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This somewhat paradise like description has little to do with the cruel words Leo had for more ancient desert customs:
 "They
ride nothing but camels. For this, they use a special saddle which fits
between the camel's neck and hump. Someone riding a camel is a picturesque
sight. [That has not changed!] (...) For sleeping, these
people use very fine straw matts. Their tents are woven with a mix of
camel hair and palm fibers. As for their food, anyone who has not seen
it would not believe how easily they endure hunger(...)Their entire life is spent hunting or stealing their enemies' camels. They never stop more than three days in the same place, just enough time for their camels to eat the surrounding grass." (Leo, 36)
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In
Leo's days, life in the desert was everything but refined and relaxing.
In our day and age, the desert has come to rhyme with adventure, exoticism
and expensive vacation. And Moroccans know this. To feed the myth and
givetourists what they want, Southern Moroccans have slowly built a
desert industry. In Merzouga, at the tip of the Ziz valley, only a few
miles from the Sahara, tourists can enjoy a few days of authentic desert
life- a retreat without electricity, very little hot water, and hours
of lazy lounging and eating in sun baked huts at the foot of dramatic
dunes. And for those lucky enough to stay there one, two or more days,
sunrises and sunsets NEVER get old...