high, rises out of the stony plain in the far south-east of Morocco, a short distance from the Algerian frontier, and the village sits right at its foot with a scatter of guesthouses, cafés and camel stables. In the early morning the sand has the colour of burnt sugar, and at sunset it turns the red of a hot stove.
The riding to get here is long, flat and hot, on the road through Erfoud and past the oasis town of Rissani, once the capital of the Tafilalet region and the cradle of the dynasty that still rules Morocco. Reçani, about thirty kilometres away, is the nearest sizeable town and the place where you should be thinking about your fuel gauge. Beyond it there is a surfaced road and a number of tracks into the dunes, and the tracks are where the problems begin: soft sand grabs a loaded motorbike without mercy, so be honest about your skills, ride with a partner, and do not wander off alone in the heat.
Wind is the main enemy. In spring a hot dry gust carrying fine sand can make visibility poor and fill your visor, and in midsummer the temperature is brutal, so the sensible months are autumn and spring, with the early morning the best hours. Nights in the desert can turn surprisingly cold. A few kilometres south lies the village of Khamlia, where the community of descendants of sub-Saharan musicians plays Gnawa rhythms with iron castanets and drums, and it is a rewarding evening if you can arrange it. Out on the flats, Dayet Srji, a lake that fills after rare rains, can draw flamingos.
Nearly everything here is arranged around visitors. You can take a sunrise camel trek, sleep in a tented camp, and eat bread baked in the sand, a kind of Berber pizza called madfouna stuffed with meat and onion. Fill the tank in Rissani or Erfoud before arriving, carry more water than seems sensible, and keep your phone charged. The ride on to the Todra Gorge to the north-west is a good way to leave, and it feels like the first sip of cool water.