On our third day of the tour, we made our way from Quarzazate to the dunes  Erg Lihoudi which you can see at the bottom left of the map (in yellow).  

We drove through the mountains and stopped to photograph the Draa river which is Morocco's longest river, at 1,100 kilometers (680 mi).  The water from the Draa is used to irrigate palm groves and small horticulture along the river.  About 225,000 people live in the valley of the Draa which measures 23,000 square kilos (8,900 sq. miles).    The Draa Valley one served as a link between the Sahara and the North of Morocco for the trading caravan routes that passed by the river for centuries.

Just before we stopped in Zagora for lunch, we toured another village.

After Zagora we noticed that the landscape changed to desert conditions.  At this point we drove off-road to reach  Erg Lihoudi dunes where we would be spending the night.

We came across camels which was pretty exciting for me.  

Rosa took us to the smaller dune area which was much less populated and so beautiful.   She prefers the smaller dunes to the larger more popular dunes because it is much easier to get clean shots( i.e. no footprints) plus you really get the feeling that you are away from civilization as there are so few tourists here.  

We spent time hiking up and down the dunes admiring all of the different sand patterns.  Of course the light was changing which made it more interesting.

One of our drivers.

Our other driver.

This photo was taken the next morning at sunrise.

These are the cabins where we spent the night.  

After breakfast we stopped in a small village to check out the local market.

As with other markets that we had seen, you could find pretty much anything you needed.