Things to Do in Douz

Sunset camel caravan into the Grand Erg

Guides lead a silent line of dromedaries up knife-edge dunes. The sand crunches like burnt sugar underfoot. Sky flames orange, then bruise-purple. Your mount grumbles low in its throat. Once the sun drops, temperature plummets. Only sounds are harness bells and wind scouring the slip-face.

Thursday livestock market

Dawn starts with diesel generators rattling to life. Men in woollen burnouses inspect rows of camels that smell like dust and warm hide. You'll hear rapid-fire Arabic. Rope slaps flank. Auctioneers bark prices. A fog of sand lifts off the ground with every hoof stamp.

Palm-grove hike to the old irrigation canal

Slip between allotment walls. Date bunches hang low enough to brush your hair. The soil under your sandals is spongy and smells almost fermented. A ruined qanat tunnel still dribbles water. It leads to a mud-brick watchtower where swallows swoop through arrow slits.

Sand-boarding the eastern dune belt

A 15-minute 4WD shuttle drops you on a 60-metre slip-face the colour of toasted almonds. Wax your board. You'll hear a low booming vibration as the sand shifts, part roar, part cello. At the bottom your mouth fills with fine grit that tastes faintly of salt and iron.

Museum of the Sahara and palm-weaving workshop

Inside a fortified ksar courtyard you'll see crusty salt tablets from old caravans. A stuffed fennec fox has ears like parchment. Berber jewelry jangles when you open the drawers. Out back, women coil green palm fronds so fresh they ooze sap that smells like cut grass.

Zone Touristique - low-slung hotels with pool courtyards that catch dawn light over the dunes

Town centre - basic guesthouses above bakeries; you'll wake to the smell of anise bread

Palm grove fringe - eco-lodges in converted ksar houses where frogs croak in irrigation ditches

Southern outskirts - desert camps offering carpet-lined tents and communal tagines

Near Thursday market - family-run pensions handy for early-morning livestock photography

North ring road - mid-range business hotels if you need reliable Wi-Fi before heading deeper south