Moroccan Desert Short Break

Arrive in the desert outpost of Ouarzazate, at the edge of the Atlas Mountains and check-in at hotel.

Overnight Standard Hotel (H+)

We waste no time this morning and drive through the beautiful and fertile Draa Valley. Our route is lined with palm groves, with many kasbahs and ksours (villages) punctuating the impressive landscape. Tamnougalt ksour is possibly the most impressive and certainly worth a closer look during our journey. We arrive in the large village of Zagora, often referred to as the ‘Gate of the Desert’ essentially a vast oasis which stretches south for almost 30 km. The last part of todays journey takes us further south where we set up camp near a desert oasis.

Overnight Basic Camping (C) Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today we aim to get off-the-beaten track in our fully equipped 4WD vehicles and head further into the desert, via Ouled Driss, through Mhamid, close to the Moroccan border with Algeria and ending up near the dunes of Erg Chegaga. We’ll spend the day driving through ever changing desert scenery. Here, in this inhospitable wilderness, the burning temperature of the sand causes a quivering of the air, blurring the edges of the landscape and giving rise to a ‘mirage’. Keep a close eye out for camels, sometimes forming a ‘caravan’ trading perhaps in rock salt or dates. The Arabian camel is one of the best-adapted desert mammals and can live for 40 years. Valued greatly by nomadic Tuareg people as a means of transport, almost all parts of their body can be used. Their dung is used as a fuel on cold desert nights and skin makes excellent leather. We’ll stop several times during our journey today to explore the finer aspects of desert life and to enjoy magnificent desolation. At Ouled Driss for those interested it is usually possible to arrange a camel ride. Tonight we plan to camp near the dunes at Chegaga, the highest dunes in this part of Morocco. Your leader will take you on a short nature walk after setting up camp to look for trails of desert-dwelling birds, insects and other animal life. The highest diversity of all animal life in the Sahara is displayed by insects and a close inspection under a bush or near stones can reveal much about recent activities. After a hearty Berber-style meal, we enjoy a second night of tranquility sleeping under a blanket of twinkling stars set deep in an African night-sky. Rather than sleeping in tents, many travellers choose simply to sleep out in the open to watch for shooting stars and enjoy the sky.

Overnight Basic Camping (C) Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We awake this morning in the desert and usually a glorious orange sunrise. Hills of sand stretch out to the horizon like an evershifting carpet. Smooth-sided, sharply-crested dunes, each much alike, mimic the regular waves of a sea. The Sahara is vast, awesome and very disorientating yet peaceful and therapeutic to the senses. We continue our desert adventure to Foum-Zguid: the remoteness and stark contrasts of scenery more than make up for the bumpy journey. Later as road conditions improve we turn north towards Tazenakht and cross the Tizi Taguergoust (1640m) into a rugged landscape with a backdrop of high peaks. We arrive back in Ouarzazate in the afternoon for our last night in the relative comfort of a hotel.

Overnight Standard Hotel (H+) Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Included meals: Breakfast