Desert adventures

The departure is after breakfast from your hotel in Ouarzazate to the Dades gorge and Todra gorge via the oasis of Skoura where we stop to visit the kasbah of Amridil. Once back on the main road, an off-road track passes through the valley of the roses – also known as the valley of a thousand kasbahs – to the Dades gorge for lunch. In the afternoon, there is time for a walk alongside the Dades river. We reach the Todra gorge by the end of the afternoon, dinner and night in a riad.

In the morning there is time for a walk in the Tinghir palm-grove before heading for Merzouga through the Ziz valley and the oasis of Tafilalet, arriving in Erfoud for lunch. Merzouga is the destination towards the end of the afternoon but there is still time for an hour camel ride to Erg Chebbi (250m). From the top of the dunes, the sunset is spectacular. Dinner and night in a luxury desert camp.

If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of the sunrise, when the colour of the dunes and the play of shadows are an awesome sight. After breakfast, the drive continues from Merzouga to Zagora via the villages of Rissani, Alnif, Tazarine and N’Qob where we stop for lunch. In the afternoon, the route continues to Zagora along the magic Dra’a valley with all its kasbahs. We reach Zagora by the end of the afternoon, dinner and night in a riad.

Relaxing morning spent in the riad, with time to rest and swim in pool. After lunch, the itinerary continues from Zagora to  Erg Lihoudi and M’hamid where the road ends and the Sahara desert begins. Once again, a short camel ride before the sunset in Erg Lihoudi dunes is on the programme, dinner and night in a comfortable desert camp.

If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of the sunrise. After breakfast, we drive from Erg Lihoudi to Erg Chegaga passing by M’hamid where we stop for lunch. In the afternoon, is the departure for Erg Chegaga (300m) with 68km of off-road driving along the Sahara desert. This route passes different features of the desert; ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, oases. The sunset is spectacular. Here, at Erg Chegaga, we will have dinner and spend the night in a comfortable desert camp.

If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of the sunrise. After breakfast, we drive from Erg Chegaga to Ouarzazate crossing another 100km in the Sahara desert, following a track winding through unusual vegetation, and crossing the dried-up lake Iriqui. Once across this vast expanse of lake, we stop for lunch in Foum Zguid, the first village on leaving the Sahara desert. In the afternoon, the road back to Ouarzazate takes us through the town of Taznakht, well known for its Berber carpets, and we arrive to your hotel in Ouarzazate in the course of the afternoon.