Ibrahim, tour guide

Expert organizer of tours in Sahara Desert and Atlas Mountains treks.

My name is Ibrahim and I was born in the hearth of the Moroccan Sahara: the village of Hassi Labied in Erg Chebbi, near Merzouga. As a child, I had the responsibility of looking after my father's sheeps and camels, and for some years, when I was seven, I studied in the Hassi Labied school. I currently speak 6 languages: Arab, French, English, Italian, Spanish and a llitle German.

The village of Hassi Labied is a small village, about 50 km away from Erfoud. Most of the houses were built for soldiers whose duties were to guard the Algerian border. In the beginning there was no water source in the village and the habitants got their water supply from the neighbouring towns, which was delivered by trucks.

My father was the chief of the caravane that crossed the border of Mauritania and Mali. He transported carpets, spices and jewellery from the tuareg people, until he had to stop the carovane becouse he was too old to do it. At that time, I was working as a mountain guide in anti Atlas, and I had to come back, to start my work as carovane chief, going deep into the secrets of this area of desert.

Today I still live in Hassi Labied, right next to the dunes of Erg Chebbi. In the other direction you have a huge plain of stone desert. The oasis of Hassi Labied is similar to other oasis but with a unique feeling because of its closeness to the great dunes. The village itself consists of mostly mudhouses that blend in quite well with the landscape. These Kasbahs were not part of the landscape in the past few year. In the past, most Erg Chebbi's inhabitants where nomads who lived in tents and travelled across the Sahara desert in caravans to trade. In recent years however, since borders have been drawn between countires which share the Sahara, it is no longer possible to cross into Algeria, Mauretania, Mali or Sudan, so trading has stopped.