Rabat – A photograph of the dunes of Merzouga won first prize in the landscape category in Spain’s MontPhoto photography contest.
The photo captures Erg Chebbi, a sand sea near Merzouga, a town in southeast Morocco 50 kilometers from the Algerian border.
Titled Mar de dunas (Sea of Dunes), the photograph showcases the magical sandwaves of the Moroccan desert. Its author, Javier Herranz Casellas, is a photographer from Madrid. Herranz Casellas is most known as a member of the International Federation of Wildlife Photography and has won several awards since 1988.
The MontPhoto Association organizes the MontPhoto International Nature Photography Contest, an annual event open to amateurs and professionals from all over the world.
The competition does not allow any manipulation or digital alteration of the images except adjustments like brightness, contrast and moderate shadows and lights.
Read Also: Sand from Merzouga at the Heart of Exhibition in Sao Paulo
“Following the tracks of a camel caravan is the best way to photograph the desert without getting lost in the large intertwined dunes and their softly coloured sand, adorned with the last rays of light at sunset,” MontPhoto describes the photo on its website.
Erg Chebbi, better known as the dunes of Merzouga, is one of the two great ergs of the Sahara in Morocco. The other is Erg Chigaga, near M’Hamid El Ghizlane.
Tourists come to Erg Chebbi to be buried in the hot sand for a few minutes at a time. It is widely considered as a treatment for rheumatism. A particular feature of Erg Chebbi is its unique orange-coloured sand and beautiful sunsets.
